LYNN — On Tuesday, Lynn Youth Street Outreach Association (LYSOA) celebrated the introduction of a new logo and a website along with their further expansion into the Essex County area.
Founded in 2011 as a 501(c)(3) organization, LYSOA has worked with other community operations to supply support to high-risk youth in the area for more than a decade.
The event, which brought together city figures like Mayor Jared Nicholson, Police Chief Christopher Reddy, Judges Ina Howard-Hogan and Kathryn Phelan-Brown, and District Attorney Paul Tucker, testified to LYSOA’s growing presence in Lynn and continued excellence.
“We started out very small in our small kitchen,” Co-Founder and Executive Director Teresa DiGregorio said. Since then, the organization has expanded into a cozy office on Union Street, that was once a sandwich shop, and has recently added an office in Lawrence as well.
“Essex County is seeking our help in other areas, so with that expansion, we needed to make some changes, like our logo and our website,” DiGregario added. “We just got a federal grant for $250,000 to bring everything to the next level over the next three years, so we’re excited.”
She also said they are hoping to get funding for a new service worker in Lynn, thus broadening their abilities to provide for the community.
Co-Founder and Program Director Antonio Gutierrez, who also spoke at the event, echoed similar ideas, saying “now we have a whole professional look, professional logo, the website … we’ve done a lot of work and I’m definitely feeling the love.”
Mayor Nicholson took the time to congratulate and thank the whole team in Lynn for the important work they’ve done, highlighting how their approach to engaging with young people in need has made a positive impact on many corners of the community.
“There is just something so special about the approach that LYSOA takes. It is so authentic, it is so powerful, and it’s really personal,” he said. “I know people from all walks of life get that same feeling that Antonio sees them and LYSOA sees them, and we want to continue your great work.”
With more staff being added to the Lawrence location, and further resources becoming available to the team, LYSOA has ensured that they will continue to be a staple of Lynn and the community of charitable charitable organizations for the foreseeable future.
“Our main focus is collaboration,” DiGregorio said. “We provide our public service … and we collaborate with several organizations here in the city, like Catholic charities, like the Police Department. We’re big on community collaboration.”
Showcased along the freshly painted walls of the office are pictures capturing memories from the organization’s past, collecting snapshots of LYSOA’s young members participating in volunteer work, often with large grins.
“We’re very unorthodox in the work that we do, and the great part about that is that the young people understand that,” Gutierrez said. “That’s why, even after they finish, they still come back to us and look for help.”
