2008
HSTF: violence is a public health issue
By Scott Wachtler, The Boston Bulletin, June 5, 2008
Youth from the Hyde Square Task Force make the case that community violence is a preventable public health issue in their new documentary 'Looking for Peace: One Block at a Time.'
Paint for Peace program aims to stem gun violence
By Marc Larocque, The Boston Globe, June 1, 2008
Youth from the Hyde Square Task Force and Spontaneous Celebrations paint dozens of doves on the sidewalks of Boston to signal that there will be 'life after the storm.'
Teens explore youth violence with Hub documentary project
By Jessica Van Sack, The Boston Herald, May 29, 2008
HSTF's Health Careers Ambassadors debut their documentary 'Looking for Peace: One Block at a Time,' to chronicle the impact of youth violence on our community's health and well-being.
Jackson Square Station Art Project Complete
MBTA News and Events, 2008
The MBTA and the Hyde Square Task Force celebrated the completion of a series of multi-cultural, youth-created murals at the Jackson Square T Station.
Killing shakes neighborhood
By John Ruch, Jamaica Plain Gazette, May 2, 2008
A 20-year-old Dorchester man was shot to death April 21 on a Southwest Corridor Park basketball court, near the Stony Brook T Station and right next to the lawn where Spontaneous Celebrations will hold the annual Wake Up the Earth Festival tomorrow.
Youth Paint for Peace
By Scott Wachtler, Boston Bulletin, May 1, 2008
Community youth take to the streets to paint 'peace doves' on sidewalks throughout Boston in response to violence in their neighborhoods.
Youth-painted 'peace doves' take flight in Hub
By Yawu Miller, The Boston Banner, May 1, 2008
Youth in Jamaica Plain, with the help of Sidewalk Sam, help raise awareness of the crisis of violence in their community through public artwork.
Por Que Lo Mataron
Por Maximo Torres, El Mundo, Mayo 1, 2008
Youth-Led Health Promotion in Urban Communities:
A Community Capacity-Enrichment Perspective
By Melvin Delgado, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. March 2008
A comprehensive and up-to-date view on youth-led health promotion in the United States, with recommendations for addressing health issues and problems related to urban youth of color. Includes section on the Hyde Square Task Force's Health Careers Ambassadors Program.
Click here to buy through Amazon - a portion of the proceeds will be donated directly to H-CAP!
In step, out of trouble
By Anna Badkhen, Boston Globe Staff, January 28, 2008
For more than six years, teenagers in Boston have been learning the intense and graceful steps of Latin dance and teaching them to children as part of a local nonprofit's effort to keep youths off the city's streets.
HSTF head joins school committee
By John Ruch, Jamaica Plain Gazette, January 11, 2008
Claudio Martinez, a Jamaica Plain resident and executive director of the Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF), has been appointed to the Boston School Committee by Mayor Thomas Menino.
2007
Latino Loss in Boston
By Monica Brady-Myerov, WBUR, Boston, MA, November 08, 2007
He works with young people as director of community development at the Hyde Square Task Force. JESUS GERENA: I think that Felix was a huge advocate. ..
Piden Educación Cívica Para Escuelas Secundarias
Por Máximo Torres, El Mundo, Semana del 22 al 28 de Noviembre
Grupos de jóvenes latinos a favor de la implementación de esa materia para aumentar la participación política y comunitaria.
Click here to view / download story in Adobe PDF (828 Kb)
To view this story, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. To download a free copy, click: 
To some students, revising the curriculum is a civic duty
By Leslie Talmadge, The Boston Globe, November 25, 2007
It's rare that teenagers ask for more required classes - but that's what a group of youngsters wants from the city.
Jackson Square project approved
Boston Business Journal, November 16, 2007
The Boston Redevelopment Authority approved a transit-orientated development on 11 acres of land in the Jackson Square neighborhood.
Jackson Sq. upgrade approved
By Chris Reidy , Boston Globe Business Team, November 16, 2007
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday that the first phase of a $250 million Jackson Square redevelopment project has been approved by the board of directors of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city's planning agency.
BPS students push for new civics requirement
By David Taber, Jamaica Plain Gazette, November 1, 2007
About 200 students and supporters packed City Council chambers on Oct. 18, demanding additional academic requirements for graduation from high school.
Hub students call for more engaging civics classes
Yawu Miller, The Boston – Bay State Banner, October 25, 2007
Victor Martinez is well aware that he’s not your average Boston high school student.
Youths draft resolution calling for new civics classes
Scott Wachtler, The Bulletin Newspapers, Inc., October 25, 2007
The Boston City Council held a hearing last week to discuss including new civics classes in Boston Public Schools. The meeting came in response to a hearing order drafted by the 60 teens of The Hyde Square Task Force in Jamaica Plain.
Youth-Led Community Organizing: Theory and Action
Marvin Delgado & Lee Staples, Oxford University Press, September 2007
Melvin Delgado and Lee Staples, recognized leaders in social work macro practice and community organization, have produced the first comprehensive study of youth-led organizing, including a chapter on the Hyde Square Task Force's "Youth First in Jackson Square campaign
Development planned to be green and clean
Andreae Downs, Globe Correspondent, July 8, 2007
It's not only the largest community-planned development in Boston, but it is now at the vanguard of environmentally friendly, "smart growth" neighborhood development.
In 10 years you will be able to ...
Doug Most, The Boston Globe, May 27, 2007
Ten years ago, the Big Dig was a hole in the ground, the waterfront was a mess, the Zakim bridge a ghost, the Silver Line a dream, Acela a pie in the sky, and new Green Line cars a wish. So what's next?
Wellington Management Charitable Fund Grantees Announced!
Wellington Management Charitable Fund, February 2007
Hyde Square Task Force Paths to College & Careers Program prepares
neighborhood youth for college through a three-part academic
enrichment, college and career exploration, and community service
program.
A new look for Jackson Square
Brian R. Ballou, Boston Globe, February 20, 2007
It is prime real estate in Boston and developers have long clamored to get their hands on it, but the 9.5 acres scattered near the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Centre Street in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain has remained a blank slate for almost 30 years.
A message of many colors: Funds for a diversity mural
Richard Thompson, Boston Globe, January 21, 2007
With Mozart Park as his canvas, Jesús Gerena , a community organizer at the Hyde Square Task Force , is planning to pick up where residents left off more than a decade ago with a youth-designed mural promoting peace and celebrating the cultural diversity of the neighborhood .
Six in the city: Meet six people whose efforts help make Boston a better place
Johnny Diaz et al Boston Globe January 1, 2007
At the nonprofit task force, Gerena is often the adult go-to-person for the group's youth-led projects He helps the kids organize the annual community holiday party, signs them up to paint murals in Jackson Square, or provides a room where they and adults could drop off guns, as they did last summer during the city's buyback program. It's all done from Gerena's one-story office on Centre Street, where a sign outside asks in English and Spanish, "What does community mean?"
2006
Jackson Square Plan Takes a Leap Forward
Aglaia Pikounis, Banker & Tradesman Online, December 11, 2006
After seven years of community planning, a proposal to transform the area surrounding the Jackson Square MBTA station in Boston into a vibrant neighborhood with a mix of housing and retail and office space took a leap forward recently with the beginning of the public review process.
Cambiando la Cara de Jamaica Plain
Máximo Torres, Elmundo Boston, 14 al 20 de Diciembre, 2006
"Richard Thai, de Jamaica Plain NDC, y Claudio Martinez, de Hyde Square Task Force, hablan de esle ambicioso proyecto de construcción de viviendas de bajo costo, centro recreacional para jóvenes y de locales comerciales."
Click here to view / download story in Adobe PDF (318 Kb)
To view this story, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. To download a free copy, click:
Action on Jackson Square: Plans filed for housing, retail complex
Jay Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, November 12, 2006
"Preliminary work on a new $225 million residential and retail complex in Jackson Square could start as early as next year, according to new plans filed by developers of a six-acre site on the border of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury."
Big health issues? Kids write the book
Patrick McGroarty, Globe Correspondent, October 22, 2006
"Karen Rosario wants to be a pharmacist. Denisse Tejada is inspired by her mother's fight against the AIDS virus. Osvaldo Caban Jr. remembers watching his mother struggle with alcoholism... "
Motivan a Jóvenes para Votar
Moises Vargas, 17 al 23 de Agosto, 2006
"Con el propósito de promover la participación cívica a nivel de vecindario, la ciudad y el estado, un grupo de activistas comunitarios miembros de la "Coalición Edúcate, Movilízate y Vota" (CEMV)... "
Click here to view / download story in Adobe PDF (1.7 Mb)
To view this story, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. To download a free copy, click:
"Hey Baby!"
Stephanie Conduff, Globe Correspondent, August 6, 2006
"As early as 8 years old, girls start hearing men yell suggestive things at them, say the teen organizers of the Hyde Square Task Force. Located in a storefront on Centre Street... "
Teens pack city council to protest lack of summer jobs
Serghino René, Bay State Banner, July 6, 2006
" With a national unemployment rate among teenagers hovering around 25 percent, the city appears to have more than its share of idle teenagers..."
Guns turned into gift cards (Adobe PDF, 124 kB)
John Ruch, JP Gazette, June 23, 2006
"A city buyback program appears to be getting some guns off Jamaica Plain streets, with seven weapons turned in at the Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF) on the first day of the program alone..."
Estudian acoso sexual en escuelas secundarias (Adobe PDF, 194 kB)
El Planeta, 15 al 21 de Junio de 2006
"Jovenes organizadores del Comite de Hyde Square realizar encuesta sobre acoso sexual..."
Survey: Students face sexual harassment in HS
by Yawu Miller, Baystate Banner, June 8, 2006
"A survey conducted by teens...found that of 500 Boston high school students, 80 percent have experienced some form of sexual harassment during school hours... "
80% of Boston Students Experience Sexual Harassment
Laura Dannen, Metro Boston, June 7, 2006
"When a 13-year-old Cisnell Baez received an unwanted kiss from a boy in an empty school hallway, her friends told her it was just a kiss, that it didn’t mean much. But Baez, now 17, didn’t want to go back to school right away, she said. She couldn’t stand the thought of seeing his face..."
Teens probe sexual harassment in schools
by Yawu Miller, Baystate Banner, April 6, 2006
"According to the official sexual harassment policy of the Boston Public Schools, students who think they have been the victims of harassment can report the incident to their principal or any adult they trust in the school. But when a fellow student pinned Galicia Escarfullery to a wall and tried to kiss her, it was she who ended up in trouble..."
Youth Organizing: A New Generation of Social Activism
by Kay E. Sherwood & Julie Dressner, Public/Private Ventures
December 2004 (recently published on the Community Resource Exchange website http://www.crenyc.org/news_studies.html)
“I have grown to a different person. I have learned to do things for others. This experience will help me in the future. I have learned how systems work and how to change things when they are unfair... "
Click here to view / download the report in Adobe PDF format (file size: 1.1 MB)
New Focus on Families: How to Build & Support Family-Centered Practices in After School
BOSTNet, United Way & the Harvard Family Research Project
January 2006
"Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF), a Boston-based multi-issue community organization, sponsores an after school program at the Kennedy Elementary School for first through fourth graders, in addition to its work on youth organizing and community development..."
Click here to view / download the report in Adobe PDF format (file size: 871kB)