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Photo: Marie Sorenson
Peter Cole, LCW Board President
Board of Directors
Peter Cole, President
Cindy Cook
Tasha Espendez
Wendy Estrella
Maria Fina
Patrick Grotton
Armand Hyatt
Maureen McCarthy
Jose Medina
Maria Natera
Denise Perrault
Rosa Pina
Ana Rodriguez
Esther Sanchez-Blazquez
Miguel Sanchez
Andreina Vargas
Eric Walker
Board of Advisors
Carmen Carrion
Francis Hyatt
Bill Traynor
Linda Ulisse
Charlie Wibiralske
Staff
Jessica Andors, Executive Director
Rosa Aleman
Ana Bello
Juan Bonilla, Deputy Director
Terri Bruce
Spencer Buchholz
Reyna Burgos
Carlos Cespedes
Lissette Caraballo
Joseph de Jesus
Kathy Gallagher, CFO
Hershey Hirshkop
Lisa Kozol
Victor Martinez
Iris Matias
Kristin McCauley
Wanny Munoz
Maggie Pagan
Abdiel Perez
Altagracia Portorreal
Jared Ravreby
Osvaldo Salomon
Rachelly Suriel
Claudia Tavarez
Lisa Torrisi
Arleen Zorrilla
Editor
Lisa Torrisi
Designer
Matt Brown
A
s the season transitions from summer
to fall, LCW is undergoing a number
of transitions as well. It is with
mixed feelings that LCW is undergoing
changes in its senior leadership. Nelson
Butten who has been the Co-Executive
Director of LCW for the past 3 years and
an important part of the LCW staff for a
total of 11 years, has accepted a wonderful
new and challenging position within the
Lawrence Public School system. We are
all saddened to see Nelson leave LCW
but also excited for the new opportunity
for him. His new position will keep him
in close contact and working closely
with LCW as the Director of Community,
Family and Student Engagement
for the Lawrence School System.
With Nelson’s leaving, the Board of Directors
has elected to return to LCW’s original
management structure of having an
Executive Director and a Deputy Director.
We are truly pleased to announce that
Jess Andors, formerly the Co- Executive
Director is now Executive Director of LCW.
We are also very pleased to announce
that Juan Bonilla, formerly the Director of
Homeownership and Asset Building has
been promoted to Deputy Director of LCW.
We are excited that Juan has accepted this
new role and we are extremely confident
that he will exceed our expectations as he
transitions to his new role. Please make sure
that when you see Juan and/or Jess that you
congratulate them on their new positions.
For the past 11 months LCW has been
actively involved in developing a 3-5
year Strategic Plan. Although LCW has
had Strategic Plans in the past, this time
we engaged a consultant to assist in
guiding us through the process. Over the
summer months, the staff of LCW has
been working on developing short (1-2
Executive Director Jess Andors with newly
promoted Deputy Director, Juan Bonilla
year) and long (3-5 year) term Outcomes
to address the Goals and Objectives of
the Strategic Plan. As part of the strategic
planning process we also reviewed and
revised LCW’s Mission Statement and
Vision. Over the next several months
watch for LCW’s Mission and Vision as it is
updated on our website and displayed in
our offices and the lobby of Our House.
For the first time, the LCW Board of Directors
completed a formal Self-Assessment of its
performance in a number of areas involving
the management and financial oversight
of LCW. As a result of that assessment, the
board has identified a couple of areas to
focus on for the coming year including Board
Composition and Funding/Public Image.
The entire Board of Directors is excited
to be working with our new Executive
Management Team and working closely
with them to implement the many
parts of the LCW Strategic Plan. As we
move towards the New Year, all of us
on the Board of Directors are looking
forward to the excitement and the
opportunities that lay ahead for LCW.
Lawrence CommunityWorks (LCW) is a community development corporation
that weaves together community planning, organizing, and asset-building
efforts with high-quality affordable housing and commercial development
to create vibrant neighborhoods and empowered residents. By facilitating
conversations and action on community priorities, LCW engages partners
and a network of youth and adult residents in opportunities to move
themselves and the city of Lawrence forward.
2
Arleen Zorrilla, IDA Program Coordinator
O
n June 7th Lawrence
CommunityWorks celebrated
the IDA (Individual Development
Account) Graduation along with the VITA
Site Volunteers Recognition Dinner.
Happy Graduation!
It was a special night full of many
emotions. For the first time we held a
graduation of several IDA cohorts at
once: our general Community IDA, our
Youth IDA, our first IDA in partnership
with Bread and Roses Housing, and
our Welcome Home IDA for near-ready
homebuyers. In total, we celebrated the
success of 46 graduates: youths, parents,
single mothers, heads of household,
and even grandparents. Each one of
these participants completed Financial
Education classes, attended assetspecific trainings, participated in mutual
peer support, credit counseling, and
coaching, all while building the habit of
saving to invest in their assets. We are
extremely proud of these LCW members,
and look forward to helping them
celebrate their new asset purchases in
the near future. This significant expansion
of our IDA program would not be
possible without the amazing support
of one of our Anonymous Donors.
By Reyna Burgos, ABE Program Coordinator
O
ur fifth year as a Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance (VITA) Site was incredibly
successful and filled with remarkable
results, helping hundreds of families save
for their future. The VITA program offers
our community members the chance to
utilize the tax season to move forward with
their financial plan and goals by providing
tools and opportunities that maximize their
potential refund. LCW volunteers and staff
really bring this work to life.
This year our volunteer tax preparers
completed 682 returns. Of these 267
qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit
(EITC). We helped families secure a total
of $1,324,099 in refunds and a total of
$526,151 in EITC credits. All this would not
have been possible without the help of our
32 volunteers - they did an amazing job.
Taxpayers were happy to have
maximized their refunds. As one of our
taxpayers noted, “I thank the Lawrence
CommunityWorks VITA Site for the help
and support they gave me in filing my
taxes for free. This is my third year filing
my taxes with LCW. Before I had to pay a
lot of money for this service and now I am
saving hundreds of dollars and I’m getting
a better return than before.”
Some taxpayers utilized a portion of their
refund to purchase savings bonds, while
others opened checking and savings
accounts and used their refund to make
initial deposits. Our members were also
encouraged to utilize the direct deposit
option in collecting their refund.
We are looking forward to another successful
tax season next year – if you would like to
volunteer, please contact Reyna Burgos at
rburgos@lawrencecommunityworks.org.
3
Preparing tax returns
VITA 2013 by the Numbers:
Total # Returns = 682
Total $ Refund = $1,324,099
Total # Receiving EITC = 267
Total $ in Earned Income
Tax Credit = $526,151
Total $ in Education Tax Credit = $75,407
Total # Direct Deposits = 418
Total # of Volunteer Hours = 1,536
By Armand Hyatt, LCW Board Member and General Counsel
F
or years, people with diverse interests
and perspectives have wondered
hopefully about the future of the
stately and beautiful structure on Summer
Street, easily visible from the Campagnone
Common—the former Holy Rosary School.
Many North Common neighborhood
residents, past and present parishioners of
Corpus Christi (formerly Holy Rosary) Catholic
parish, former attendees of the School itself,
some Lawrence history-buffs, and many
members of LCW have all kept a close eye
on the site and its development potential,
as the years have gone by. Meanwhile,
the pigeons have kept the closest eyes
on the property—from the inside.
Several years ago, the Archdiocese of Boston
deeded the handsome structure to the City
of Lawrence for one dollar, yet nothing has
been done since then to actually develop—
and virtually nothing has been done to
preserve the integrity of—that magnificent
brick and stone building.
About 10 years ago, LCW conducted
community outreach among the
above-mentioned constituencies,
particularly the neighboring residents,
to determine the most desired use for the
former school. After learning of a resounding
preference for an elementary school, LCW
focused major efforts on that use and
successfully spearheaded a drive to obtain
a zero-interest bond for $4.9 million
in funding to make that redevelopment
plan actually happen. The City Council’s
dissatisfaction with the School
Superintendent at that time, however,
resulted in a rejection of the plan by the
City. Since then, only the pigeons have
been pleased.
Recently, a resurgence of interest has
been spurred, through Facebook
communications among former school
attendees and LCW’s renewed organizing
via community activities such as a variety
of neighborhood planning events—
numerous NeighborCircles, a design
charrette held at LCW’s Our House center,
National Night Out activities at Scarito
Park—and outreach at the Feast of the
Three Saints (with a poster-board and
sign-up sheets being circulated to attract
former parishioners). LCW learned the
value of reconnecting with devoted
parishioners from a past era when the
organization successfully redeveloped the
former St. Laurence O’Toole School after a
several-year period of coalescing a union
of the “old guard” with the current
neighborhood stakeholders.
And so, the good word goes out: stand
ready, one-and-all. The call for unity is now.
The struggle for renewal of beloved and
cherish-worthy space has begun. Expect
to be called upon to join in accomplishing
together what may seem impossible
to accomplish otherwise - Holy Rosary
School’s architectural prominence, historic
significance and future benefit to the
community are too valuable to ignore.
Pigeons and nay-sayers beware!
By Spencer Buchholz, Director of Network Organizing
T
his past spring and summer LCW took
to the streets in our neighborhood,
Lawrence’s North Common, to find
out from our neighbors what is important
and what the neighborhood priorities of
the organization should be.
LCW implemented many strategies hoping
to reach people wherever they were at.
Although we wanted to hear everything
neighbors had on their minds, we had a
few key questions: What are some of the
physical spaces in the neighborhood that
need improvement and what should be
done? And what are the housing needs in
the neighborhood?
We went out, knocked on doors, and
talked to residents in the streets. Through
this outreach we identified leaders in
the neighborhood willing to open their
homes and host a NeighborCircle (NC)
on key streets. These NCs looked and felt
like traditional NCs, with relationship as
the focus, except that during the course
of the dinners we asked participants to
identify their thoughts and concerns
about the neighborhood AND give those
thoughts and concerns a neighborhood
location by placing dots on a map.
As neighbors were hosting NCs in
their homes, LCW held neighborhood
planning meetings taking information
gathered and asking questions about
larger neighborhood priorities.
Participants were asked to give
feedback around issues concerning
buildings, vacant spaces, crime, trash,
human needs, and open space.
In an effort to connect with more
neighbors, we decided to take the
meetings out of the office and into
4
the streets. During NeighborWorks
America’s Neighbor Week we attached
a large map of the neighborhood to a
pickup truck, loaded up coolers with
ice cream and hosted small planning
meetings at strategic locations around
the neighborhood each evening.
Having compiled all of the information
collected we brought it back to the
neighborhood, during National Night Out, to
help clarify and prioritize the key emergent
themes. So what did our neighbors tell us?
1. On the two abandoned lots at the
corners of Newbury and Garden and
Newbury and Orchard Streets, housing
was identified as the best potential use.
2. In the long neglected Holy Rosary
School neighbors would like to see a
community/job training center with
opportunities for both youth and adults.
By Victor Martinez, Community Organizer
T
Lawrence community. This cutting-edge
social innovation is modeled on the LCW
practice NeighborCircles, a successful tool
and national model for building social
capital and action on local issues, and we
hope this concept reflects the same type of
success as its predecessor.
he city has experienced a wave
of educational reform over the
last couple of years with the
implementation of the district turnaround
plan. Lawrence CommunityWorks joined
the wave as it will be partnering with
Lawrence teachers, parents and students to
implement a new practice – Community
Education Circles (CECs).
We have found that the style of sharing
in these circles provides opportunities
to have rich dialogue, encouraging
This practice arose out of many
participants to break down cultural,
conversations with our members as well
political and religious barriers, and uncovers
as teachers, students and parents in the
genuinely innovative ideas. We trust
Lawrence School System who had often
The first Community Education Circles Facilitator
that through the conversations, trust will
referred to a disconnect between parents
Training attracted more than 50 interested residents.
strengthen, channels of communication
and school faculty/administration, furthered
over dinner in the house of a parent or
will be improved, and new practices will
by a lack of effective infrastructure or
teacher with a focus on relationship
be produced that will help each individual
activities to facilitate parent-school
building, developing shared understanding
classroom create a culture to improve the
communication and engagement.
of expectations and roles, and acting
school environment and student outcomes.
These stakeholders challenged us to
together to build a project of
do something that would fill that gap.
We will be working this fall to train the
their choosing.
facilitation team and begin implementing
With the help of a parent-teacher-student
Additionally, through the activities prepared,
CECs with the Community Day Arlington
led design team the CECs were born—a
each circle will be given the opportunity to
School and the Oliver Partnership School. As
practice rooted in building community and
create their own collective narrative that
we increase capacity we plan to expand to
relationships of trust amongst parents,
captures their individual identity, hopes,
as many schools as possible. To get involved
teachers and students. The circles include a
dreams, and aspirations that we hope will
contact Victor Martinez 978-722-2615 or
series of 4 house meetings held on a
spill over into the classroom and the larger
vmartinez@lawrencecommunityworks.org.
weekly basis. Conversations happen
3. A
t the “Point,” the vacant lot at the
intersections of Newbury and East
Haverhill St., neighbors want to see a park.
4. There is a desire for more owner
occupied affordable multifamily homes
(2 or 3 families).
5. Something needs to be done to
address the neglect of the alleyways.
Over the next few years LCW will be making
strides to address these issues and to build the
necessary relationships and partnerships to
continue our efforts of neighborhood revival.
5
LCW
gets candid
3-on-3 basketball Tourney
Hosted by the LCW’s Residents
108 Newbury Street Groundbreaking
Wallet Wise Success
Francis Greets Visitors at Hennigan Center
V-I-C-T-O-R
P-O-D-E-R
LCW Member Isabel Mata
Speaks at the State House
Fellow NeighborWorks Organizatio
ns
Learn the Art of LCW NeighborC
ircles
National Night Out Sack Race
LCW Board Members at ECCF Training
Univision’s Sara Suarez visits contestants in the
MV Sandbox’s First Spanish Pitch Contest
6
Reynes Performs at the MC End of Year Event
By Jared Ravreby, Movement City Leadership Development Coordinator
7
Our House Campus
168 Newbury Street
Lawrence, MA 01841
Mill Cities Leadership Institute now at LCW
Class of 2014 Cohort Underway. For more
information, contact Todd Fry at 978.722.2600 or
tfry@lawrencecommunityworks.org
Follow us for announcements at:
MA Community Investment Tax Credit
Coming in 2014
In 2014, LCW will be able to offer a 50% state tax
credit on donations of $1,000 or more. So with your
traditional federal deduction on the other $500, your
$1,000 gift will only cost you $333! To make a pledge
or learn more, contact Lisa Torrisi at 978.722.2603 or
ltorrisi@lawrencecommunityworks.org.
www.facebook.com/lcworks
www.twitter.com/lcworksorg