LYNN — Antonio Gutierrez and Teresa DiGregorio, founders of the Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy (LYSOA), have added two new members to their team.
Jessica Rosario and Lonnie Wright have joined LYSOA as youth outreach workers, empowering the highest risk youth in Lynn to pursue a positive purpose in their lives.
Their job, or passion as they described it, is to organize and conduct outreach activities by encouraging involvement in community development, assisting in job searches, providing case management for their participants and families, and providing street outreach advocacy and community service to youth in the juvenile court system.
In their new roles, Rosario and Wright work to support youth lacking a positive direction in life, acting as a support system to better their participants and their choices. They help youth and young adults in the system by driving them to and from court and job interviews, taking them out to lunch, checking in daily, and visiting their homes to see how they and their families are doing, offering any help they can.
With the pandemic increasing food insecurity throughout the country, Rosario and Wright provide food to participants and their families, filling up Rosario’s car and making multiple trips around the city to make sure everyone who needs food and assistance has some.
Rosario joined LYSOA almost a year ago, but has worked with kids for a long time.
“I took some time off to raise my daughter, but now she’s older so I came back because this is my passion, this is what I like doing,” she said.
Rosario is employed with LYSOA through the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative, which is led by the Lynn Police Department.
Wright has been working with LYSOA, under the Charles E. Shannon grant, also led by the Lynn Police Department, for a month. He is from Lynn and said he grew up on the wrong side of the tracks for so long, having been in jail and associated with drugs for much of his life.
“Now to actually go to the courthouse to make a difference and see my old probation officers seeing me actually doing the right thing is a great feeling,” Wright said. “I’m trying to change another kid’s life so they don’t go down the same path that I went down.”
Gutierrez started LYSOA about 12 years ago and said that he has worked with more than 200 youth in the last year. He and his team don’t look at their jobs as work. They love what they do and care deeply for each person they look out for.
“This isn’t just a paycheck for us,” Wright added. “We actually want to do this. It’s nice to do something you love.”
The LYSOA team attends court hearings and job interviews with their participants every week to show their support and advocate for their willingness to change their path in life.
“Some of them (LYSOA participants) may be in there for serious charges, but the support means so much to them, to see a familiar face,” Rosario said.
Working in his hometown, Wright has seen those kids grow up on the streets of Lynn and what it has done to them.
“I’ve watched some of them grow, and to see the direction that some of their lives are going in makes me want to be a part of helping to change it,” he said. “There’s some kids that are totally going down the wrong path, and I want to grab them and tell them hold on. It doesn’t have to be like that.”
He said that LYSOA is helping him become the best version of himself and keeping him on the right path as well.
Gutierrez said the new team at LYSOA works well together, and having the extra support is nice after doing it alone for so long. He said that Rosario taught him how to be a team player. With LYSOA being his baby, he trusts Rosario and Wright to help it continue to grow.
“I am no longer anything without them,” Gutierrez said about his team.
Wright is happy he has the opportunity to learn from his co-workers but also has the ability to put his own spin on things. Now that he is on the other side, he said it feels good to see his old probation officers and judges happy for him, that he is making a difference in not only his own life, but others as well.
Both Wright and Rosario hope to see change in the streets of Lynn from the work and message that LYSOA puts forth. Gutierrez is grateful for them and the dedication and different points of view that they bring to the organization.
“We’re a team. It’s not just Jessica, Teresa, Lonnie or Antonio. It’s a team,” Gutierrez said.
LYSOA partners with several other organizations in Lynn to interact on the street level, building relationships and offering assistance in a variety of areas. Gutierrez said that their work leaves lasting impressions on people, some running into him on the street years later giving him a hug and asking how he is doing.
“From carrying a gun to carrying a message,” he said, noting that LYSOA supports everyone, judgement free, and hopes to do so for years to come.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected]