In 1986, Mr. Alston was elected to the 49th Democratic Executive Committee in Philadelphia while he continued to direct and manage his service company and was appointed to the Board of Directors as Treasurer for the Logan Assistance Corp. receiving funds from the State of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia to address the issues of residences of the Logan suburban community of Philadelphia sinking into the ground.

Rick sold his service company in 1989 upon his decision to open a janitorial supply company where he was able to impart his knowledge gained to other contractors in the Philadelphia area. In 2004 he co-founded All Professional Building Services, a janitorial service/cleaning school and merged with Basic Maintenance Supply with the objective of devoting all of his efforts to educate and train contractors in Philadelphia, sharing his vast practical cleaning knowledge through Basic Cleaning Academy in 2006.

Today, Mr. Alston is the Director of Basic Cleaning Academy and a Managing Partner of Global Industry Resources, LLC an Education, Training and Consulting Company dedicated to improving the cleaning industry through factual knowledge and experienced based practical application.