ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Trotter School awarded $100K EdVestors grant pg............................. 2
Clark Terry........ pg. 20 FREE
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Pay-for-success plan brings Roca to Rox. Sandra Larson
along with intensive support to help change behaviors. With expected A Chelsea-based anti-violence failures, starts and stops and relapses, program that works to re-engage participants move toward sustained, young men who have been in the non-subsidized employment. juvenile or adult justice system and In all, the program includes two move them toward education and years of intensive programming and employment has opened a new site two years of follow-up to reinforce in Boston. and sustain the behavioral and life Roca, founded in 1988, describes changes. itself as an “outcomes-driven” orBesides its Boston site, which ganization with a mission to move opened last month on Albany Street disengaged young people out of vi- near the South Bay House of Corolence, poverty and incarceration rection, Roca has Boston-area sites and into a positive life trajectory. in Chelsea, Revere, Everett and East Spanish for “rock,” Roca targets the Boston, and one in Springfield, Mass. 17-24 year-old The expanmen who are sion of Roca’s most at risk for operation into re-incarceration Boston coinor violence and cides with its pursues them selection as the doggedly to “The goal should not be sole service probring them into successful organizations, vider for Masa four-year cogsachusetts’ first nitive-behav- but successful outcomes “pay-for-sucioral program. cess” contract, for the people they “Our model announced in serve.” is built off January, 2014. people who — Tito Jackson Under such a don’t want to contract, also deal with us at known as a social the start,” said impact bond, the J o h n Wa r d , state expends senior associate no funds for a for development and policy at Roca. social program until it meets specific “We have to go after them over benchmarks over an agreed-upon and over and over. We follow them span of time. Instead, funding is put around until they trust us.” up in advance by foundations and The program begins with out- private investors. A third-party evalreach on the streets by youth workers uator measures progress toward the and the slow process of forging rela- benchmarks, and the state pays the tionships. These early stages may in- investors back when the program is volve aiding the young men in small successful. and practical ways such as providing “It’s a win-win when it comes to needed clothing and supplies, as most investment,” Ward said. “Investors are unemployed with few supports, are putting money in, and if Roca and some homeless. The middle does its job, they’re getting their stage includes pre-vocational and life money back.” skills training, GED and ESL trainMost social impact bond Roca, continued to page 8 ing, and transitional employment
Boston residents and local and national officials paid last respects to Mayor Thomas Menino at Faneuil Hall on a cold, snowy Sunday. Menino was Boston’s longest-serving mayor. (Don West photo)
Boston residents mourn death of Mayor Menino Yawu Miller Well-wishers lined the streets of Boston on Monday as the motorcade carrying former Mayor Thomas Menino’s body made its way to Hyde Park, the home turf of the city’s longest-serving mayor. Menino left an indelible mark on the city during his 20 years in office, bringing into fruition a vision of neighborhood redevelopment that touched every corner of the city, perhaps nowhere more than in Dudley Square, where his motorcade drew out scores of spectators, many holding greenand-white campaign-style signs that read, “Thank you Mayor Menino.”
The funeral procession made its way up Warren Street to Grove Hall, and then meandered through Bowdoin Street, Mattapan Square and Roslindale Square before ending at the Most Precious Blood Church in Hyde Park. Civic leaders, elected officials past and present and scores of former city workers who cut their teeth under the Menino administration expressed sadness at the passing of the self-described urban mechanic, who obsessed over the details of city government like no mayor before. “Boston has lost a political giant, and Diane and I have lost a friend,” said Gov. Deval Patrick in a statement to the media. “Our
hearts and prayers go out to Angela and the whole Menino family. And we thank God for the service and the life of Tom Menino.” From the beginning of his mayoral administration, Menino’s political fortunes were inextricably linked with Boston’s black community. It was the late Anthony Crayton, former District 7 City Councilor, who in 1993 cast the swing vote that clinched the City Council presidency for Menino, paving the way for him to become acting mayor when then-Mayor Raymond Flynn left to become ambassador to the Vatican. In Menino’s mayoral campaign that year, it was a combination of Menino, continued to page 6
Black Boston history captured in portraits Yawu Miller
Photographer Don West celebrates the publication of his book, “Portraits of Purpose,” documenting men and women who have had a lasting impact on Boston’s politics, social movements, business and arts scenes. (Michael Hailey photo)
The function room at the Boston Public Library was filled with a Who’s Who of black Boston — past and present elected officials, bankers, artists, community activists, writers, lawyers — spanning decades of the city’s history. The atmosphere was like a family reunion, with people from all walks of life whose lives have intersected in civil rights struggles, mayoral administrations, artistic movements and now in photographer Don West’s book, “Portraits
of Purpose.” Not all the subjects of his photos are African American, but all are people who have in one way or another made contributions great and small to the black community in Greater Boston. “I see you as a visionary vanguard who picked up where the Civil Rights Movement left off,” West said, addressing the gathering. “You realized that despite the advances made, it was necessary to finish the unfinished business of achieving racial equity.” West, continued to page 12
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