Thirteen years ago, longtime Codman Square resident Candice Gartley stepped inside the small field house on Dot Ave bordering Town Field and to take charge as executive director at All Dorchester Sports & Leadership (ADSL). From that day forward, Gartley managed the evolution of a youth sports organization with some 150 participants into a community hub serving more than 2,300 youth throughout the year.
Now she’s stepping down from her post, and next Sunday (June 1) she will hand the reins over to ADSL’ program director, Jamie Buckley.
“Jamie’s been with me for 12 years. She knows this place inside and out,” Gartley told The Reporter last week. “I said, ‘The way I look at it is, you’re the steak, and I’m the sizzle, right?’ So I’ll go out and bring people in, and now it’s your turn to be the sizzle.”
Candace Gartley outside the ADSL field house at Town Field. Cassidy McNeeley photo
Said Buckley, now the interim director: “Stepping into this role is both exciting and humbling. ADSL has a proud history, and I am committed to building on the strong foundation that has already been laid by my predecessor. I want to acknowledge the outstanding leadership of my friend and mentor, Candice Gartley, whose dedication has shaped ADSL in countless ways. Her legacy inspires me as we begin this next chapter.”
For the last decade and then some, Gartley has given her attention to supporting neighborhood kids and their community. Now, she is stepping back to focus on grant writing and special projects, but she will still be a player in the Buckley era, with her name and accomplishments forever embedded in ADSL’s story.
“I’m old, I’m past 65.
I still have a lot of energy, and it’s always good to leave when somebody still wants to give you a party,” Gartley said through laughs. “Plus, the last vacation I took was to have my hip replaced. I need to take some vacation, spend time with my grandkids,
spend time on myself.”
Originally founded in 1983 in response to simmering racial tension in Dorchester, ADSL and its mission are much the same 40-plus years later, Gartley pointed out.
The organization “has a really interesting history,” she said, “and I think it resonates even more today about bringing kids of different backgrounds together to understand each other and become teammates instead of adversaries.”
A New Jersey native, she moved to Dorchester in the 1970 and, she said, “I noticed that everything was very parochial. That prevented a lot of crossover from neighborhoods. Since we’re here at the intersection of all those neighborhoods, we’re in a prime space to unify the different families that we serve.”
In 1997, ADSL added an education resource center specializing in tutoring and academic guidance, and by 2008, the center had expanded to offer fitness and nutrition education. And Gartley still wanted more.
“ADSL was the gold standard in its heyday. I wanted to make sure, since it was so embedded in this community, that it continued to grow. The first day I was here, I was the only one in the building, and I just walked through here, thinking, what did I get myself into? I can either make this an organization that moves to the next level, or I can just blow it up and destroy the whole thing. It was kind of frightening at the time. But I thought, you know what, one foot in front of the other.
Let’s just see what happens.”
Her first step was to get the group’s logo painted on the brick building’s exterior. “Nobody knew who was in this building, so the first thing I did was put ADSL in a 3-foot print,” Gartley shared.
The paint job was the easy part. “I realized that we weren’t doing our job here,” she said. ”We had a 5-plus-acre park that’s underutilized in an underserved community. And we needed to do better. How do we do that? We expand the scope of our services.”
She added, “It was slow. This park had a history of not being very safe. And I thought, well, we have to activate the hell out of it, because it’s not going to get rid of the bad element, but it will definitely diminish it.”
Today, programs include after-school enrichment, summer drop-ins, school vacation camps, a fit kitchen, and sports like baseball, soccer, softball, and street hockey. “The kids have different interests. But now we sort of adopted a view that you’ve got to try everything,” Gartley said.
In 2015, to better reflect their offerings, Gartley and the ADSL team slightly altered the organization’s name, changing “League” to “Leadership” as a way to communicate the organization’s value.
Jamie Buckley,left, with Lois Savage. Seth Daniel photo
Her zeal for always looking to impove ADSL remains in place. She wants the organization to “reestablish its significance in the community,” and to let everyone know that ADSL is “a place that is nurturing and welcoming.”
She added: “We’ve always been acutely aware of the diverse needs of our populations, because we’ve lived through decades of population evolution. We still want to be that constant, safe space for our kids. And their kids. And their kids.”
For Buckley, that vision is rooted in three priorities: listening and learning from ADSL’s staff, partners, and community; strengthening the organization’s impact; and building sustainable growth.
“Above all, my commitment is to lead with purpose, collaboration, and transparency. I believe the most successful organizations are those where people feel valued, heard, and empowered—and that is the culture I intend to nurture,” she said.
He continued: “I am incredibly excited for what our team will accomplish together as we continue this journey and advance our mission. Our work matters deeply, and with the support of our partners, funders, and community, I am confident we can make an even greater difference in the lives of those we serve.”
