LYNN — In the aftermath of several violent incidents in the city since late summer, there has been one person standing beside the police, the news cameras, and city officials: Antonio Gutierrez.
The 58-year-old Gutierrez’s 6’4 foot frame is as hard to miss as his shirt that reads “YOUTH OUTREACH ADVOCATE” when he is found at crime scenes, court hearings, demonstrations, and in schools.
Gutierrez founded Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy in 2011 with Teresa DiGregorio.
Since then, the organization has been working with young people in the city, with the goal of keeping them safe, off the streets, and out of handcuffs.
“I like to think I’m doing something,” Gutierrez, whose office has four filing cabinets filled with case files, said.
The recent violent incidents, some involving young people Gutierrez knew, affirmed to him that more needs to be done to address the issues facing the youth of Lynn.
“We have to figure something out here,” Gutierrez, who is originally from The Bronx, said. “We don’t get the benefit of the doubt like other communities.”
In the wake of the city’s recent violence, Gutierrez has stressed how impactful the boots-on-the-ground approach to intervention efforts, something he said goes beyond statistics, is for curbing violence.
“These kids are not numbers,” Gutierrez said. “It’s always one kid at a time.”
LYSOA’s operation involves Gutierrez and the rest of LYSOA’s team keeping tabs on at-risk youth in and outside of schools, something he said the team does five days a week. LYSOA also has afterschool programs that welcome as many as 15 teens a day.
“These kids are 14 or 15, we have three years maximum to really open their minds and figure out what direction they want to go,” Gutierrez said. “We have to push these kids.”
Many of the teens who LYSOA work with are referred to the organization through court-ordered diversion programs through the District Attorney’s office, along with referrals from school officials, parents, and even friends of some of the kids LYSOA works with.
“The more we get in here, the more kids off the street, I’m game,” Gutierrez said. “I don’t turn anybody away.”
According to Gutierrez, LYSOA’s programming, which is free for every child and their family, is backed by a combination of state funding and private donations.
A big part of the approach to preventing teens from turning to criminal behavior, according to Gutierrez, is making sure young people know that they are the ones who decide the path they want to take.
“I tell the young people ‘The ball’s in your court, there’s two way out of this: right and wrong,’” he said.
The Item spoke to one of the teens who got involved with LYSOA after she and her friends were charged with larceny.
The 15-year-old said she had a positive experience at LYSOA and was happy to work on projects like vision boards and volunteering opportunities, as opposed to having to do community service like picking up trash.
“This is a safe place,” she said.
The LYSOA team also includes Rebecca Hermann, who has worked with LYSOA since July after spending time with a similar population in the Department of Youth Services’ system.
Hermann said working in the community has been an adjustment for her, especially with the recent violence in the city.
“There’s a bunch of different factors that aren’t controlled,” Hermann said. “It’s been chaotic, but it hasn’t been so chaotic that I lose sight of what we’re here for and why we do what we do.”
Ashley Braswell has been involved in LYSOA since January, when she started as an intern, and will soon join the organization as a full-time employee.
Braswell said she sees LYSOA’s mission as making pathways for kids to take advantage of the positive opportunities the city has.
“Lynn has so much to offer,” she said. “These kids just want to be able to do it.”
According to Hermann, one of the most important aspects of the work LYSOA does is meeting teens where they’re at and building trust with them.
“It’s hard for them to trust people because people don’t know what they’ve been through,” Hermann said.
Gutierrez said the recent incidents have created tension for many of the young people in the city who went back to classrooms last month. Gutierrez, who spent 30 years involved in gangs, said recent upticks in gang activity in Lynn are another source of stress in teens’ lives.
“It’s tough to try and focus,” Gutierrez said. “They don’t want that. They just want to go to schools, they want to learn and I think every kid deserves an opportunity.”
Gutierrez stressed that he can only do so much and that it is on others in the city, from leaders to community members in general, to step up and support young people.
Overall, he feels that it is time for the city as a whole to help change the outlook teens have on their futures.
“You can ask any of these kids ‘Do you think you’re going to make it out of here?’ and they would say ‘I hope so,’” he said. “Why can’t they say ‘I’m going to make it here, so I can build my community’?”
