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Neighbors launch Allston’s cat strolls, street cleanups, and music festivals. Artists beautify utility boxes, parks, and parking lots. Local businesses connect to City Hall’s resources. Helping to bring these community efforts to life is the modus operandi of Allston Village Main Streets. 

And after a summer of interviews and board meetings, AVMS (161 Harvard Ave #11) will see Steve Marcelin take the helm as its sixth executive director on September 28.

Marcelin comes to Allston from Roslindale Main Streets. “Steve started as a volunteer and became a market manager, and then turned that into a full-time position, and then became the event manager,” said Scott Matalon, who is serving as interim executive director and for over a decade as board president of AVMS. “So he’s had a history, you know, being successful within the Main Street system already for nearly a decade, and that, that meant a lot to us.”

Selecting the next executive director was not a simple process, described Matalon. A five-person hiring committee, made up of mostly AVMS’s executive committee members and one board member, read resumes and cover letters of at least 16 candidates, with some being from as far away as Maryland and Washington state.

The members of the hiring committee met several times to review the candidates’ applications and select an initial group for Zoom interviews, and, from those interviews, they selected a group of finalists for in-person interviews. Then, they made a recommendation to the AVMS board, who interviewed Marcelin and “voted unanimously to bring him on board.”

Matalon added, “I believe we had more candidates than we’ve had in the past. I think Main Streets have come definitely into more prominence, you know, over the last decade. All of them, you know, including Allston Village Main Streets.”

The hiring committee and AVMS board were conscious about finding candidates who had operational experience in non-profits, and were particularly interested in people with experience running events and who knew how to navigate city and government processes. 

“We had a really close two and three. It was pretty close in the end when it got down to the final three,” said Matalon. “But Steve had the Main Streets experience. Steve knows the neighborhoods, and Steve’s lived in Brookline, and he knows Allston, and he’s very event-oriented, and he knows the city processes and the city processes that Main Street specifically engages in.”

Marcelin arrives at AVMS at a time where members of the organization hope that it continues to expand its fundraising, events, and outreach to underserved communities in the neighborhood. 

“We live in a very multicultural neighborhood, and it’s gotten more culturally diverse over time. So, you know, finding out the needs of these cultural groups is important to us and serving those needs,” said Matalon. “I expect to see us continuing on the trajectory we’ve been on, but I expect Steve to bring his own flavor to it.”

While AVMS has found a new executive director, the search for neighbors to participate in their community never ends. 

“We’re looking for some board members. We’re looking for people who are especially strong in like the streetscaping and the signage and all the stuff that goes into the beautification of the neighborhood. It’s called our design committee and our economic development committee, which is looking at the affordability crisis and the way pricing for everything from rentals to affordable retail is,” said Matalon. “We’re always looking for good people.”

This is a developing story. We will update it as we continue connecting with neighbors.