LYNN — Eighth graders from across the city will gather in the Lynn Auditorium Wednesday, Feb. 8 to hear about the importance of good decision making at Stop the Violence’s fourth eighth grade speaker event.
Ward 6 City Councilor Fred Hogan is the founder of Stop the Violence, a now 9-year-old organization focused on steering the city’s youth away from street violence and crime. He said that the speaker series targets eighth-grade students because they’re at a transitionary — and vulnerable — stage in life.
“It’s a very vulnerable part of life for them, to transition from middle school to high school. We want to try to give them some positive messages and life experience messages. That’s what we do for the speaker series,” Hogan said.
This year’s guest speakers will be Lynn District Court Justice Ina Howard-Hogan and Teen Empowerment Program Manager Thomas Koonce, who was exonerated after spending 30 years of his life incarcerated, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston University while behind bars.
Howard-Hogan is a Lynn native who worked with the state’s Parole Board for seven years. She also served as Assistant Attorney General with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in the Criminal Bureau.
Koonce is a co-founder of the Restorative Justice Group, which brought some of the first restorative justice retreats and healing circles to Massachusetts state prisons. He has 27 years of youth counseling experience, and has dedicated his career to the goal of reducing inmate recidivism.
Hogan said that with the help of Mayor Jared Nicholson and Interim Superintendent of Schools Deb Ruggiero, Stop the Violence was able to secure buses to transport all Lynn Public Schools eighth graders to City Hall for the event. Additionally, private and charter schools across the city were sent an invitation.
“It’s actually been very successful. In the past, a lot of kids have followed up with letters that some of the words that they heard really stuck with them,” Hogan said. “That’s what we do with Stop the Violence. We understand that we’re not going to stop the violence, but if we can help save a couple of kids or get the message out that some things just aren’t the right thing to do, that’s the message our committee is dedicated toward.”
