Christine McConville, a dedicated real estate professional with a background in journalism and nonprofit leadership, brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to community development in her new role as a member of the South Boston NDC Board of Directors.

The developer of 776 Summer Street (the former Edison Plant) is seeking flexibility to relocate the required Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) affordable housing units off-site or pay into the IDP fund, rather than keeping these units on-site as originally committed to the community.

Dannah Henderson was living in a basement apartment in Jamaicaway. Her unit was next to the washers and dryers and she started to see mold growing in her place. 

Now Dannah lives in a South Boston NDC affordable unit , “I’m upstairs. I can breathe,” said Dannah, who had moved from Dorchester to Jamaicaway  after the aunt she was living with passed away. “I have sunlight; I’m not in a basement!”

John Lurz, a South Boston resident and literature professor at Tufts University, is a committed monthly donor to South Boston NDC. 

“It seems like a really easy way to feel like I'm contributing rather than just taking from my community and the things that it has to offer,” he said.

South Boston lost a dear friend. 

After a courageous fight, Karen Stanley, 62, lost her battle against pancreatic cancer. And we are devastated. 

The news hasn’t really sunk in yet. In fact, she beat cancer once before many years ago, so we thought this was just another fight for her to win. And fight she did.

Shortly before she passed, she said, “You can knock me down, but you can’t knock me out. Until they tell me differently, I’m still here.”

Karen, a lifelong South Boston girl (she never called it Southie), was a friend, a colleague, a true community legend … She was related to probably half of the neighborhood and was friends or acquaintances with the rest.

Because of Karen, South Boston has become the thriving neighborhood it is today.

Mona Connolly Casper is honored and humbled by being named the 2024 recipient of the Thomas J. Butler South Boston Small Business Leadership Award given by the South Boston Chamber of Commerce. 

“It’s really meaningful because of the legacy,” said the Seapoint Bar and Grill manager. “My mother was involved with the Chamber from the get-go and to have evolved down to the next generation to keep it going … it's kind of great. I'm kind of following in her footsteps.”

Mona’s mother, Mary T. “Mona” Connolly, received several awards and recognitions in her lifetime not just for being a businesswoman, but for being a generous community member.

Mona is viewed in the same way.