Their idea became Unity in the Community. Their first event, on Sept. 15, was a pep rally that attracted a crowd of about 200. They called it “Increase the Peace” and held it at the Boys & Girls Club. It was a success.
“We wanted to make sure the kids went back to school on a positive note,” said Floyd.
“I’ve known Ernie since I moved here in 1989, and I know Ike,” Luster said. “So having relationships with different guys in the city that you know who are doing things in the community, it’s always great to help because you know you’re only going to get positive things out of it.”
“Ernie and I had worked together many years on different projects,” McBride said. “Charles the same thing, so it really became an easy fit once they approached me. … We’re all part of the Youth Connect umbrella. It made sense to try to put all these pieces together and try to come up with something.”
Youth Connect is an affiliation of organization that provide neighborhood-based activities to Worcester Youth. Member organizations include the Boys & Girls Club, YOU, Inc., the YMCA of Central Mass., Girls, Inc., Friendly House, the Worcester Youth Center and the YWCA.
Walter Jovel is the assistant director of the
HOPE Coalition, a partnership of
17 organizations in the city that came together to represent Worcester’s young people. “We try to pride ourselves on being the voice” of those youths, he said. “We often see the media portray youth as troubled or risky or dangerous, and there’s not a lot of positive pieces on youth.”
“We really wanted to strengthen the collaboration of the local youth agencies and the partners, and to recognize the participants and the positive things the youth agencies are doing.” — Walter Jovel, assistant director of the HOPE Coalition
For Jovel, the chance to change the narrative was a driving force in participating in Unity in the Community.
“Everything we do is youth-led, youth-oriented,” he said. “We try to give them as many skills and as much training as possible and let them run the event, do the facilitation and coordination.”