The Canton Corp.

In addition to owning and operating our company, Mr. Fairfield also works closely with the neighborhood business community. He is currently both the elected President of the Dudley Square Merchant’s Association and the Chairman of the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club Advisory Board. Additionally, he holds memberships in the Dudley Square Main Streets Association, the Dudley Advisory Task Force and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103, Boston, MA. He was formerly a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the Boston Police Department Area B-2 Strategic Planning Committee – which prepared today’s guidelines for community policing in Boston. Some of the guidelines he helped to create are currently being copied nationwide.

Mr. Fairfield has also channeled much time and energy into the business side of the local community, and has worked very hard with City and State officials to help rebuild Dudley Square, the commercial center at the heart of Roxbury. As part of his commitment to bringing this area back to its former beauty, Mr. Fairfield finalized an award-winning renovation of a historic building in Dudley Square. The old Roxbury Boy’s Club (now re-named “The Fairfield Center”) had sat abandoned and neglected for 20 years, following a catastrophic fire which nearly gutted the building. This prominent landmark had become an eyesore, and its dilapidated condition was a large contributor to the deteriorated appearance of the surrounding neighborhood. Mr. Fairfield got involved when he heard of the City’s plans to demolish the building. He felt that losing such a beautiful historic building was unacceptable, so he launched an $8.9 million dollar project to repair and develop it. The building opened in February 2001, and is now a 36,000 square foot office building, whose former tenants included the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and whose current tenants include the Social Security Administration, The Committee for Public Council Roxbury Defenders & Youth Advocacy Service, The Canton Corp., and attorney Vesper Gibbs Barnes Esq., among others. The successful restoration of this structure became a catalyst for further renovation and restoration of the neighborhood, as evidenced by extensive new housing being built and several other major landmark buildings in the immediate area currently undergoing intensive renovation work.

Mr. Fairfield was also instrumental in some of the ongoing restoration of the surrounding community, with prominent involvement in several of Affordable Housing Initiatives by the Department of Neighborhood Development, namely the Intervale Street Homeownership LLC, and Highland Park Phase II projects. These projects added a collective total of 20+ new houses to the Roxbury area. The new homes occupied formerly empty lots that had become repositories for trash and other discarded debris. The development of the blighted lots was a significant improvement to the neighborhood, and provided much-needed affordable homes at a time of great economic strain. Mr. Fairfield also was the contractor and eventually the developer/owner of the Imani House Veterans LLC building, which provides housing to homeless senior Veterans. He is currently working to get Phase II of The Fairfield Center underway (expected to be a $16 million dollar project), in order to further boost the area’s economy.