ADORE-chester! Top 5 Reasons Why Dorchester Is Progressing Boston Forward

Boston is America’s quintessential colonial city with its old world charm and quaintness, but it is also the country’s bastion for progressive reform. The last decade has brought many changes to Boston, pushing this hub of the universe into the next century. Dorchester Think Tank focuses on community change and activism, so our theme for our ADORE-chester! project posting is reasons why Dorchester is the neighborhood that leads the way on progressing Boston forward!

1. Dorchester is about social improvement. From the health care centers (like the Codman Square Health Center and Dorchester House, to improvements of our wonderful city parks (like Dorchester Park, Ronan Park, and Franklin Park, improvements to our thoroughfares (Dorchester Avenue Project), our plentiful farmer’s markets (Dorchester Farmers Markets), and urban farms (The Food Project and Revision Farms), we care about our neighbors' health and livelihood.

2. Dorchester is green. From environmentally sensitive restaurants like Ashmont Grill and dbar, to the always active DotBike, and transit-oriented and green building projects (such as The Carruth) in the neighborhood, and the thousands of Dorchesterites that ride the Red Line daily, we are doing our part to help make this world more sustainable.

3. Dorchester is one of the most politically active neighborhoods in the city. You can’t have an election without seeing the thousands of signs lining the avenues. You can’t vote in this neighborhood without shaking (or quickly dodging) the hands of many of Boston’s pols. And more importantly, you can’t win a citywide office without courting our neighborhood’s residents.

4. Dorchester supports its locally owned businesses. Whether it is family owned restaurants, the neighborhood mechanic, local hardware stores, or small ethnic groceries, Dorchesterites know supporting locally owned businesses is key to our neighborhood’s economy. It also means trying to avoid chains, who often take from us and not give us anything in return.

5. Dorchester is the most diverse neighborhood in Boston – and we love it that way! Dorchester’s cosmopolitan population makes us feel like we are walking through the United Nations everyday. Our ancestors came from so many different places: Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, South and East Asia, and Latin America, and we have made Dorchester that great salad bowl, were our cultures retain their individual characteristics, but also interact in a smaller version of globalism.

To read the other ADORE-chester! postings, please check out their blogs:
Lower Dot
The Dottie Hottie
The Dot Matrix
Dot Boston
Local Spice
Candeliera Silva
Social Butterfly Experiment
dotmass
Greening of Dorchester