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Updated: April 7, 2026 at 9:16pm

A neighborhood office hour on a Friday morning was an unexpected place to drop news about the city budget. But on April 3, a city official told residents that there will be no funding for the Jackson Mann Community Center five days before Mayor Michelle Wu submits the upcoming capital budget, according to three neighbors who attended.

The revelation came from Brianna Millor, who is the Chief of Civic Engagement for Mayor Wu. Millor said that the omission of Jackson Mann from the five-year FY2027 to FY2031 capital budget was a result of the budget deficit and other capital projects, such as White Stadium and Madison Park Vocational Center High School.

While attendees say that the financial strain on the capital budget might be recent, the city’s lack of commitment and transparency surrounding the reconstruction of the Jackson Mann are not. 

“This has been an ongoing request for years, and Allston-Brighton has gotten unequal funding, given our size, for years,” said Brighton resident Barbara Parmenter, who attended the meeting. “It’s been a long-standing issue. I get that there’s a deficit, and that it’s limited, but one way or another, we need to hear a clear commitment from the mayor.”

She says the most concrete signs of a commitment would be a financial investment for the Jackson Mann for the upcoming capital budget. 

“They tried to dodge us for so long that now that they have to give us this bad news, it’s way worse now, because everyone has been left in the dark for so long,” said Allston resident Lizzie Torres, who attended the meeting.  “There’s just an overall appearance of neglect by the city that Allston-Brighton is just not considered like a capital or an infrastructure priority at all.”

“The most frustrating aspect of it is no one is willing to go on record anywhere to tell us what is happening,” said Torres, who is a long-time community advocate and a housing policy associate for MassHousing.

Following last Friday’s meeting, the city told Allstonia on Tuesday night that it will invest ten million dollars in the upcoming FY2027 to FY2031 capital budget for a BCYF Community Center at Jackson Mann.

“This year’s capital budget sets aside significant resources to advance the Jackson Mann Community Center project, even amid the difficult choices required in this economic environment,” wrote a City spokesperson in a statement. 

“The funding in this year’s capital budget will help advance the broader capital planning process so that we can move towards design. We look forward to working closely with residents so that the future of this community hub reflects the neighborhood’s evolving needs and priorities.”

Millor also indicated that Boston Public Schools may cede its ownership of the Jackson Mann. Though there have been speculations, this is the first indication from an official from City Hall that a final decision could be nearing. 

Parmenter, who leads Allston-Brighton Housing Action (ABHA), says that she would welcome a decision for BPS to relinquish its ownership of Jackson Mann.

“The idea that the Boston Public Schools would give that property back to the city would actually make it easier to put in a new community center there,” she said. “Some of us would like to see housing there, for example, in addition to the community center. That would actually remove a barrier to things starting to move forward.”

Yet, the Mayor’s Office and Boston Public Schools have yet to make an official statement. During the meeting, both Parmenter and Kelly McGrath, who leads the Jackson Mann Council and heads Brighton Main Streets, say they pushed Millor to ask Mayor Wu to release such a statement.

Parmenter says that while she appreciated Millor for attending the office hours, the meeting illustrates a disconnect between the city government and Allston-Brighton constituents.

“I love that she came to talk with us. I thanked her for coming to talk with us. I think it was great she was there, but I think it kind of shows that the city doesn’t understand Allston-Brighton very well,” she said.

“So bringing Brianna out was great because she needs to come out and other people need to come out from the city to understand the neighborhood better.”

Allston-Brighton remains the only neighborhood in Boston without a fully-functioning BCYF community center despite being roughly the size of Somerville in population and area. In contrast, East Boston, Charlestown and the North End — which match Allston-Brighton in population — have eight community centers and two community pools along with a new 80-million-dollar community center that just broke ground.

“As with every municipal construction project, the City follows a process of seeking community feedback to determine the specific uses at that site, followed by design, schematics, and bidding out the project for construction,” wrote the spokesperson from the City.

“This particular project will not be a simple rebuild, as the former combined school and community center uses must be evaluated in the context of changing school enrollment in the neighborhood and the BPS long-term facilities plan, as well as community desires for housing to potentially be incorporated into the site.”

***

Allston-Brighton City Councilor Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Breadon learned that there will be no commitment to a five-year plan for the Jackson Mann around the same time as her constituents at the office hours.

Breadon, who became City Council President this past January, had thought that there would be momentum for the project. In October 2024, over 300 residents packed the Jackson Mann to advocate for a new community center during a city council hearing. The city had completed a preliminary programming study in 2023, and there is an ongoing financial feasibility study to evaluate the possibility of fitting housing — though the study’s release had been repeatedly delayed. 

She requested a briefing meeting for Friday morning with the Office of Budget Management, which oversees the budgeting process. Coming into the meeting, she says she wanted to see a firm commitment to a five-year program for the design and reconstruction of a new Jackson Mann community center. Instead, Breadon was informed that there was not enough money for a plan for Jackson Mann in the capital budget. 

“I did think that we were making progress in the aftermath of the meeting that we had in October of ‘24,” Breadon said. “This is not acceptable to Allston-Brighton.”

Like many of her constituents, Breadon says that she is not convinced that the city’s budget deficit is an excuse for lack of capital investment in Jackson Mann. 

“I am fully aware that we are in a very difficult financial situation. I’m also very aware of the fact that we’ve been here before,” she says. She points to the pattern going back to 2001 where money in the capital budget allocated for repairs to the building was never spent. 

“In this moment, we just have to insist that we are given some priority, and that we will get something that we desperately need, and that we will not be left behind once again,” she said.

Although her original proposal was 80 to 100 million dollars for a community center and pool, she later scaled back her ask to 65 million dollars, which would not include a community pool. In a four-billion-dollar budget, she believes that she is “not asking for much” compared to other capital projects like the new Madison Park Vocational School, which the city and state are expected to contribute between 800 million and one billion dollars.

The city’s current ten-million-dollar investment in the upcoming capital budget, is a fraction of the amount that Breadon is requesting.

“I’m not arguing that we absolutely need a modern vocational technical school, but in the meantime, we have a population of 80,000 people who need a community center,” said Breadon.

Searching for other ways to make a case for the Jackson Mann, her office reached out to Nikhil Dasgupta, an Allston-Brighton resident and the engagement and operations manager for Allston-Brighton Health Collaborative (ABHC). 

Together, they collaborated to create an Instagram video detailing the city’s lack of investment in the Jackson Mann and calling the community to email elected officials ahead of the April 8 budget submission date. 

A day later, 30,000 people had viewed the video; it had been reposted and reshared over 1,000 times. Dasgupta compares his form of social media campaign to lighting a match to kindling. 

“Because [of] this pattern of maybe not getting the resources and attention from the city that we need to get, there’s a sense that we’ve had to build that up ourselves in Allston-Brighton,” he said.

“Countless folks have stepped up over the years. When you have public meetings around rezoning or community events, people really turn out. People are ready to show up with their time and their bodies and their voices to contribute to a cause to improve the community. I think kindling is very much there.”

Breadon is also organizing a rally on April 14, which she calls a “celebration or protest” depending on how much the city invests in the reconstruction of a Jackson Mann. 

Amid rallies and emails, residents say that it is the elected officials’ turn to respond to their voices.

 “We always tell people, ‘Go call your legislator. Go call your mayor. Go call these people.’ But it only works if there’s a response on the other line and there’s good communication that is continuous along the way,” said Torres. 

Brandon Bowser, who was a teacher at the Jackson Mann K-8 school and now serves on the Jackson Mann Council, said “I don’t think it’s any shortness of advocacy from the community members. I would like to see more public advocacy by our elected officials, because I know that they’ve heard the message of the need for a community center.” 

“It’s unclear where in the priorities it fits given the lack of action and movement.” 

***

During conversations with residents, no one seems to know for certain why there is a disconnect between the city and residents when it comes to funding the Jackson Mann. 

Some speculate that it is because the city views Allston-Brighton as a neighborhood of residents who are transient due to its high student and renter population. 

“There is a perception that because it’s a student neighborhood, that it means there are no families here. And that’s also not true. Families, 100 percent exist in Allston-Brighton,” Torres said. “I think it’s an old memory that just holds true for lots of folks who do not live here.”

Torres points to the youth programming, grants, and scholarships from organizations, like Allston and Brighton Main Streets as well as Rat City Arts Festival. McGrath says that other community spaces for children in Allston-Brighton like West End House are “bursting at the seams.” Breadon similarly says that the Oak Square YMCA and West End House cannot completely support all the youth in the community.

Torres and McGrath also say that the recent shooting by a teenager on Brighton Avenue  a week earlier further illustrates a need to create safe spaces for programming, like a community center, that can keep kids engaged.

Parmenter notes that the high renter population in Allston-Brighton makes it more important to have affordable programming at a community center. She says that it’s not only students who rent in Allston-Brighton. “Almost everybody’s a renter, and these are people in their thirties and forties and fifties and seniors. They don’t want to move. They don’t want to be priced out.”

Dasgupta says that even if there are residents, like many college students, who might only stay for a short while, it does not diminish the need for spaces for community.

“I don’t think community is something you need to earn by proving your blood is deep in this neighborhood. I don’t think community is something you only deserve if you’ve committed to a place for a decade. I think community and friendship and camaraderie — those are human rights,” Dasgupta said. 

“In a city that has money like Boston, it’s really on us to offer that to people, even if they feel like they’re passing through and even if they feel like they’re just here for a little while, I still think our city should matter to them.”

Parmenter feels that the lack of capital funding for Jackson Mann signals that the city is taking Allston-Brighton for granted. She believes that Allston-Brighton has contributed significantly to city revenue and housing supply through linkage fees and developments. 

Parmenter says that through ABHA, she formed a coalition to encourage development and create a “positive vision for a growing neighborhood”.

“We’re doing more than our share here, and we’re not really getting that back. It’s like we’re helping to fund the rest of the city but not getting any acknowledgement,” she said.

“Mayor Wu’s goal is to make Boston the most family-friendly city in the country, and our public assets are especially critical to making our city a home for everyone,” wrote the spokesperson for the City.

“The City is proud to continue investing in major infrastructure projects in Allston-Brighton, with construction underway on two major parks and playgrounds, and renovations about to begin on the senior center, following completion of a newly renovated and expanded neighborhood library in 2024.”

Ultimately, Bowser calls Jackson Mann an “investment in the community of Allston-Brighton.”

“What we put into our community centers is what we get out of them. I think it’s really important to prioritize the services that we’re doing and expand on them so we can have an overall better neighborhood,” he said.

***

In the meantime, Jackson Mann is operating at a reduced capacity. Programming dwindled down when the city announced plans to demolish the building. However, between guitar lessons, basketball, soccer and classes in podcasting and photography, programming is humming along for the time being.

“We’re like the little engine that could. We’re still trying to produce really quality programming,” McGrath says. “We’re doing a really, really good job with not a lot of resources.” 

During Friday’s meeting, Millor mentioned that the operating budget would not increase. During the previous year, the operating budget for Jackson Mann was 25,000 dollars — almost three times less than the operating budget for BCYF Curly in South Boston, which was around 70,000 dollars, according to Breadon.  

In response, McGrath asked Millor for additional funding for the operating budget, saying that 25,000 dollars was not enough to cover programming for the past year. She says that Rosie Hanlon, the current Director of the Jackson Mann, had to reach out for additional funds to cover the cost.

The situation around both operating and capital budgets are still fluid, but as the April 8 budget deadline approaches, residents are holding their breaths to see whether their advocacy will be enough to put Jackson Mann on the capital budget.

“I’m an eternal optimist and also very, very focused on making the case for this project. So I am hopeful that we will see some movement with a little bit of community advocacy,” says Breadon.

“We’re not asking for much. We’re just asking for what we deserve,” says McGrath. “I want to be very mindful that things could change in the next couple of days, and maybe  conversation is going to be more positive.” 

After Mayor Wu releases the budget, Boston City Council will begin the review process by holding hearings throughout April to the end of May. They will submit vote on the budget during early June. In questionnaires submitted to Allstonia during last November’s elections, all current four at-large city councilors previously signalled that they would prioritize reopening and rebuilding the Jackson Mann Community Center in the upcoming budget. 

While uncertainty enshrouds the capital budget, another year of no capital plan for Jackson Mann puts the entire community in limbo, says Torres. 

“It’s just another year of white knuckling — of hoping ‘God, I hope we don’t have a disproportionate amount of snow. I hope we don’t have a disproportionately hot summer because it also means that we don’t have a cooling center in the Allston area for summer,’” she says. “It’s a lot of hope and white knuckling that nothing nuts happens.”

“But I think that’s a horrible place to put an entire neighborhood in — the tension of thinking something might snap at any moment.”