Press Advisory
Excellent
Photo-Op for Three Kings Day
JP and Roxbury Teens to Bring THREE KINGS
Message of Peace
to the Orange Line on January 5, 2005, 2:00
P.M.
Contact: Jesús
Gerena, The Hyde Square Task Force, Inc.
617-524-8303 x 304, 617-515-8633, jesus@hydesquare.org
Ken Tangvik, The Hyde Square Task Force, Inc.
617-905-7424, ktangvik@hydesquare.org
On Wednesday, January 5, 2005,
youth organizers with the Hyde Square Task Force will be dressed as the
traditional THREE KINGS in the afternoon (2:00 – 4:00 P.M.) at the
Jackson Square MBTA Station. The teens will build on this Latin
American tradition by kicking off a campaign of “Peace on Board the T”
and will be handing out hundreds of buttons with this theme, as well as
small gifts for teens, and books for younger children.
The teens with the local non-profit youth group, the Hyde Square Task
Force, have been working intensively on the issue of safety on the
Orange Line for the past year. Initially, the youth began this
campaign after the stabbing of a 14 year old girl last April and have
stepped up their efforts after a recent gang rape outside of the
Jackson Station. The youth have successfully lobbied for major capital
renovations at Jackson Square, worked closely with MBTA and
Boston Police, and completed Phase I of a series of murals painted at
the Jackson Station.
Local teens have been working hard to counter the negative publicity at
Jackson Square and the surrounding housing developments.
Last May, the U.S. Postal Service suspended service at the
Bromley-Heath Housing Development that abuts the Jackson Station due to
gun violence and a Boston columnist recently described the area
around the Jackson Station as a place “where there are nearly as many
kids with guns as there are in Fallujah.”
The Hyde Square Task Force youth have also been involved in a
community organizing campaign to have a new state-of-the-art
youth/family facility as the center piece of the proposed $200 million
urban development planned for the vacant land in the Jackson Square
area. A recent Boston Redevelopment Authority Request for
Proposals for Jackson Square stated that the youth/family center is the
major priority for the development and that “Several hundred youth from
the Greater Jackson area participated in community meetings ….the level
of youth participation in this development is unprecedented in recent
history.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PRINTABLE
MS WORD FILE