In the heart of Allston’s Union Square, the neighborhood’s only city-run community center is now a shell of what it once was. Residents say the Jackson Mann Community Center no longer meets the neighborhood’s needs.
Boston City Council President Liz Breadon, who represents Allston-Brighton, is among those calling for a new facility at the Jackson Mann site, where an elementary school closed in 2022 and services have been scaled back since the pandemic.
“The irony of it is that we’re the second largest neighborhood in the city after Dorchester and we have one depleted and barely functioning community center,” Breadon said.
Jackson Mann Community Center debate
The Jackson Mann complex, built in the 1970s as a full-service community school, once offered everything from daycare and after-school programs to workforce development and adult education…