Art McCabe - Extensive Experience in the Law and Military Service
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Lawrence, Massachusetts, the “Immigrant City”, was one of the most prosperous, small industrial cities in the country. By the end of the century, it was one of the poorest, most derelict cities in the country. Filled with abandoned textile mills, plagued by gang violence, it was then known as an “arson” and “car theft” capital.
In 1986, Art McCabe moved his law practice from Boston to Andover, Mass and for the next 18 years, worked with 4 mayoral administrations to help rebuild Lawrence into a village of which its largely Latino population could be proud. At the time, the city had no economic development director, so Art informally filled the role informally by helping the administration to develop working relationship with federal and state funding agencies and local civic. Entrepreneurial and faith-based leaders to build capacity.
Art’s role as a mentor quickly evolved into a formal project manager role working with governmental funding agencies to build infrastructure. When the then dormant, Lawrence Redevelopment Authority sough outside counsel, Art’s bid was accepted. Through his work with the LRA, additional public and private sector partnerships emerged bring additional resources to the city.
Due to a change in administration in 1996, Art turned his attention to working in Northern Ireland on the emerging peace process.
As a result of another change in administration, in 2009, Art accepted an invitation to become the manager of the Lawrence Community Development. In that role, he wrote and administered over twenty million dollars of federal and state grant funding including the American Recovery Act, environmental, infrastructure, social service, and public safety grants. These grant funds helped leverage private sector funding to greatly expand the city’s capacity and to attract large volumes of conventional outside investment.
These are just a few many examples of Art’s extraordinary contributions to the economic and social fabric of society. It does Art a disservice to ascribe a single title to him because of his wide range of experience, his broad skill sets, strong character, and work ethic.
With over fifty years of legal and business experience, Art has established reputation as a leader in the creation of public private partnerships for social and environmental justice. He has been a hands-on leader whose style was inclusive and brought diverse public, private, faith-based, and civic organizations together for the common good. He led by example and won the trust of these various communities across the socio-economic spectrum. He has stood out as being among the best in fostering a sense of village to achieve a shared vision.
Perhaps most important are his qualities as a human being and his strong commitment to social justice, fairness and decency, his keen understanding of people, excellent negotiating and business skills and professionalism coupled with a deep sense of humility and self-confidence. This combination of skills and personal qualities has permitted him to be a valued member of the community as a bridge-builder, trusted public servant and consistent advocate for those unable to advocate for themselves.
Art is a Vietnam Era veteran and served as senior legal clerk in the Office of the Judge Advocate General at the headquarters of the Third Armored Division. In 1974, He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Boston University. Art has been recognized for his work as a recipient numerous awards and public acknowledgements.
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Anover, MA US