6-year-old girl joins fight to clean up Boston neighborhood

BOSTON — At just four years old, Ashlynn Williams joined the fight to clean up her neighborhood and help those on the so-called Methadone Mile.

Tiny but mighty, she told Boston 25 News‚ while adults in power are fighting over who’s responsible for the public health crisis in the city, she’s here to take care of *her* neighborhood and the people in it.

“Every time I see someone that has no home, I want to help them,” says Williams, now six years old. Ashlynn lives in Boston’s South End with her family - along the so-called Methadone Mile.

“It’s not fair to the people of Mass and Cass that they’re not getting the things that they need,” says Williams. “And also I think that the rich people get more houses than the people who don’t have money. So you should be good to the people.”

After seeing homeless people camped near her apartment and school; needles on the ground, she began marching with the South End/Roxbury Community Partnership. Bull horn in hand, she added her tiny but mighty voice to the call for action.

“I get all kinds of these ideas popping in my head. Tell me one idea. I want to turn, you know, down the street where all the people are? Instead, I’ll make real houses instead of the tents and shelters and all kinds of those,” says Willams.

Williams has been honored by the city for her work, and wearing her Ashlynn 2060 sweatshirt, the Josiah Quincy Elementary School student has aspirations for the White House.

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