LYNN — Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy (LYSOA) held an event Friday morning to present their Summer Work Program crew with certificates, as well as citations from Mayor Jared C. Nicholson and the City Council, represented by Ward 6 Councilor Fred Hogan.
The members of the program, JJ Laboy, Sierra Velazquez, Nashaun Daveiga, Jahdiel Perez, Jozayiah Figueroa, Kymani Ruiz, and Edriel Nieves, were all recognized for their hard work and dedication over the summer months. Not only did they do physical work, especially when it came to cleaning parks and Lynn Woods, but they also grouped up to work on presentations, tackling challenging but important topics.
Nieves, Figueroa, and Ruiz learned about the opioid epidemic and the efforts Lynn has put into fighting it. Their project examined the impact of the epidemic and its underlying causes. Daveiga and Perez tapped into the issues of homelessness. Lastly, Laboy and Velazquez provided information on gang and gun violence.
The idea for the projects being incorporated into the Summer Work Program came from “the ladies of LYSOA,” according to Co-Founder Antonio Gutierrez. Those ladies were Ashley Braswell and Rebecca Hermann.
Braswell went into detail on the program and how the projects came about. She explained that due to funds being cut from the Shannon Grant, the Opioid Working Group stepped up to provide funding for the program.
“We were able to have seven kids on our working crew. So our work crew is Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., so 20 hours, and it’s kids that we work with already. The youngest is 14, and we have some up to 18, but we continued until 21,” Braswell said. She said she has been part of the work crew for three years.
Braswell said the crew is always working outside, in the schools, and at My Brother’s Table. However, this year they switched it up a bit.
“We did two days outside, and we reached out to every ward councilor in the city in the seven wards, and we had seven weeks for the work crew. They told us their needs, which were for the park areas, so we went to two parks a week on Mondays and Wednesdays. Tuesdays we went to Lynn Woods. … On Thursdays, we brought the educational part in,” she said.
The educational part involved speakers from the District Attorney’s office, the police department’s gang unit and narcotics, former employees, and judges from the district court.
The work program also included diving into key essentials like filling out job applications. She noted that two of their members received full-time jobs at the end of the seven weeks. The projects tied into the essentials as a way to keep the participants reading, writing, and doing research while on summer break.
“We talked about things going on in the city that make a huge impact,” Braswell said. She said the kids spoke to different groups around the city, looked at resources, and found important information to incorporate into their projects. With the projects now completed, the poster boards will be displayed in City Hall.
Braswell and Gutierrez showed pride for the program’s crew, both in the work they did for their projects and their seven weeks of dedication.
When asked how proud he is to see the completed projects, Gutierrez said, “I mean, if you know me, I’ve probably cried a couple of times.” He continued that he never thought the program would grow to this and that he went from working alone to having a space for the kids and people working by his side.
“I worked alone for a long time. People used to tell me it would never work, but look around. To get to this point to have a space for kids to be able to do this, it’s huge,” he said.
Gutierrez emphasized that he was not the one to come up with the project idea. He also told everyone that this moment was for the kids and that the spotlight was meant to be on them.
“I’m truly grateful to have been able to apply, as Faustina (Cuevas) mentioned, to get a little bit of money from the abatement fund to put this summer work crew together to work in the city,” he said. Gutierrez said Hermann and Braswell wanted to add something different to the program “that would bring forth some of the issues that were happening in the city. But not just issues. They want them to bring some kind of solution.
“We wanted for you folks to come out and see. They’re all from the city. They’re inner city youth, right? They say nothing good comes out of the city. I beg to differ,” he said.
Nicholson then thanked the crew for the work they put in over the summer and said how important it is for the city to provide summer job opportunities to the youth.
“Thanks to LYSOA and to all the partners in this program, you’ve had those meaningful opportunities for yourself, but also for the community, and to see the information that you’ve pulled together, the thought and insight are really inspiring. You all just did a terrific job in presenting,” he said.
“Thank you for pulling this together, and please hold on to that,” Nicholson continued. “Let folks know that we’re here working together to try to tackle the issues. They affect us all, every day, and you guys are going to be critical in making those solutions a reality.”
Hogan then mentioned a picture he received of the crew cleaning a park in Ward 6 and how happy he was to see it. He said the proactive work the crew was doing is what would make a difference. He continued that the City Council and City of Lynn were behind the youth 100%.
The crew then received their citations from Hogan and Nicholson and their certificates for completing the Summer Work Program.
