Archaeological excavations in Massachusetts reveal that the earliest human beings arrived here more than 10,000 years ago. Archaeologists call these earliest settlers "Paleo-Indians". They are the ancestors of today's Native Americans or Indians.

Massachusetts (officially called Commonwealth of Massachusetts) is one of the original 13 colonies and known for being the landing place of the Mayflower and the Pilgrims in 1620, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. English explorer and colonist John Smith chose our state's name to recognize the Massachusett tribe of Native Americans who lived in the Great Blue Hill region, south of Boston, the Indian term, roughly translated as, “at or about the Great Hill.”

Boston, the state capital, and specifically Faneuil Hall, a well-known stop on Boston’s Freedom Trail for over 20 million annual visitors, was the very center of intense meetings, discussions, protests, debates and activities during the American Revolutionary Period related to the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party, earning its affectionate nickname "The Cradle of Liberty". Faneuil Hall has provided a forum for debates, actives and lectures dealing with anti-slavery, Boston's Underground Railroad network, suffrage and other topics involving many individuals, including Samuel Adams, George Washington, Frederick Douglass, Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony and John Kennedy.

The earliest roots of our current MACDA, date back to The New England Vocational Guidance Association. In 2013 the NCDA Centennial Global Conference was celebrated in Boston, Massachusetts, where MACDA had on display a copy of our Constitution tracing back to The Greater Boston Vocational Guidance Association and the New England Vocational Guidance Association Charted in 1920.

The real history relating to some form of vocational guidance or counsel is clearly ancient. Plato founded The Academy, the first institution of higher learning in Greece. Plato's Republic discusses the polis, the Greek city-state, and defines its ideal form, the kallipolis, and he advocated that education is for men and women. He was keenly aware of the importance education for character and the wellbeing of human society. He advocated using penetrating questions to go beneath the surface, to grow, develop character and the ability to do good.

Modern vocational guidance and counseling is rooted in the United States (specifically Boston, Massachusetts), in the area now known as The North End, because of the efforts of Frank Parsons, an American educator and reformer, and his collaboration with several important individuals as mentioned further on. Parsons also lectured and wrote about the importance of education for character, discovering truth and one's calling using probing questions, and contributing one's calling to society. Parsons as well deliberated and then shared his own vision about The Ideal City and the role of education for men and women, as referenced below.

Parsons was a trained civil engineer and lawyer, joining the staff at the Boston University School of Law in 1891 for over a decade, and a social activist advocating for the underprivileged and improving city life including the lives of the working poor. He also became known as an economist and an authority on municipal government, and was an author of many articles and books including The World's Best Books, Our Country's Needs, The Law of Equal Freedom, and The Bondage of Cities.

In one speech to municipal leaders he emphasized the importance of inspiring (Parsons used the word "electrifying") men and women to become their best potential, "by giving every youth a thorough practical education, making every worker a partner in the business and cultivating a true civic patriotism and lofty ideals of devotion to individual and social service". He also asserted, "Train a child to do a kindly act each day, or better every hour, and soon the habit of kindness will become reflex". Further on during this same speech, he added, "Perhaps there will be a commission of experts to examine children and help them and their parents decide what occupations they are best adapted to" (Parsons, 1903, The Ideal City), certainly a foreshadowing of Parsons' involvement with The Vocation Bureau as Director, the systematic and scientific approach he created and called "vocational guidance", and the eventual establishment of the National Vocational Guidance Association, now known as the National Career Development Association.

In the 1890's his work had caught the attention of several others in Massachusetts when he was teaching classes at Boston University School of Law and Boston's YMCA. Philanthropist Pauline Agassiz Shaw founded the Civic House in 1901 to help poor people and immigrants obtain jobs, including providing them educational opportunities.

She appointed Meyer Bloomfield, a social worker and Harvard graduate, to head the Civic Service House where Parsons and his close friend and colleague, Ralph Albertson, were recruited to teach classes. In 1905 Parsons and Albertson founded the Breadwinner's Institute at the Civic Service House, and with other faculty, offered mostly 'liberal arts' courses to young men and women including two courses Parsons and Albertson taught together called Industrial History.

Bloomfield realized Parson's passion for the working poor and his interest in helping them with their vocational choices, and urged Parsons to create plans for an organization that would specifically focus on vocational guidance for young people using the scientific systematic approach he had created that primarily focused on a clear understanding of oneself, knowledge of the various possible requirements and job opportunities, and "true reasoning on the relations of these two groups of facts."

Parsons referenced himself in his book when discussing The Vocation Bureau of Boston, "The Vocation Bureau of Boston was founded in January, 1908, by Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, on plans drawn up by the writer" (Parsons), and continues, "I stated the essence of the matter in a lecture on 'The Ideal City.'" Parsons then shared "That lecture was repeated in Boston before the Economic Club a few years ago, and soon after Mr. Myer Bloomfield and Mr. Philip Davis, on behalf of The Civic House, invited me to speak to the graduating class of one of the evening high schools on the choice of a vocation. After the talk a number of the young men asked for personal interviews, and the results proved to be so helpful that Mr. Bloomfield requested me to draw plans for the permanent organization of the work” (Parsons 1909, p. 89). Thus, The Vocation Bureau of Boston was established as a new department of The Civic House in the North End of Boston.

In January 13, 1908, the Vocation Bureau of Boston opened its doors as a new department in the Civic Service House, with Parsons as the Director, a major step in the institutionalization of vocational guidance globally. Parsons gave his first report to the executive committee of the Vocation Bureau on May 1, 1908, and presented the term "vocational guidance," thus using this term that would become the recognized name of this movement he had envisioned. His three colleagues included Ralph Albertson, Lucinda Wyman Prince, and Philip Davis, who had the title of "Associate Counsellor."

Parsons was intending to teach vocational courses to specifically train counselors in October 1908, and sadly died on September 26, 1908, less then two months before his fifty-fourth birthday.

Ralph Albertson assumed responsibility to teach those courses, Myer Bloomfield eventually became the Director of the Vocational Bureau, and Albertson published Parsons' notes that were planned for his book, posthumously.

Parsons described in his important book that while the majority of applicants to the Vocational Bureau were high school aged students or working youth, "a large number of men and women from fifteen to seventy-two years of age have come to us for consultation, and, according to their own statements, all but two have received much light and help, even declaring that the interview with the counselor was the most important hour of their lives."

Parsons had stipulated the critical importance of implementing some form of vocational guidance within the school system itself. To this end, the Commissioner of Education for Massachusetts, Dr. David Sweden, suggested a committee should plan the First National Conference on Vocational Education which took place during a two-day period, November 15 and 16, 1910 in Boston, sponsored by the Boston Vocation Bureau and the Boston Chamber of Commerce. Professionals from education, social work and corporate settings representing thirty-five cities were invited to participate in what was to be the first of three meetings. The Second National Conference was held in New York City, 1912 sponsored by Teachers College, Columbia University, during which it was decided to create a national organization for vocational guidance. At the Third National Conference in Grand Rapids Michigan, the National Vocational Guidance Association was founded in October, 1913, close to five years later to the month of Frank Parsons' death.

The National Vocational Guidance Association was founded in October, 1913

The National Vocational Guidance Association (NVCA) was one of the founding members of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA) in 1952. APGA changed its name to The American Association for Counseling and Development (AACD) in 1983.

The National Vocational Guidance Association retained its name (NVCA).

The National Vocational Guidance Association (NVCA) changed its name to The National Career Development Association (NCDA) in 1985 and has retained this name.

The American Association for Counseling and Development (AACD) changed its name to The American Counseling Association (ACA) in 1992 and has retained this name.

MACDA is one of NCDA's oldest State Divisions and has a longstanding tradition of serving persons in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our roots trace back to the Associations listed below in reverse chronological order starting with our present State Division MACDA, each having different names as even the parent associations have also had name changes over the years, and all with a direct relationship that trace back to our roots in Boston, Massachusetts, the birthplace of vocational counseling.

A) The Massachusetts Career Development Association MACDA (1986-present)

B) The Massachusetts Bay Association of Counseling and Development (1983-1985) The use of the word "Bay" is a reference to the earlier colonial days because our Bay State was one of the 13 original colonies.

Its Constitution (Article 1, Section 3) stated, "This association also retains its charter as a branch of the National Career Development Association, a Founding Division of the "American Association for Counseling and Development," the latter name being changed to The American Counseling Association in 1992.

C) The Greater Boston Personnel and Guidance Association (1956-86)

D) The Greater Boston Vocational Association chartered in 1920.

E) The New England Vocational Guidance Association (1920-1925)

(“The New England Vocational Guidance Association was organized May 12, 1920, as the result of a series of meetings in Boston of persons interested in the vocational guidance movement. The call for the first meeting was issued by the President of the National Vocational Guidance Association, in accordance with the plan of that body to foster local associations." (October, 1925 article in the Field Department of The Vocational Guidance Magazine, Organ of The National Vocational Guidance Association, Vol. 1V, No. 1. The Bureau of Vocational Guidance, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)

F) First National Conference on Vocational Education in Boston, sponsored by the Vocation Bureau of Boston and the Boston Chamber of Commerce (November 15 -16, 1910)

G) The Vocation Bureau of Boston, opens its doors as a new department in the Civic Service House, with Parsons as the Director, a major step in the institutionalization of vocational guidance globally. (1908)

H) Frank Parsons and colleague Ralph Albertson establish the Breadwinner's Institute at the Civic Service House in the North End, and offer courses that provided a two-year diploma. (1905)

I) Philanthropist Pauline Agassiz Shaw founded the Civic House to help poor people and immigrants obtain jobs, including educational opportunities. Meyer Bloomfield, a social worker and Harvard graduate, appointed to head the Civic Service House where Parsons and his close friend and colleague, Ralph Albertson, were recruited to give lectures.

MACDA in its early years, focused on uniting in one organization all persons engaged or interested in any phase of counseling and development in the Massachusetts Bay Area, including maintaining and improving professional standards, and coordinating counseling activities in public or private agencies, including services for students and service providers.

Much of its history during the 1980's through 2012 focused on the important role for school guidance counselors who facilitate students’ school-to-work and school-to-school transitions. Under the leadership of Edward Bryant, MACDA's previous President, and a retired Captain in the U.S. Navy, MACDA collaborated closely with the Massachusetts Career Counselors Association (MASCA) and encouraged the active participation of school counselors to connect with post-secondary institutions through networking at numerous “dinner meetings”, including spearheading many activities for graduating high school youth who expressed an interest in serving with the United States armed services. His very outgoing and caring personality and love for students and his many colleagues, inspired many individuals and groups over his tenure. His motto was "Live, Laugh, Love and Learn!"

Edward Anthony Colozzi, MACDA’s current President since Ed Bryant retired, expanded efforts to promote excellence in career development research and practice, and continue collaboration with NCDA and stakeholders in New England. Having served as NCDA’s Membership Chair from 2003-04 through 2007-08, initiating five teleconferences involving many national and international sites, Ed was privileged to work closely with Deneen Pennington and her NCDA Executive Office staff to implement numerous activities that encouraged multicultural connections with many people in diverse settings nationally and globally.

In 2013 when the NCDA Centennial Global Conference was held in Boston, MACDA collaborated with NCDA and provided Proclamations and greetings from the Governor of Massachusetts and the Mayor of Boston, including arranging for the official Lexington Minutemen Color Guard and Colonial Dancers to kick of the Centennial Gala. MACDA has been reviewing and updating the Bylaws and continuing to encourage members to promote excellence in research and practice by providing articles in books and journals, including various NCDA publications, and participating and presenting in NCDA and ACA professional development activities.

In 2017 Ed Colozzi initiated a dialogue among the Presidents of the six New England State Divisions (MA, ME, CT, RI and the joint VT/NH) to establish the NEC (New England Consortium). After three years of Zoom meetings and e-mails, the NEC was officially formed in March 2019 with a White Paper, Mission and Values Statements, and the NEC Guidelines that specify a fee structure that incentivizes collaboration and participation in professional development activities and networking among the NEC State Division CDAs. This was officially presented to the NCDA Board at the NCDA Global Conference June, 2019. MACDA collaborated with two NEC representatives who actually presented in person at that 2019 NCDA Global Conference about the creation of our NEC, Amy Jaffe, Past President of the Maine CDA, and Angela Bourassa, Past President of the joint VT/NH CDA. Our NEC is the first such initiative in NCDA's history, and Amy and Angela's presentation inspired other State Division CDAs to initiate a dialogue about possibly forming their own regional consortiums.

The NEC offered its first virtual free Conference March 25, 2022.

Finally, the most recent MACDA initiative is the establishment of this first-time ever official MACDA website made possible with the truly excellent assistance of Haley Brown, a member of the Maine State Division, one of our sister NEC State Division CDAs! Special Thanks to Haley!

It is now important to expand our MACDA State Division and reach out to our many colleagues doing valuable work in numerous settings with multicultural students and clients throughout Massachusetts. This includes professionals from diverse and excellent associations that currently serve the Commonwealth, counselors and teachers from K-12 and post-secondary education settings, counselor educators, representatives from agency, business, and various public and private sectors including private practice, government, labor, parents, and ALL stakeholders. We must collaboratively discuss issues and create innovative and relevant career-life development programs that sufficiently prepare youth for their future as contributing members of an informed citizenry, and assist adults dealing with their own on-going career-life transitions. Our efforts with both practice and research, must include individuals and groups with diverse faith traditions and marginalized populations e.g., BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), first generation students, veterans, incarcerated, homeless, special needs and others.

We welcome your membership in MACDA as we collaborate with NEC sister State Division CDAs, NCDA and other stakeholders, to promote excellence in our efforts.