LYNN — The Lynn Community Connections Coalition hosted a luncheon to spread awareness for Child Abuse Prevention Month, at which keynote speaker Mayor Jared Nicholson described the steps the city has been taking to encourage collaboration and upcoming programs that he said will make resources more accessible to members of the community.
Representatives of different organizations in the community discussed a range of issues at tables during Wednesday’s luncheon. The centerpieces at each table were related to the table’s topic of discussion, with prompts on small signs such as “Signs of child abuse include….” and “Signs of child abuse in an adult include…” and answers on the signs’ backs.
After those at the tables were able to speak with one another for a bit, Nicholson was introduced.
Nicholson said that he and the city councilors who were in attendance, Nicole McClain and Natasha Megie-Maddrey, are always thinking about the issues he went on to discuss in his speech. He described food, shelter, employment, and education as necessities for the community, and said making them as accessible as possible is a major priority.
“We are moving forward, fiercely and with urgency, and making progress… and we are also facing significant challenges,” Nicholson said. “And the progress we are making doesn’t shield us from those difficult moments. And the progress also doesn’t happen without us coming together.”
Nicholson said that one of the most painful challenges the city is facing right now is community violence and noted that there is a demand for a comprehensive effort to deal with it.
“Community violence requires attention from law enforcement. It also requires it from educators, health-care providers, parents, friends, and neighbors, from civil-rights leaders, from members of the clergy,” Nicholson said.
In the last year, Nicholson said community conversations have been initiated to work on improving these connections, along with the city’s first-ever mentor spotlight event to approve more mentors.
Nicholson also noted upcoming events that will take place to further advance community connections, such as a canvassing event to highlight the area’s resources.
He described how the city is working to enhance accessibility for community members who speak different languages, through strategies such as sharing information in multiple languages, working with a language-access coordinator, and having a team with interpreters at City Hall.
He said there has also been a focus on opening up job opportunities, which Nicholson said has been one of Lynn’s biggest issues.
“A path to stabilizing employment is critical for the economic mobility that we seek, to help us overcome those intertwining issues of disinvestment and discrimination,” Nicholson said.
This goal prompted Lynntech’s grant to offer a new adult-education program, with 20 slots in welding and auto-tech. He said that this goal has also helped diversify the city’s workforce.
“We’ve increased the percentage of city employees of color from one in 10 in 2018 to, this year, one in three,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson also focused on the city’s schools. He described how Lynn has implemented an entire educational workforce dedicated to mental and behavioral health, but has not yet provided sufficient space for the members to do their work.
He said that more space is needed for this initiative and noted that the city will officially be breaking ground on a new middle school in June.
Nicholson finished by emphasizing that the city’s progress depends on the community’s connection, which itself depends on accessibility. He said this is critical to combat issues, especially those involving violence.
“We’ll continue that work to try to create those connections,” Nicholson said. “And becoming the city we ought to be, it’s not about changing… It’s about supporting the people who are here now as we grow together and build our desire and intention together with openness and inclusion.”
To open the event, LCCC Director Brandy Rodriguez described how she started her new role three months before the pandemic hit, and how there had also been 19 years of annual breakfasts to support this cause before 2020. To switch things up, she said the organization decided to make this year’s event, the first since the pandemic, a luncheon, a time when she said people are “more awake.”
Rodriguez further explained that the purpose of the event was to provoke conversation, connect people who can initiate change, and expand outreach and resource accessibility further throughout the community.
“Lynn is rich in resources,” Rodriguez said. “Lots of people just don’t know how to get access to these resources, though.”
