Good afternoon.

For the record, my name is Aaron Murphy at Large City Councillor, and I am the chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Human Services.

Today is April 6th, 2026, and the exact time is two oh three PM.

This hearing is being recorded.

It is also being live streamed at Boston.gov backslash city dash council dash TV and broadcast on Xfinity Channel Eight, RCN Channel 82, and FIOS Channel 964.

Written comments may be sent to the committee email at CCC.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all counselors.

Public testimony will be taken at this hearing.

Individuals will be called on in the order in which they signed up, and we'll have two minutes to testify.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for chairing this important hearing and to the administration officials that are here.

Thank you for the work you're doing in our community.

As we approach the budget season, I'm going to advocate for programs that support residents across the city, especially on violence prevention programs, youth programs.

But I also think a critical part of public safety is advocating for more police officers on our streets.

I still believe we don't have enough police officers.

It's my priority to hire more police officers for the budget process.

And it's important that we also retain police officers in the city.

And that also means respecting police officers and their families and the job they do.

I think we need to do a better job in society of supporting police officers.

They play a critical role.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you.

We will go to Councillor Fitzgerald now.

Thank you, Chair.

I know the three gentlemen on this panel have always worked with the utmost professionalism, and I have supreme confidence in them in delivering as they have been over the summers.

We have seen uh at least the issues in my district uh that have bubbled up.

Um when it comes to that next year around, we've seen a vast improvement.

I think about South Bay specifically, uh, some of the issues that were there, and uh this past summer.

Uh I don't think I received one call from South Bay.

Doesn't mean they're still on some issues to hang on to and and and to worry about, but um gentlemen, we're trending in the right direction.

I think that's all to the leadership of you guys uh here to support you all and uh and our police as well uh to continue to keep that trend going in the right direction.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, General.

Okay.

Um so we have been joined by the lead sponsor, but I'll go first and then you go.

Are you fine?

Okay, so you have one.

And um, Council Calpepa will be back for his opening statement.

So each year we hold this hearing because we know that preparing for summer cannot start when school lets out, and it has to start now.

So summer in Boston should be a time of opportunity, connection, and growth for our young people.

But we also know that when structure, programming, and support are not in place, risk increases.

That is why this hearing is so important.

This is about being proactive, not reactive.

I filed this hearing along with counselor Warrell, um, and I know we've held this before sometimes in the evening in community, but always trying to get ahead of the summer months, which we know more activity happens.

I want to recognize um the administration who is here, Superintendent Chin.

Thank you for all you do at the Bureau of Community Engagement.

Isaac, I have to read it because you have two roles, not just a dad.

You have two other roles.

You have director of the Office of Violence Prevention and the Senior Advisor for Community Safety.

So thank you for being here in both those roles.

And of course, Pedro Cruz, the executive director of the Office of Youth Engagement in Advancement.

So important that as we go into the budget season, especially in a tough year like this, that we're supporting all of the funding, knowing that when we support our youth that we have good results.

So we need to understand also like from you what it looks like on the ground and what changes you may have to be proactive.

Are there safe structured spaces in the evenings and on weekends?

Are our community centers, parks and pools and libraries staffed and prepared?

Are we ready in the neighborhoods that need these resources the most?

Residents want to know what will be happening in their neighborhoods this summer.

Families want to know where their children will have safe spaces to go, and our young people deserve rail opportunities and rail support.

And I do just want to uplift, and we already had that hearing that we also have every year about youth summer jobs.

So thank you for all of you in this administration for always supporting and expanding those opportunities for our youth.

So looking forward to hearing from you.

I will go now to Councillor Culpeper, and then we will end with the lead sponsor, Council Warrell, and then we'll go right into the panel.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Murphy for holding this hearing.

As we prepare for the upcoming summer, it's critical that we take a comprehensive look at how the city is approaching youth safety.

Not just from the enforcement perspective, but through opportunity, engagement, and prevention.

The mayor's summer safety plan rightly emphasizes that safety is built through connection programming and consistent investment in young people.

Boston After Dark has already expanded from 18 events serving 1,000 youth in 2024 to 23 events serving over 1,500 youth in 2025, and further expansion plans for 2026, including region, and this is an important group, a really really important group.

And I appreciate you, including this, Isaac.

And all listen, including reaching youth, adult ages, and that's at critical age, 19 to 25, and deep me in partnership with institutions and the Boston Housing Authority.

That progress is meaningful.

But it also raises important questions about scale, consistency, and whether we are meeting the full level of needs across neighborhoods.

We need to ensure that there's adequate programming, staffing, violence prevention strategies, and I'll be out there too.

And public health resources are fully aligned before the summer begins, and that we are investing at every level necessary to keep young people safe, engaged, and supported.

So I thank you for holding this hearing.

Looking forward to hearing the discussion because we know that over the years we've worked hard.

We consider this the safest city in the country.

Not because man have fell from heaven, but because Isaac.

So I just want to commend all of you for the work that you've done and for what you've been able to see is necessary.

And uh looking forward to meeting you out in the street this summer.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Warren.

Yes, thank you, Chair, and thank you to the panel for being here and all your work around summer engagement for our youth for the last uh you know four or five summers.

Um my grandmother always used to tell me an idol mind is the devil's playground.

Uh, you we know school's out, so it's important that we find programming uh for our young people during that time.

So we just want to have this comprehens uh conversation so that the council uh can offer feedback uh to your plans and also that the public is also aware of your plans as well.

And I know uh Isaac, you have gone around on your tour on the summer engagement tour, which I believe you started like two, three years ago.

So thank you for that, to get each of those neighborhoods to play a part, but also offer uh their input um and suggestions on plans.

Uh the other thing that I think this will also help with is for the public right now to give their opportunity to provide their feedback on the summer safety plan.

So excited uh about the summer because this is another opportunity to engage our young people, and through that engagement, you know, we will keep violence down.

Thank you.

Awesome, thank you.

So we will turn it over to today's panel.

Um you can formally just introduce yourself as you say your opening statements, please.

Step down.

Yes, my name is Pedro Cruz.

I'm the executive director of the Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement.

For fun, we like to say oh, yeah, best acronym in the city, but I'm biased with that.

Um, it's a pleasure to be here, truthfully, you may I always love the opportunity to come speak to leadership and also to the community.

Um, as mentioned, um, you know, our office was launched three years ago, as I said a few times during different hearings.

We were launched to really support youth services across the city and really build partnerships.

We do that by supporting what we've coined the three levels of youth work, which is youth programs and spaces.

So all programs and all spaces created for young people, whether that's a school, whether it's a community center, whether it's a nonprofit, whether it's a basketball court and BHA site, it's all youth spaces and programs created for young people.

Um, the second is you facing individuals, so anybody that works in those spaces and build relationships with young people.

So whether it's a teacher, whether it's a program coordinator, a coach, uh, a clinician, the security guard out of high school, it's all adults that work in those spaces and build relationships with young people, um, and then young people themselves, ages 14 to 25.

And we were really strategic when we launched this office to make sure that we made sure that we wanted to serve that those two buckets in terms of that 14 to 18, but also that 19 to 25 year old population.

Um to the next slide.

We've built um two of these already existed when I took over the office.

So the Mayor's Youth Council and Youth Lead to Change, both of those already existed in the city structure.

We've built the other six programs across the last three years, and really again to support organizations, spaces, adults and young people throughout those ages.

Focusing specifically on the summer two years ago, in response to what happened in South Bay in 2023 when about over 100 young people mobilizing South Bay.

My office and my team launched Boston After Dark, which is a series of Fridays events starting from when the first Friday when school ends to the last Friday when school begins.

We launched Boston After Dark, which is really focused on creating safe spaces throughout the summer for young people on the evening hours.

So when they're not working, when they're done with programming, they'll have something to do across the community.

So the first year that we launched Boston after dark, we did 18 events across nine neighborhoods as counselor call purple was mentioning, and we engaged over a thousand young people.

The second year that we brought it back, which was last summer, we we expanded to 23 events across 15 neighborhoods and engage over 1500 young people.

You took all my talking points, Hopper.

But with that, we we expanded our partnerships and added a BHA site last year as well, too, though, just to really explore because we're we're very mindful that now all young people feel safe leaving their communities for community safety reasons.

So we wanted to bring programming to them.

So now looking into this upcoming summer, 2026, we're gonna be continuing our partnerships with BCYF and YMCA centers.

Um and we're expanding our Boston Housing Authority in partnership with Isaac's team.

We're gonna be doing four um BHA sites this summer, and then um, as mentioned earlier by the counselor, since last summer till today, we've actually been able to expand and create events for 19 or 25 year olds.

One of those is even going to be a comedy event we're doing in the mezzanine of City Hall.

But again, really giving that 19 to 25 year old population also things to do and engage, and then partnerships that I do want to mention that I think has been institute um just really crucial.

Last about two weeks ago, we brought Boston after dark to the ICA where we saw over 300 young people attend, and we're gonna be doing an event this um Sunday coming up at the MFA.

And it's really our efforts to welcome these young people into these institutions that we know we've heard from the community that a lot of young people don't have that confidence to step into these institutions because of just um culture that has been built throughout the year.

So we're doing our due diligence to work closely with these institutions to make these spaces welcome and to introduce them to these spaces and really welcome them.

And we're also doing that in collaboration with Boston Family Days as well, too.

Um and then the other resources I want to share.

Actually, before I jump off of that, we work in close partnership with BPD for all these Boston After Dark events.

We have community officers from all these neighborhoods that show up and we try to build those relationships with their community officers, whether it's through their ice cream truck or whether it's through them just showing up and engaging with the young people in activities.

We're very mindful of those partnerships as well, too.

Um again to build those relationships between the the young people in the communities with the community officers that are assigned to serve them.

And then the other um initiative, I stopped clicking a while ago.

The other the other initiative that I want to share that we have that we're offering is the youth line.

We also launched this about two years ago.

Um I know in here we've heard it uh I I I heard it in here first, but about Boston being connection um resource race connection poor.

We wanted to take that work on ourselves and really make sure that we connect young people to the resources that are out there.

Um we first started it, we were short of 300 resources.

Right now, our database has over 700 resources and opportunities that we've identified.

We created an online dashboard that's really easy to use for young people.

So instead of navigating 700 websites, they can go directly to this one website we created and have all the resources and filter it based off what they're looking for.

I also have a full-time staff member that oversees the intake form.

So if a young person or a parent or a program coordinator doesn't feel comfortable navigating the technology, they can just fill out an intake form, and my team responds within 24 to 48 hours.

And our job is really a referral program.

We connect them to these resources and kind of follow through the whole relationship to make sure that we connect them and that they get a response, and then we kind of move on to the other ones.

And we build and we we've been receiving intake forms and helping a lot of families get connected, but again, we've also been improving that database, and even most recently with the um with the do it team, we've added an AI component that really enhances the search option.

So when they're looking for resources, it not only looks through our database but anything else in the internet that we might have missed.

Um, and we also have a community events calendar that we manage.

Um we we update it on a weekly basis, and it has all the community events that are focused with that 14 to 25 year old population across the city, not just within city hall, but all the events that are happening across the city.

And we and we share over a hundred free events every single month on this calendar.

So these are again, these are all resources from the spaces that we create to the resources that we're trying to connect them to to the calendar that we manage.

Our goal is to really give young people the option of what to do, what's out there, and give them fun and safe spaces and ways to connect with city programming and community events as well.

So I thank you again.

I look forward to um answering all your questions and hearing testimony.

Um, but again, just really appreciate the leadership and thank you all as well, too, for the support because everything we've done has been also with the support of the leadership that's in this room and with my colleagues that are with me here, and then I'll pass over um the mic to Isaac.

Well, sorry, um, if I could just acknowledge that Alice and Vernary, thank you from the Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity.

So if at any point any of my colleagues, as we many of our opening statements touched on the great opportunity that our youth summer jobs have.

So thank you for being here.

Sorry, go ahead, Isaac.

Uh yes, good afternoon, counselors.

Um Isaac Gablo, senior advisor for community safety since 2023, and as of June 25, director of the Office of Violence Prevention.

Um, as Councillor Warrell mentioned, we every year uh prior to the summer coming, we engage community.

Many of you in this room have been uh Reverend Cole Pepper in a previous life you attended, Councillor Flynn used the same life, yeah.

Uh different context, I guess.

Um but yeah, so uh we've we've always done these engagements with the goal of hearing directly from constituents, residents about what they'd like to see us prioritize as we enter the warmer season.

Um not this past summer, the summer before we had uh over 30 engagements across the entire city, just hearing from everyone.

Uh and some of the common topics, frequent topics that come up every year, uh perceptions of neighborhood safety being misaligned with our actual progress that we made in terms of numerical progress.

So folks don't feel like uh as safe as the numbers would reflect.

Um, community engagement, information access.

Uh they want to be aware of what we are offering as a city before we announce it.

Um, youth employment, localized employment.

So, shout out to Allison and Pedro and all the work that that the OET and YEO are doing, but um also expanding to a year-round model where where students can be working during the school year, um, strategizing around key dates, times, and and weekends, so we know 4th of July, Memorial Day, uh, certain other days during the warmer season, we know that there can be an increase of violence, so making sure that we're prepared for that.

And then last certainly but not least, street safety, so dirt bikes, ATVs, uh, and all of that stuff.

Um, this year, our engagements prior to the summer are focused around two specific initiatives.

So the community conversations that we are having, and then uh our village vibe series, which is essentially resource fairs that we do throughout the city, high traffic areas.

So we just did one in Ashmont.

We have a few coming up uh with the goal of meeting people where they're at, talking to as many constituents and getting FaceTime with the community.

Um previous summers, it's been uh a multi-layered plan with multiple different categories.

The framework is loosely in and uh connected to our plan to end violence, which is a long-term uh strategic investment plan.

We always say if there's a fire that's because of a gas leak, you have to address the gas leak that leads to the fire.

So we have to be able to concurrently respond to incidents, but also build communities that are preventing them.

So the framework largely or in the past has been centered around four main uh areas prevention, creating conditions for peace, intervention, addressing what leads to harm, recovery, healing after violence, and then perhaps the most important piece, which is reinvestment, reinvestment directly back into communities.

Uh, additionally, historically, I've added sections on community building and empowerment initiatives, so like open streets, City Hall Plaza activations, all the cultural celebrations we have throughout the city, and then another specific section on heightened community concerns during the summer.

So that again, dirt bikes, ATVs, fireworks, after hours parties, increased uh um amount of community violence.

Uh this year we are also going to incorporate a section on all of the large-scale events that we're actively planning for, so like World Cup, Tall Ships, 250th, etc.

So just making sure that we're um continuing to be uh in cahoots with each other uh with those particular things.

This is not me as a standalone individual, it is multiple departments.

And that goes uh that also includes our colleagues and and my colleagues uh from the Boston Public Health Commission, whereas in years past, we weren't as strong with reporting on that.

Um previous summers, what has gone well, engaged community prior to the process, um cross-departmental collaborative plan that included the majority of City of Boston cabinets and departments, record number of summer youth jobs, shout out to Allison, um hosted events in every city neighborhood.

Shout out to Pedro, um, prioritize creating opportunities for youth and young adults across every neighborhood, activated physical spaces that have experienced heightened levels of community violence, created thoughtful, impactful summer-specific program like Boston After Dark, uh, and then maintain a crime level well below our five-year average.

Um areas for improvement because there's always room to improve.

We can response to community violence.

Uh the community healing response network has worked Monday through Friday, and we've seen over the years that Friday through Sunday and actually into Monday are some of the more violent days.

So as we look into this summer, that those are some of the changes that we're going to be making.

Complications with job placements among opportunity and proven risk youth, um, safety concerns, um, uh eligibility to work.

There's a lot of things that we have to take into consider into consideration when we're trying to place a young person, particularly one that has involvement with the criminal legal system.

Um challenges with work opportunities for summer school youth.

So because summer schooling ends at a certain time, um, historically there have been challenges with trying to make sure that they get placed, but those are shifts that we're making uh this year.

Um counselor Fitzgerald mentioned it, but um adolescent activity and youth violence in non-city of Boston-owned spaces, so this the Tees, downtown Boston, South Bay, um transition and summer programming.

So that's what Pedro created the fill the gap to address between the end of the summer and the beginning of the fall that week, in between jobs ending and school starting, and then the availability of trauma support resets resources for non-community violence related matters, so overdose, car crash, uh infant-related complications, etc.

Ensuring that there is uh still a continuum of care for residents impacted by trauma that is not related to community violence.

Um, and with that, I I just want to end with what our major focus areas will be, as I mentioned, some of them already, a lot of the anti-human trafficking work that's being anchored by Kim and our domestic sexual gender-based violence prevention team, uh, intense community coalition building with our VIP team, expanding, codifying, and implementing improved response protocols, training and case management systems within our community healing response network, formerly known as the trauma team, strengthening internal capacity so that our capacity building and training initiative can actually uh do more to support, ensuring that all proven risk and life course unit referrals are supported by me as the director, securing employment and engagement opportunities for the proven risk youth via YOU, via Boston Public Schools, via uh YEO, and then strengthening supports for summer school and fifth quarter young people because we want to make sure, as I mentioned before, that they uh feel the love as well.

And with that, I'll I'll pass it over to Superintendent Chim.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair, members of the council.

Uh, thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

I am Superintendent James Chin.

I am the chief of the Bureau of uh Community Engagement for the Boston Police Department.

The Boston Police Department is committed to supporting a safe, healthy, and active summer across all our neighborhoods.

We recognize that public safety is not achieved through enforcement alone, it is built through strong partnerships, coordinated planning, and meaningful engagement with our youth and community stakeholders.

My bureau, as well as the district community service officers who work closely with our city partners and community-based organizations to provide programming and activity opportunities for young people throughout the summer.

And as a department, we provide a visible community-oriented presence in parks, neighborhoods, and public spaces.

Our approach prioritizes prevention, problem solving, and trust building, supporting youth engagement initiatives, violence intervention efforts, and data-informed deployment strategies to address emerging risks during the summer months.

We work alongside our partners like Isaac and Pedro.

We work with all our city departments to come up with initiatives.

We listen to the communities at our community meetings as to what they want to see, and we create these programs that we run across the city and provide for our youth.

We believe the first interaction with a police officer should be a positive one, and we carry that all the way from uh reading to the kids when they're young all the way into their teenage years and into the early adulthood.

I look forward to answering any of your questions regarding and coordinated efforts for the upcoming summer months.

And thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you all for that.

We will start with the lead sponsor, Council Varrell.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for that presentation.

A few quick questions I have is the cost.

The cost for BPD for Boston After Dark.

Just kind of want to think that through.

I mean, the city is talking about, you know, it's a tight year for whether it's expenses or revenue.

So I just wanted to see what the cost was.

Maybe there's an advocacy we could do to the State House to see if they could cover the cost, but do we know what the cost is for BPD to cover the Boston After Dog programs?

No, I would say, well, I I wouldn't be able to give you the BPD numbers.

I just know that that these um our officers that are already on on duty, they're kind of show up to our event to support and they stop by and then they stop by at their own leisure, though some of them stay the whole event, some of them stay for whatever time they can, but I wouldn't be able to give you a number.

Uh council, I don't have that information, but most of our officers are on duty when they participate in that.

Okay.

Uh we use uh officers on that current shift after dark, like from four to midnight.

Uh we assign officers to those events that they carry.

So yeah, um, yeah, if you could just see if you could give me like the amount of officers you use during that time frame, maybe we could find a way to pull costs from there.

Okay.

Um the other question I have is I know we we talk a lot about uh youth programming, uh, but one thing that also comes up during the summer, maybe Isaac, you can speak to this and Superintendent Chin is you know, these street takeovers sometimes.

Um do we have a plan or um any strategy around that this year?

I know in in years past uh deputy superintendent Huff Humphreys and Deputy Superintendent Harris have uh compiled what is called the Revelers Plan, I believe, and that's essentially it's meant to address, I don't know if it's specifically the street takeovers, just more broad, illicit um activity in the streets.

I know that there are conversations that we have all the time, and for us, at least on the violence prevention side, is starting by identifying the the places that are most likely for these things, so like South Bay was an area, the back parking lot behind what's that, uh Macy's and everything, that little stretch.

I know Franklin Park is historically in summers, like this past summer, for example, a lot of them were taken outside of the city.

So Dedham became a location, Quincy became a location.

So it's also going to be important for us to be collaborating on a regional on a regional level, but those conversations are definitely happening.

Awesome.

And then Superintendent Chen, and you spoke about data-informed deployment.

Uh leading up to the summer, um, maybe it's Isaac and uh the superintendent, the indicate like there are indicators to kind of tell us what kind of summer that we're gonna have, right, based off of the data, whether it's um school fights, right, whether it's um incidents that have led up to this year.

Like, is there any data kind of give us an idea of what type of summer we're heading into?

Well, we rely on the intelligence from our bureau um the brick, basically.

Um but as far as we know, right now it's been trending downward um because it reflects our crime rates.

So it's been trending down like this year, our we're down violent crime, probably about five percent year to date.

So, you know, we depend on those type type of numbers, but we're always prepared.

I mean, talking uh going back to your question earlier about the revelers, yeah.

We we're gonna do our enforcement when we have information ahead of time, and uh we rely also on intelligence, you know, from um social media when they announce that they're gonna take over a certain area, we prepare for that.

So we make sure we have uh enough officers and to you know uh put out there at those locations to make sure that they don't take over anything.

Uh they they've given me information for the last three years, old road.

I just want to put it on everyone's um railroad.

Old road is a priority for us.

And counsel, I just want to add as well, I think one of the main things that we on the OVP side have been paying attention to is um like the neighborhoods or micro locations within the city that have not historically been as active.

Um just ensuring that as residents are moved across the city, whether it's via displacement or voluntary move that we're actually following them.

Um, because if we have a resident, say that was raised in Jamaica Plain in the Mildred Haley community, and then they do a safety transfer into Brighton.

There's the availability of resources, the community looks it just looks very different.

So just making sure that we're following, but those are the trends that we've really been paying attention to.

It's just kind of like moving pieces throughout the city and ensuring that Brighton, East Boston, Charlestown, South Boston, those communities are equally as prioritized.

Awesome.

And the um collaboration, do we collaborate with uh BPS and I guess how so with Boston After Dark or in your work, guys it?

So I'll jump in with Boston after dark is actually strategically aligned for the summertime.

So I do I do share with anything and everything that we do, I do share it with BPS leadership and really depend on them blasting it out.

Um and then what we've collaborated with the most recently is that we've actually strategically try to expand into vacation weeks.

So this year was the first year that we went past the summer, and now we're looking at making sure they're stuck during vacation weeks.

Um and again expanding over into the institution.

So we have collaborated with them in terms of getting the word out there.

Um, but for the most part, it leans in our community because um it goes over the summer time.

Right.

And on my end, I think a lot of the young people that will be doing summer school will end up working with us this summer.

So I work directly with uh student support and safety services, but specifically within student support, the division of intensive student support.

So like the young people that might have safety concerns um that have barriers to like a linear advancement in their educational journey.

Right.

Um do one more, sure.

Or one and a half more.

Um vacation weeks.

Um I'm a new dad, he's only my son's only three years old, so I'm not really well versed.

Christmas vacation, April, February as well, too.

Okay.

So there's three.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and I believe like I don't know, I'm not sure if like there's a Thanksgiving one, but I but I know the main ones is definitely Christmas vacation, Christmas vacation, February vacation, and April vacation.

Okay.

Yeah, and then just to throw out there during February vacation is when we do our Mayor's Youth Summit, and then we we've been strategically trying to line ourselves up with advanced throughout the other vacation weeks.

Awesome.

And then YOU job placement.

Yes.

Is it one for one now, or are any of those young people that are in YLU that are looking for a job, not getting a job?

Uh so we are still in the process.

We just closed our application for that, I believe April 1st.

We got 155 applications.

Some YOU for YOU specifically for the program.

Okay.

There's last I checked this, I think there's 135 spots.

And so, first of all, what we have to do is vet every single young person that does get referred because there are some young people that don't have to work with YOU that could work a traditional YEO job.

So my prediction is that for the 15 or so that uh that difference, they will get rolled over into another employment opportunity this summer.

But we are over capacity right now with YOU.

So the commitment is that everyone who's in YOU will be able to get a summer job if they're if they've been referred to if they've been referred to YOU and they are job eligible, yeah, absolutely.

Okay, how many young people are not typically not job eligible?

Well, it depends on because our criteria for employment is slightly different.

Like we can work with young people that have open charges, right?

And so our criteria for eligible eligibility will be we will be prioritizing the young people that have the most intense concerns, um, facing them, whether again it's criminal legal system involvement, safety concerns, summer school, etc.

Uh, the ones that do not have those uh concerns that are able to work through YEO and their eligibility process, we will make sure that they are referred out and that there's more than a soft handoff given.

Yeah, thank you.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Um we will go to councillor Flynn.

Thank you.

Um let me ask, let me ask Superintendent Chen.

Um we spend a lot of time and effort, as you know, working in the Chinatown and downtown area, supporting residents, trying to make the neighborhood as safe as we can.

Um, what can we do during the summer to provide a safer environment for um our seniors that are in Chinatown?

I know how important the police officers um in A1, the great work they do, but I do see I do still see a lot of um drug dealing activity in and around the Chinatown gate.

Is this something we can prioritize this summer, Superintendent?

Um definitely uh district one, they have their own drug control unit that's assigned to District One and they answer to a lot of community complaints.

And the Chinatown Gate is one of those spots that they've been working on.

Um the district captains aware of it, and they'll be stepping up their patrol.

We have a uh permanent walking beat in Chinatown with uh an officer who uh speaks bilingual language and um the seniors in general, you know, we're doing our for our prevention and things like that to make sure that they're aware of all the frauds that go on.

Um and you know, we're always um you know, working with age strong.

We work together with them to make sure that we hear their complaints or anything that might come up that we can definitely um supply some resources to.

So our summer is robust, so we will we will be out there.

Thank you, Superintendent.

I'm also glad you mentioned the A one, but the um the police officers, the Asian police office offices do an exceptional job.

I also know as as you know that some speak Cantonese, and that's critical.

They do a wonderful job in terms of interacting with the residents, they treat the residents with respect.

Chinatown is a community that supports the police.

Um so I just want to say thank you to um the A1 team that does an important job in our city, not just in Chinatown, but in Charlestown and downtown Boston as well.

Um let me let me ask Dr.

Um, and we've done some work in the past in public housing developments, um, especially with young people.

What what are the plans in terms of working with young people in maybe maybe at Mary Allen McComick, maybe West Broadway, maybe some other developments, um Ruth Barkley in the South End.

But how how we go into work with young people on public safety initiatives and public housing?

And and same same same thing with Pedro as well.

Yeah, so involving them in most of the conversations that we have, right?

So a lot of the time we talk about young people without them being present.

So first and foremost, involving them, but then uh we have active plans to engage some of the more prominent community leaders within those developments that you mentioned.

So I know across West Broadway and Mary Ellen McCormick, obviously uh we both work very closely with Mercy Robinson, so um that's a person, and then folks in my team, specifically Matt Parker, who grew up in Cathedral Ruth Barkley, he will be running point on engagements out there as well.

Um but yeah, we have it's it's kind of just continuation of what we already do, which is um meet the young people where they're at.

My team has helped to set up some of the community centers and other developments across across the city, and I would like for that to become uh something that we're prioritizing across every development is like making sure that there's a set space for our young people to safely gather and and percolate.

Thank you.

And then I'll jump in and say that uh my office has great relationships with the um staff members that work with young people across BHA.

Um we're consistently in communication.

We attend a lot of the same meetings around community safety as well to make sure that we provide any support that we can.

And as mentioned during um my presentation last year, we piloted um a Boston After Dark event at Franklin Field because again, we we acknowledge me growing up in Boston.

I know that a lot of young people are just not gonna feel safe coming out of their community because of community safety reasons.

So we piloted an event last year in Franklin Field to see what what would it look like if we bring programming to them, and and just so you understand our approach, we didn't um promote that event publicly also too because of safety reasons, so we just promoted or promoted it closely with BHA um and their residents to make sure that they were aware and we had over 80 young people that came out of the their houses and attended that event, and because of that success, we're expanding um to four different BHA sites this summer um to do the same thing.

We're gonna keep those events private, but it's our way of bringing these um services to their front door to make sure that they don't have to leave the community um and they can get the same services.

And in between these events, we've actually re recently worked with Charlestown um as well too with BHA to help provide some of the events that were having there too.

So um where we're consistently looking for ways to work with BHA and being mindful that not every young person is gonna feel either safe or feel like it's cool to show up to a BCY for a YMCA, so we're really consistently uh strategizing on how do we bring our services to BHA knowing that that's a whole separate population.

Thank you, Pedro.

Uh Madam Chair, may I ask one more question?

Okay.

Um and and Doctor, maybe maybe you can try to answer this one, and I'm glad public public health is here as well.

But if someone is engaged in in violence, whether they're a survivor of violence or or um was involved in a violent assault on somebody.

What is the what do we need to do to get that person the counseling, the support, the mental health counseling support that they need so that they can be healthy and productive, but not getting that mental health support from violent activities.

Um you carry that mental health with you, challenges with you, and it never gets resolved unless you get counseling.

Is that is that accurate, Josh?

Yes, absolutely.

We we always say that we can't kind of program ourselves out of uh a mental health-related complication.

Um I want to respond to you by by elevating the work of the Life Course Health Unit run by Roy Martin, which is three separate programs within one unit, uh, promoting potential Boston P2B, as we call it, the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative, SSYI, and then the Men's Health Initiative.

Um the way that I kind of uh I make the distinction for the life course unit compared to other uh community violence intervention-based programs is is it the the distinction is rooted in the priority and focus on clinical complications that the individual might face.

So we do accept individuals that are individuals that are bad actors in in violence and are survivors of violence.

Roy's team works with both because we've seen you know, an individual that is a survivor one day might be an actor, and then vice versa.

Uh but I think it again, you're you're you're hitting the right notes.

It starts by acknowledging that there is a legitimate clinical concern that programming in itself uh will not eradicate.

So it's a combination of intense case management and programming, but then also intensive clinical supports as well.

Um thank you, Yabo, and uh thank you to Pedro and to the superintendent.

Um Madam Chair, thank you.

Thank you.

We'll go to Councillor Calpecker.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um it's good to see you and listen to you, Pedro.

And uh you're doing something at the MFA this Sunday.

Correct.

What are you doing?

So we're doing a teen night there, so we've collaborated.

We again we uh one of the biggest things, and I've sent a lot of hearings is partnerships, man.

I believe that youth work, true youth work is is done in a collaborative manner.

So we've had conversations with Boston Family Days and the MFA, and we realize that a lot of teens are not taking advantage of the Boston Family Days, and just through my own research, we realized that they just don't feel welcome just because of the culture that's been built in the city.

So I've been working closely, like I said, we did ICA about two weeks ago.

We had 300 teens show up for their teen night, and we're collaborating with the MFA this upcoming Sunday for our teen night at the MFA.

Um, and we're promoting it across our network.

And again, it's our ways of letting these young people know that they're welcome into these institutions, and our role within that space is that we're actually activating some of the rooms they gave us with some cool activities and games, so that when they're there, it's not just get them through the door and leave them on their own, but that they're welcomed by our staff and they're welcome in collaboration with their their team council along with our council, um, our youth council, and and again, it's it's not just getting them through the door, but having them make sure that they feel welcome, that they're um engaged, and then hopefully after our teen event, that they walk around the institution and take advantage of the space.

That's the Museum of Fine Arts.

Correct.

What time is that?

That's gonna be from 12 to 3 on Sunday.

12 p.m.

To 3 p.m.

3 p.m.

I'm gonna come over there.

Please, you're more than welcome for sure.

Yeah, yeah.

And then you're you're having an event in the mezzanine, a comedy event.

Yeah, that one's gonna be focused for the 19 to 25 year old population as well.

Um, if you give me a second, I can definitely get you that.

I want to make sure I get you the right.

We don't have to do it now.

Yeah, I want to just keep moving because you know they limit my time.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

Unfortunately, you know.

But I'll make sure I'll make sure I follow up with your office and I'll send you the invite.

Counselor Murphy doesn't, but Council Weber certainly does.

Yeah.

But it doesn't want you asking questions about the budget.

But let me let me just say this.

Because years ago.

And it's it's not talked about much.

But we used to have parties down in the mezzanine.

No, we had parties down in the mezzanine downstairs.

And it would be flooded all over the place.

And we were really partying, we were getting down partying in City Hall.

Some of these cracks in these buildings.

And so I I think you're doing the right thing by using the different venues where young folks have not felt comfortable coming.

Because it brings a certain level of confidence to them.

And so, yeah, I think this comedy night, I'm gonna be there too.

It's April 30th or 7 p.m.

I'm coming.

Yeah, it'll be a fun night.

Council were well is coming too.

April 17th, what time is it?

April 30th.

April 30th at 7 p.m.

Okay.

With some jokes.

And I wanna uh Isaac talk to you a little bit about the So we know we have different neighborhoods that have different issues, right?

And you talked a little bit about how do we keep these, when we do these major events, like when you do the um comedy night here, that's 19 to 24, right?

Yeah, 19 to 25.

And all the young folks are invited, right?

And this is more for Isaac, how do how do we keep some of the young folks that we know have issues?

How do we determine who should come and who shouldn't come?

Uh thank you for the question.

I think it's I think it's hard for us on the city side to determine who should and shouldn't come, because ideally, I know I think I speak for Pedro when I say that we want all young people to feel welcome in whatever space that uh we curate.

The reality is is that there are certain complications uh that we face.

Um on our end in terms of safety planning, uh I appreciate the convers with the question earlier about the school, so being in the loop with what's happening in the school, because what we've seen happen in communities sometimes is a spillover from the school.

So being up to date on any major incidents or any kind of uh ground level level chatter that that that something might happen.

Um but then also, and Pedro has done a really good job at this in spaces that he is curated, there's someone from his team that's seeing the face of every young person that walks into that room.

It's not like we're we're creating spaces where we don't want to know who the young people are.

Um when there are the young people that might have certain safety concerns, it's usually someone that has knowledge of that young person that's making direct contact with them, reinforcing that this is not a place for um violence, uh, and that um we want everyone to feel respect respected and to respect the space.

That's so all the kids are going through the mags, right?

To the mezzanine?

No, through the McDonald's downstairs to make sure.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We're gonna be using the main entrance on the on the third downstairs.

Yeah, correct.

Okay, okay.

Because I mean, you know, it's real, and and Isaac knows, you know, you one kid sees the wrong kid, and next thing you know he's on the phone, and you know that they can't, you know, when they get on that phone boy, and and it becomes for me an issue to make sure that they can all come, knowing the realities of it that Isaac talked about that they all really can't come, especially with that group 23 to 25 year olds, and when you look at where we are now, um the summer jobs for the um 19 to 25.

What are we gonna do in terms of not just the summer but for them over the course of the year in terms of employment?

I'll jump in and say that that's why um our team out with the youth line focuses on, and we've had even most recently we've had um families reach out with with members of their family who are 23, 24, even up to 25, even 26 if you honestly do recently I dealt with the case for someone that was right out of the scope, but we still help them in terms of connecting them to um different programs around the city um and connecting them to other resources and just kind of helping them out, whether it's a program that helps build their resume or whether it's a program that does job placement, um, we always try to be that that referral that that that bridge to these resources that are out there.

And what about the young folks that are coming out 1920, 21, 22 that are coming out of prison, they get referred.

You so um those are the ones when you said they get referred out that's what you were talking to.

We receive the referral.

So my team, anyone that is uh returning home from custody, especially individuals connected to the to the Mattis ruling, I would I'm pretty confident when I state that the majority of those individuals, and they're not 19 to 25, they're they're older adults, yeah, are being referred to our team.

I would I'm pretty confident when I state that the majority of those individuals, and they're not 19 to 25, they're they're older adults, yeah, are being referred to our team.

SSYI is meant to address that population of like 17 to 24, and then MHI goes 25 and up.

Um YOU also is 14 to 24, so there is a special focus for the 19 to 24 year olds within the YLU program.

So there's uh a lot of different resources that individuals, and then of course the amazing work that Ashley in the Office of Returning Citizens is doing, right?

Um so there's internal and then there's a lot of external partners that we rely on to ensure that 19 to 24 year olds that do have uh intimate involvement with the criminal legal system or safety concerns are still paid.

So are they referred to you as they leave or just before they leave?

Do you get some kind of notices this young person is is coming out so that you can pick them up?

So my team, Roy's team is in the Department of Corrections in the House of Corrections, they have ID access to all uh uh facilities within our county, and they also have relationships with um the sheriff's departments from other counties as well.

They don't have badge access to like Middlesex and and etc.

But they're in the jails in DYS prior to individuals returning home.

So by the time they come home, there's already been contact made with them, there's already a working relationship.

Yeah.

And that's where when some of them are coming home to BHA, you also have by the time they get home, you're there already sitting on their front porch waiting for basically because I think that's critical, and and I really just want to commend you guys for the work that you've been doing because for years that was missed.

No one was catching that, but but it sounds like you guys are catching it now.

And just want to commend you all and Pedro and uh Superintendent Chin for the work that you've done.

I've got one last question.

It has to do with our metrics.

What specific performance metrics are each of you being used to evaluate the success of your programs?

Yeah, I'll jump in and I'll say first of all, I think the most basic one is just numbers.

Um we we also try to be mindful of how we're engaging with the young people, and we know that survey fatigue is a thing.

We're always asking for surveys.

So when they come to Boston after dark, it's really a way for them to just kind of drop their shoulders and kind of hang out.

Um but for us is the main point is really engagement, is really how many young people are we getting through those doors to make sure that we're engaging in the community.

We do compare numbers to um like BCYF centers, we meet with them prior to these events and we say how many young people do you usually get, and then we try to compare it to how many young people we got in those spaces.

But I would say for us, that's the most basic one right now.

We we are strategically looking at what other metrics can we um gain or or just get from these events without disturbing the the culture of the events, but that's something that uh my team is still brainstorming.

But for us, the main the main metric that we're gathering right now, specifically with the Boston After Dark, is is how many young people are we actually getting through those doors?

And and Brother Isaac, talk to me about your metrics.

How are you measuring the successes and evaluating the program so that you can at some point come back?

Yeah, so there's obviously similar to Pedro, there's the numerical component um reductions in uh community violence across the city.

We are a team that focuses on stopping shootings and stabbings, not shoplifting, although we don't want shoplifting to happen.

Um so we focus on a reduction in crime.

We also, as I mentioned, there is that uh uh it's not there's the feeling that Boston isn't as safe as the numbers uh reflect, and so also doing well to try to address perceptions and fear of crime.

I know that that's what Commissioner Cox will talk about with the Boston police is what their job, but it's also our job, and that's why we focus on the destigmatization of spaces and places across the city.

Um and then one thing because a heavy focus of our team is community reinvestment, is are we reinvesting the dollars um historically, or have we rather reinvested those dollars that we've had uh in the right places in in people across the city?

And and and for both of you, how are you reporting this publicly?

How do how do we get it?

How does the public get because you just talked about perception and council Flynn and I were just talking about the data and what the data is saying and what people really believe in.

How are you reporting that publicly so folks can truly understand that there is violence reduction taking place and the city is a lot safer than people may think it is?

And the city is a lot safer than people may think it is.

And when we do recaps for all of our events, whether it's the mayor's U Summit or Boston After Dark, we'll create graphics with how many neighborhoods we hit, the partnerships we did, how many young people we engage.

And then since I launched this office, we do impact reports at the end of every year as well, too, that we make public.

So you can go up and see any of our impact reports from past years and even the most recent year.

So we're always looking at ways that we package our stories and the impact that we're having, not just to document it, but also to make it accessible for the community to be able to follow our story and just know the work that we're doing to hold us accountable.

Yeah, it's very same.

So historically, we've done impact reports.

I think one of the things that we need to do a better job of, though, is like, at least on the OVP side, is not so much wording and more direct engagement.

And so that's where all of these conversations, like community conversations, village vibes, all that comes into play, where we can have direct engagements, where we can report face to face with community and we can see their reactions to the things that we're saying.

So yeah, thank you.

Because I think that's critical, especially for your office.

Look, just want to commend all of you for all the good work that you're doing.

And look, when you do those events in D7, let my office know.

If I'm not there, I want to send someone so that we can at least keep in contact.

And I'm gonna be at the Museum of Fine Arts at Sunday night, and I'm coming down to comedy night down in the mezz.

You come in?

Yeah, I'm gonna be.

He thinks he's funny.

He's our closer.

No, I'm serious.

And when he says he's he's performing.

I'm coming just to see counselor Fitzgerald.

And Councilor Warwell, I'll be there.

I'll be there.

We'll see you guys for sure.

So much.

Thank you so much for the working.

Council Flynn's gonna buy us dinner.

Yeah.

Oh, um, of course.

I'm funnier than John.

People just don't know that.

That's true.

That was the funniest joke you've said so far.

So far, yeah, I usually keep it to myself.

Well, thank you.

Um, Counselor Fitzgerald, you're up.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh, appreciate it.

Um, so guys, I'm gonna hit you with the what is the best tool for all three of you?

What is the best tool you have that you have um that addresses both summer safety and or summer jobs, maybe not summer jobs so much for the police.

But what do you think's been the most effective tool?

And I'll follow that up with a more philosophical question of would you rather, when I'm thinking budget, would you rather double down on your greatest strength or pref prefer to strengthen a weakness that might have potential as well, right?

Um and so I was wondering what you think your greatest tool is when doing in each of your individual silos of work, um, what's the greatest tool that you've seen work or be most effective?

I can start um access to information.

Um particularly when it comes to young people that have that are proven risk young people that have documented safety concerns, challenges, um having as much information about that individual as possible is is is critical just because what I always say to a young person is like I don't want to put you in a position to have to defend yourself.

Um and so the more that we know uh the easier it is for us to do our job.

I think at that same point, um having trustworthy people around that are doing the work because the information is very sensitive.

Um, unless we have documented explicit consent from individuals, we really can't talk about what it is or is not that we're that we're doing with the person.

So um access to information and then and trustworthy staff, and then I think I would rather cater towards where we're weak and throw money at that.

I think that as a city historically, we've done an amazing job.

Uh we're a national leader when it comes to response, homicide response, violence response, uh response to community violence, gang violence, gun violence.

Um where we can all and we're doing well, but where we can do an even better job is is the primary prevention, preventing violence before it happens in the first place, creating conditions of peace.

Um that's why I mentioned all the different departments that are going to be adding to the summer safety plan because I really want everyone in the city to understand that everyone has a role to play within the plan, whether it's prevention, intervention, or recovery.

So yeah, I would just I would double down on primary prevention.

And so thank you.

Yeah, I'll jump in and say, I hope this answered your question.

If not, please let me know.

We'll circle back to it.

But I think you know, obviously, our biggest strength throughout the summer period has been this Boston After Dark two years ago when we planned 19 events.

The question was are they gonna show up?

And we have events where young people came up to even 150, even more young people showed up, and all of our events were attended.

And one thing that I always say, even with our lowest event of like 30, if 30 young people show up to that door, that's a success.

If two young people show up to that door, that's a success, and that and that's how we always measure that.

Um, because just keeping any number of young people safe, and really for us is about giving them options, right?

Like I think one of the big things we identified when that thing happened in South Bay within your district was that there were no options after 5 p.m.

So for us, the the the measure of success is that they have options now that there's stuff happening, we've been able to expand.

And this might not be the answer we're looking for, but honestly, where we were we three two years ago, we're not there yet, and we can always keep improving, but my team is always consistently looking, um, reflecting on our programs and how can we better them, and that's something that we do consistently.

That's why when we launched Youth Line two years ago and we had 300 resources, we're at 700 resources now.

You know, when we started with the Mayor's Youth Summit, um, and it was 300 people in attendance, we were close to 600 this year.

You know, Boston After the Dark, we started with 19 events, we were at 24 and touch BHA sites.

So that whole look on that question on weakness, we're consistently looking at where we're weak and consistently um throwing resources or or or manpower at it to continue improving what we could do, because we know that we can always get better, and even this year, we're doing that by expanding into more BHA sites, man.

So we're always looking at where our weak points are and trying to engage in that too.

So if I had to answer, I would just really throw more gas at the flames in terms of where we know it's working because it's proven because we have data, that's what would make more sense for us is to really go based off what we see being a success for the young people and improving that.

Thank you.

So from the police department's uh view is that you know, the more people we can create trust with in the community, the better we are.

And by doing that, we're working with all our city partners to do that, uh, involving the police department, our officers, you know, community engagement is what all our officers should be doing, right?

And building that trust, reducing that fear while fighting crime.

So, you know, part of our strategy is that you know, the more people we can reach out to and um create those relationships with, you know, we we'd probably be able to reduce even more crime because without the partnerships, I mean it's like a village, right?

The city's like a village.

So it takes all of us in this village to make it happen.

And like the counselors themselves, I see you out there along with us, and we're addressing all the community concerns.

And part of that is listening to what the constituents want, right?

So we're gonna throw more money at something, or anything like that, is just try to um create more programming for the young people, give them something to do, working alongside the doctor and Pedro.

They came up with Boston After Dark and all these other programs to reduce a lot of our problem areas like South Bay.

Um Pedro mentioned mentioned that we we found out that there was uh a gap where okay, what are these young people doing after 4 p.m.?

They may have summer jobs, but they end at four or five o'clock at night, and then they obviously need to go somewhere and hang out.

So you know, by creating Boston After Dark and some of these other programs that uh we have we have basketball programs that we have done in the evening hours because of that.

And you know, just looking for those gaps and where we can do better.

Um that's probably what we're gonna do this summer.

It seems a common theme I've heard though, is that I wish we could put a line item in the budget for trust, because it just seems like that is a big factor, but in terms of thinking budget-wise, um, it it's it's a little bit more difficult actually where trust breaks down if you want to but I I think it's good to know what you guys think is working for you as we make our decisions and and sort of the philosophy that you guys would like to take as you approach um this upcoming budget.

And and thank you for identifying South Bay, all you guys have done again, like I mentioned before, a great job there.

Um is there specific data you use uh to identify the spots where we want to do this, or is it more just like the eye test, common sense, you have your pulse uh on the neighborhood, and we just kind of, you know, small city w we we all know where things might get hot and might not, or do you guys adjust it based on data you get, whether it's through brick or otherwise?

Yeah, I'll jump in on mine if you don't mind, real quick.

Um we we use different ways to approach this to be honest with you.

We work closely with the community safety team to see where there's lack of programming and where young people are just not being engaged.

That's how we identify the BHA sites.

Um so that's how we did that.

In terms of the BCYF sites, we work with their teams to see what there's already a large youth population.

Some sites just tell us we get more of the elders, or we get other age groups, and then um we really try to focus where we know that young people are already at and bringing the programming to them.

Um same thing with YMCA, and we're actually gonna be partnering up with a boys and girls club this summer as well, too.

But we use different metrics, it's really about where we know that there's communal, like I'll give you an example.

We've heard from the community, even from the counselor, um, president, um, that Austin Bryan was lacking programming.

So we're bringing um Boston After Dark to Commonwealth this year over the summer.

So we're always keeping our ears open in terms of where the need is at, also knowing where they're already at, and try to combine both of those um data points and try to just um and also capacity has to do a lot with it as well, too.

But again, we always just try to be mindful considering all the information that we have, whether it's a need, whether we see a large youth activity.

Again, you saw that we responded to South South Bay because we saw that that big um takeover that happened there.

So it's uh for us is just a little bit of everything.

We just try to keep our ears open and eyes open and try to respond in real time.

Gotcha.

Thank you.

It's also I agree with everything Pedro said.

Young people are also very smart, um, and they are aware of where there might be breakdowns, like physical places and who has quote unquote authority over said space.

So if you look at a South Bay, which is a massive shopping mall with a bunch of different businesses, then you have the property managers, then you have BPD that also has so it just creates this kind of like uh uh state of anime with who's actually in control, same thing with downtown, right?

Downtown crossing, same thing on the transit system.

Um so young people are smart and they adjust to our adjustments.

Um, and so to answer your question, definitely always re rely on BRIC and the wonderful information that the police have, but also just paying attention to like large open spaces within the city that multiple people might be invested in or have their hands on, but there's no clear-cut uh designee of who is in charge of said space.

Gotcha.

Yeah.

Gotcha.

Yeah, we just rely on the data.

Um, and basically, um, like he said, the doctor good doctor here said um, you know, young people are smart, but if we build that trust with them, they're gonna let us know where they're going, you know.

And a lot of times, uh, some of the information we get on social media, things like that, um, that's how we respond to most of these incidents.

Thanks, Superintendent.

Uh, just two last quick questions.

They might be more to the doctor if than anyone else, but I heard you say there's a different trauma response between violent behavior and other traumatic incidents.

I was just wondering why is that?

Why is it not trauma as a whole, uh, whether it's violent or you know, uh a different type of trauma versus and and what is sort of the uh just give me a brief description of what the two different paths are and why?

Sure.

So I would just classify it as trauma response related to community violence and everything else that's not community violence.

So our team, our skill set, our training is centered around trauma response as a result of community violence.

Yeah, the trauma response and the skill set required to respond to a family that just lost a loved one, like a child passing away in their sleep, or a car crash or a suicide overdose, that looks way different.

The skill set is way different.

The lived experience that we rely on when doing the work is way different.

And so it's just and then or perhaps most importantly, the dollars that are behind those particular things are just not there compared to community violence.

So when someone is unfortunately, we never want it to happen, one is too many, but when someone is killed in the streets of Boston, there's a lot of other resources that are activated external to the city.

So you have the Lewis D.

Brown Peace Institute, victims comp, victims Mova, right?

That is not, we don't have that same resource for a family impacted by a car crash, a family impacted by suicide.

Uh it just looks very different.

So it's the easy answer is a skill set and then uh external investment uh beyond the city of Boston.

We do, I will say we have been in the wake of some gaps presenting.

We have as a trauma response as a community healing response that we've been responding.

It's not sustainable though, because we need different skill set to do so.

Gotcha.

Thank you.

And and lastly, uh, you also talked about case management and clinical services.

Yeah.

And when I'm thinking about those in recovery, dealing with Mass and Cass, which is also in my district, and trying to create an infrastructure there to better address the needs of the people and the public safety around.

When you talk about that that case management and clinical services, we've been trying to find better ways to use that in the recovery world.

Is there anything that you could tell me or like or we could learn from each other about what's working, what's not working, and what have you seen as an effective way to implement?

Because we've been thinking about case management as as soon as you engage with the individual on the street, be it from outreach or they come in through law enforcement, then a case manager will be assigned to them and follow them the whole way through.

Doesn't matter if they end up going to Gavin House and coming back and then back on the street, and then the jail, then out their mother's house in Franklin, and then back home.

The case manager will follow you so you have a better understanding of where they are, what their medical needs are, and that might determine where they get placed to, you know, but for their acute needs.

Yeah, and I'm I'm gonna channel my inner Roy Martin here that I think exactly what you said a spot on that there should not be uh this overlap.

You don't see Tom Brady throwing the ball and catching it.

It's just you you should stay in your lane, and then there should be a dyadic approach where you have a case manager that is an intimate contact with the clinical support, but the case manager is the one that's doing the following.

If they relapse, they're still there.

If they get locked up, they're still there.

Clinical supports look way different just situationally, right?

So if it's like an active episode versus a long-term issue that's not presenting right now in like a very potent way, but we know it's an issue.

Uh, I think I don't have a perfect answer, but what we do in the violence prevention space is do have a separation between those doing clinical support and case management.

Um, if there's an entire family and we're doing a wraparound thing, we have a different individual working with the parents than we do the young people, right?

Because that's also important.

Um but yeah, dyadic to like a triad approach is the best way.

Gotcha.

Yeah.

No, thank you.

That's very helpful.

I feel good about the path we're on, then if that's what's working for you guys.

I don't want to take any more time, Chair.

Thank you so much, and thank you as always to the panel to you.

Thank you.

Um, before we go to a second round, we have one person who has signed up for public testimony.

So John Smith Styler, Stillier?

Thanks, Cyril.

Oh, St.

Lier, sorry, yeah.

Awesome.

If you you have two minutes, you could come to that microphone and just state your name and your affiliation.

Thank you.

How are you doing?

Um, my name is John Smith St.

Cyr, and I'm the founder of the J.L.

Smith Suicide Prevention Center for Young Black Boys.

My work focuses, my work focuses on preventing premature death among young black boys by addressing the structural conditions that lead to it.

We are a community behavior health organization that provides clinical services across Massachusetts.

So I know we care a lot about data and metrics and how we can measure success, but what it doesn't measure is integrity.

And I say that because I was in attendance at the last community safety planning event that Isaac facilitated in Dorchester, and you decided to leave a lot out of that conversation.

Um I think that's why today you haven't mentioned one community grassroots organization that you partner with.

But while the city is planning for summer of 2026, I'm planning for summer of 2030 because the boys I work with today will be 13 to 18 years old in that moment.

And what we build for and what we build or fail to build right now will determine who they become.

On Saturdays, I run a creative art and voice project for boys living in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Madapin.

There's a structured full-day program where young black boys engage in writing, reflection, group dialogue, and skill building.

We focus on emotional regulation, self-expression, and executive functioning.

We provide males, consistency and a safe environment and a safe environment where they are not treated as a problem, but as young people developing.

I work directly with these boys every week.

What I see is consistent, real clinical and developmental challenges, anxiety, behavioral dysregulation, autism spectrum conditions, trauma.

So many of these boys do not feel safe.

They are isolated, they are unmotivated, they don't fit in.

They are navigating environments where they are constantly reacting instead of developing.

And it kind of sounds like the city's approach to safety.

But what but when they are given a consistent safe space, the impact is clear.

Parents are asking for more, more days, more access, more support.

But I cannot expand.

Each week I personally fund what these boys need.

Breakfast, lunch, activities, trips.

I cover these costs myself to make sure they have a consistent and a safe environment.

And that comes at a cost.

Rent, utilities, supporting my own children.

My daughters are making sacrifices so that I can make sure these boys are safe.

That should not be the model.

We have money for professional soccer teams, center bus lanes, millions upon millions for overtime police budgets.

We can hire consultants, raise city salaries, but for whatever reason we can't find resources for young black boys.

So the issue is not whether resources exist.

The question is what we choose to prioritize.

Right now, the spaces that are actively stabilizing youth and reducing risk before it becomes a crisis are operating with the support without the support needed to grow.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

So before I pass it off to my colleagues for a second round, or um anything else they want to add.

I do have a couple of questions, but I always like going last because my colleagues asked some good questions, so I won't repeat any.

But when I think um to this summer, and I know the police and so many different city departments have been gearing up for all the events coming.

Have we tapped in to see if our youth can be part of that ecosystem, if it's jobs for any of these upcoming events, like you know, the tall ships and the FIFA and all.

I know on our side we're having conversations.

I just spoke to uh Tanisha De Leon, who oversees YOU about that, and the the conversation was exactly that that there's gonna be so many people in the city of Boston, um, tourists, folks from other parts of the state that come in.

Um, and we need to make sure that our young people, particularly those that um come from communities that have been historically forgotten, that they need to be a priority.

So those are definitely conversations, right?

Because it definitely ties into engaging them, right?

Like how do we make sure, because we've had hearings and many colleagues advocating, you know, that employees, small businesses get, you know, a piece of that pie, which I think is an important conversation, but what about our youth?

And obviously, tickets to some fun events would be nice, but not just that.

Like, how do we get them maybe working at some of these events and really having that front row seat?

So maybe we can continue that conversation on how we can.

Yeah, and I'll share on my end too that the one way that we try to engage in that manner is that we hire young people.

So, like um, for all of our events, it was a youth DJ through the Wild U program.

So we funded that and paid them the same way we would pay a regular DJ too.

So um for sure.

So so we're so we're consistently looking at ways that um we're bringing young people into the spaces that we do, even for the mayor's youth summit.

We um we had a youth DJ present that day that we're looking to rehire for the summer as well, too.

So again, we're always looking for ways that um we we help these young people become vendors of the city and then we fund them.

So all of our events were literally um young people that were DJ in these events as well.

And when we talk about the data we collect and the community meetings, which I mean, I see many of you at all of these, um many times it's our seniors or older adults who are sharing their concerns, which are real.

But when you talked about, you know, targeting resources to what we're hearing in the community, and you mentioned you know the trust and all, but how do we get directly to those young kids to hear what it is they're worried about?

Because I know what my neighbors and people my age or older are worried about, but it's probably not the same thing that our young kids are worried about.

Yeah, for me, I could say that we're we're always looking for ways to engage our young people, whether it's through our console or even our summit, we host community um engagement sessions that we talk only to young people to see what day of the week do you want and who do you want us to bring, what kind of food.

Um we're always engaging with them to try to see how we can include young voices.

Um but yeah, but we're always we're always looking for those spaces to bring those voices into the planning that we're doing as well.

And not reinventing the wheel, because there's a lot of these orgs that have access to young people that we should be connecting with, and so we don't want to step on their toes and create spaces when they have them.

It's just how do we work with those folks that are actually on the ground doing the work to gain access to their populations.

Yeah, and one more thing I would add, sorry, one more thing I would add too is that I forgot to mention was our Youth Speaks Boston survey, the citywide survey that we did where we engaged 1,600 responses from young people, 14 and 25.

We're hoping to do that every three years, and in the years in between, which is where we're at now, we're hoping to do more community sessions to dive in deeper into the data, and if we identify that young people don't feel safe, now we're gonna be asking why don't you feel safe and stuff.

So we're continuously engaging with them based off the data we gathered off the survey that we did to really try to get down to the correlations and and deeper into the data to continuously identify.

Our goal is to have ways to keep our thumb on the pulse of what is it that young people are feeling, whether it's through safety or belonging or what kind of events do you want, um so on and so forth.

So I do want to add that component as well, too.

Thank you.

And I want to um shout out Kevin Lee, because a couple of years back when we had to like reschedule the youth summer job program, it was what you guys have brought up here a couple times that sometimes when we bring our youth together, there may be you know feeling strong feelings from different neighborhoods or communities and really being proactive.

So I know that there's different sessions and they really were thoughtful this year about how that's gonna play out.

So just happy to hear that.

Well, you know, we're aware of it.

It's something obviously we don't want it to be true, but if we know it's going to happen, we have to be proactive.

So was there anything on the police side or uh well through the police, our programs obviously we have a lot of dialogue with our um youth in our programs and we listen.

We definitely all our officers listen and we take all everything they say in consideration because they are our future, and you know, we want to make sure that they have a bright one.

So anything that they can add to uh our menu, we'll we'll take it, you know.

Awesome.

Thank you, Council Warrell.

Yes, um, just a few more questions.

Um partnerships.

Just thinking about um when you were speaking to I think it was uh Council Flynn around clinical support.

Um I was just thinking, yeah, my real estate license, like I every two years I have to go back to do a uh a continuing ed, uh, and that's to just to sell real estate uh our young people, um, you know, major asset, one of probably our most valuable assets in our community.

Are we how do we evaluate our partners?

Do we you know require uh any type of certification that they have in order to put on a Boston After Dark event or to partner with them on uh any summer program and how often uh does that happen, and then how does you know nonprofits or anyone that's looking to do this work in collaboration with the city uh reach out to you to say, hey, um I'm do uh I'm I'm I'm passionate, um I have a skill set, I'm currently doing this, or I want to get involved.

Um how can they get plugged in to actually help the city uh with something that you know they're either skillful in or or passionate about?

Yeah, I would love to jump in on this one.

So, as a lifelong youth worker, I've been doing this work for 20 years.

Uh something that I'm always saying is that there's no college degree for this, right?

Right, there's no certification.

So the way we've been contributing is that for the last three years we offer professional development at no cost to them.

Um so some organizations send their entire team, some organizations send specifically.

No, we do that um every single month throughout the year.

Oh wow.

And we've been doing that's our professional development series.

Uh, that's how we support the adults in the spaces, and is everything from CPR certification to mental health first aid to working with LGBTQU, program attention, problem resolution, grant writing, um, grant writing.

We do all kinds of trainings, and a lot of these recommendations come from the partners themselves.

We do focus groups where they tell us what kind of trainings they feel they need and where the gaps are at, and we take on the bill, and they just literally send their staff free.

We we sell out every single training that we do, and we're actually in conversations.

I'm proud to say we're in conversations with urban college of coming up of what does uh um semester certification program look like for a youth worker because we are trying to push that envelope and and get some kind of certification out there, and we're actually in talks for Urban College right now, exploring the ways, and we're hoping if everything works out, we'll be able to launch in the fall.

Um, and it'll be a semester long program where they'll be certified through urban college, get um credits that they can transfer through our urban college if they want further education, but they'll be certified on behalf of urban college in the city.

So, aside from that new venture, we've been offering trainings throughout the last three years every single month, and it's at least two, sometimes even up to three, across all different topics, and we always lean in on professionals like HRIA or other um public sector professionals and trainers to bring these trainings to our partners.

So we don't require any specific training.

Um we kind of leave that up to the organizations to hire them.

But the way that we contribute to this conversation is by making sure that we're offering all these training programs completely free at no cost.

Because when I was a youth worker, I knew the biggest issue was finding them.

The second one's convincing leadership to pay for them.

And if you did get that far, they couldn't pay your whole team.

It would be one of you have to go and bring back that knowledge.

So we try to break down those barriers by taking um by identifying them, promoting them, and making them free at no cost.

And like I said, we we have organizations that send their entire teams, and then we have other organizations to spend um that send appropriate staff to it.

That's awesome.

Yeah, and for for me, I think uh, you know, obviously there's certain requirements that folks have to have if they want to be like uh like a clinical social worker, independent clinical social worker, so um we defer to whatever requirements are required for that.

I think um uh DMH, DDS working and having an active working relationship, depending on the potency again of the clinical concern.

Um I also recommend everyone, like we as OVP have a very specific thing that we're looking to do across each program, right?

And so sometimes for folks that are in community that want to partner with OVP, having a solid understanding of exactly what we do as a program versus ORC versus Pedro and uh Frank Farrow, whomever else, because sometimes I think that the perception is that while we all work very well together, I love working with Pedro, I don't own Boston After Dark, and I don't own what happens in BCYF Center.

So obviously I'm responsive to it and I care deeply about it.

Um, but having folks have a solid understanding of what each individual department does uh as kind of like a prerequisite, um, that makes conversations for me at least a lot easier.

Got it.

And um the weekends, you know, sometimes I drive down Talbot Ave and on my way, boys and girls club, BCYF, you know, it's completely dark.

What is the weekend landscape, you know, look like look like across the city?

Because you know, to your point, you know, we do Monday through Friday during the summer pretty well.

Uh the weekend uh could be, you know, it sounds like well, based on what I see could be beefed up.

Like what's what is the landscape?

Yeah, for us, unfortunately, I am a very demanding person.

Uh and I asked that my staff if there is anything that's going on on weekends, we're still responding as if it's Tuesday at noon.

Um, but to that point, some of the more macro level institutions.

I know I'm being uh I'm having conversations with some folks on the Black Men and Boys Commission because they also brought up to me specifically BCYF and what we could do to extend the hours during the summer.

Um, but yeah, those those are conversations that will be ongoing.

Awesome.

And um I I love the idea that you know we're trying to get as much information and also being sensitive to that information that we're getting on our young people.

Um when it comes to um, I'm glad that I won't go that way, but I think it's something that we need to kind of lean into a lot more because it's it's the probably one of the most valuable pieces that that we do have.

So the more you know uh that we can collaborate with BPS on that, um, BCYF and after school programs, I I do believe that it's it's beneficial.

Uh lastly, I would add um I think I covered it all.

Uh April 30th, 7 p.m.

Um, comedy night.

I have a young man in my office named Stefan Clark.

Uh he's he's just starting off his comedy career.

I'm trying to I'm thinking about it.

I'm like, is it 19 to 25 appropriate?

But I but I think he could create an act that is appropriate for 19 year olds and 25 year olds.

So if you haven't fully booked out uh your agenda, um I would definitely No, I would I would definitely welcome a conversation.

This is the first of many.

Like I said, we're really focusing on that 19 to 25 year old population to give them options, and if this one goes well, which I'm sure 100% it will go well, we're actually looking to do more.

And to what was mentioned earlier, where we're really being intentional about the spaces.

The reason we're doing it at the mezzanies because we want to welcome these young people into these buildings that they usually don't walk into.

So all that to say that I would love to welcome a conversation to see if there's something we could definitely do and give an opportunity to a young person in your office.

And if not this time, then definitely the next time.

And um, I just wanted to shout out um Richard for my um a group uh called uh the men's collective and Sean Leonard's here today uh from that group.

And one of the things that he brought up like three three or four weeks ago, uh, and it kind of like speaks to I believe the direction the city's moving into, investing into young people a lot more earlier and often.

Um, but he brought up the quote it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men, and that's what we want to do is to make sure that we're investing in our young people early and often, so we're not having you know to spend so much money repairing broken men.

Can I add to that, counselor?

Because uh I I um I agree, and I one of the things that we face on that on the commission side is the average age of a victim of gun violence in the city of Boston is 27.

The average age of a perpetrator is 27 to 28.

Um average age, which means that we have individuals older than that that are intimately and have historically been intimately involved.

And I am gonna be the one that's like always advocating, like yes, we need to be uh more strategic and get to the young people earlier, and if we want to actually eradicate this issue that is gun violence, we can't do it without acknowledging the population that is also older, right?

And that's why it's important for Roy's team to have the the men's health initiative stable, right?

Because they are working with individuals 25 to 60 uh and older, right?

Because we do have a population of older adults that are still intimately involved in community violence.

So it's both.

It has to be a concurrent investment.

And this is why, you know, another conversation is I know that I believe that you know majority of your budget right now is kind of focused or towards churn.

I think it from what I understand, and I I would love to just beef up the intervention and prevention side of things uh to make sure that we are you know getting ahead of uh uh community violence opposed to responding right to the traumatic or the trauma that is caused by community violence, and we need to do so through the dollars in your department.

Council Cal Pepper.

Thank you, Councillor Murphy.

Just one final question, Isaac.

And I remember years ago we were struggling over that budget, and I remember that meeting we were in, and I couldn't believe how small that budget was that you had to try and give out those many grants, and I think we had a discussion about trying to make sure that that budget increased so that it made sense in terms of the work that had to be done.

How are you now budgeted with regard to what needs to be done?

And is there something that we need to do?

We're in the budget case to add to the budget so that it makes sense.

Because at that point we both agreed it wasn't making sense.

Yeah, so I think once the mayor, I I can't codify anything because the budget hasn't been codified yet, and so I think it's a conversation, certainly post um codification of the budget.

So the one thing that's unique is that the difference.

So when we had initially spoken and met before, I was not a part of the health commission.

Okay, okay.

So now that I'm a part of the health commission, there is uh a budget attached to each individual program that operates, and that's what Councilor Wolell was referencing.

Um right now I'm in the process of doing uh data, doing like a data dump of where is the money going, what's working, what's not working, what needs to be changed around.

Um and I am doing it very meticulously uh with the plan to implement in the beginning of the new fiscal year.

So I'm still in the process of of doing anything, so I can't give a guaranteed set answer right now.

Um but there is a big difference in that before I was standalone mayor's office, now I'm on the health commission side, and there are dollars attached to the work in OVP.

Yes.

Can you get back to us as soon as possible?

Absolutely.

So if we need to make some adjustments in the overall budget, we can do that.

And the final thing I want to say is that I really appreciate you raising Roy Martin and the work that he's done and how you work with Roy Martin, because I remember when Roy was he was doing other kind of work.

It wasn't kind of good work he's doing now.

So thank you for involving the conversation with some of the things Roy Martin has done.

Thank you.

He's he's an expert.

Thank you, Superintendent Council.

Yeah, he is, yeah.

He's lived the work.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you, Councillor.

Thank you, Council Fachero.

No, uh, no further questions.

Just want to thank you guys again for your continued support, and we're here to support you guys, so please be in touch.

Thank you, Councillor.

Any closing statements?

Okay.

Thank you all for being here.

Um you know that I think all of us here on the council have open communication with all of you.

So just looking forward to continuing that relationship and making sure our youth and young adults um have what they need.

So that being said, this hearing on dock at zero two nine zero is adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Go UCone.