ACDC was born in response to critical community needs. During the mid 1980’s, when Boston’s Chinatown sorely lacked affordable housing, Asian immigrants and other low income families had extreme difficulty in securing affordable homes, forcing many out of the neighborhood and into the suburbs where even greater cultural and linguistic barriers limited their access to essential services and job opportunities. Community leaders founded ACDC to address these injustices.

In May 2008, ACDC celebrated 20 years of community building at their 20th Anniversary Gala celebration.  Emerson College students produced the following video to commemorate ACDC's twenty years of working with the community.