Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative

It is known as the first and only community-run grassroots organization to gain "the power of eminent domain" by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, meaning the community controls its own development and the use of the land.

[2] By the 1960s, the once vibrant community surrounding the Dudley Street Area of Roxbury, Massachusetts, had "deteriorated into one of the poorest in Boston", overrun by the dumping of toxic waste and abandoned homes.

At the time, the Dudley Street Neighborhood was populated by many impoverished Hispanics, African Americans, Jews, and members of other minority groups, many of whom could not afford to live elsewhere.

[3] Merced began looking for funds to renovate the La Alianza Hispana building in spring 1984 when he reached out to the Boston-based Riley Foundation, which provides grants for inner-city organizations.

It believes its major accomplishment has been empowering its residents to take control over the development and maintenance of the neighborhood, and wants to continue to strive for individual, as well as community-wide, empowerment.