Boston, MA — For the second time in three years, BYW has been awarded funding from the competitive Senator Charles E. Shannon Community Safety Initiative (Shannon CSI) Grant Program for 2019. The grantees were honored on February 11th at the Massachusetts State House at an event with Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, and Secretary of Public Safety and Security Thomas Turco. The grant of $40,000 awarded by the Boston Police Department will support the organization’s Coaches in Training (CIT) Mentorship and Leadership Program, as part of the Department’s multidisciplinary approaches to curb youth violence through coordinated prevention and intervention programs. In 2019, BYW plans to hire 10 youth through our CIT program to work over the course of the year as trained mentors and coaches with youth at local community programs around the city including the Boston Centers for Youth and Families, Girls Inc., and United South End Settlements, among others.

BYW was in attendance at a November 27, 2018 press conference with Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Police Commissioner William Gross, and other community leaders, to announce the winners of the Shannon CSI Grant. “In Boston, we work every day to make sure our young people are lifted up, and given every opportunity to succeed. That means through education, through development programs, and through having a safe, stable environment that will give them the resources and opportunities they need,” said Mayor Walsh.

Also in attendance at the November press conference was City Council President Andrea Campbell. “I was thrilled to…support the…Shannon Grant to help dozens of programs expand their capacity to serve, empower, and educate our young people,” said Campbell. “The jobs, skills, and relationships young people build through these programs are critical to breaking cycles of inequity, especially for young people of color, and ensuring they reach their God-given potentials.”

“Boston Youth Wrestling is thankful for the support of community leaders like Mayor Walsh, Commissioner Gross, and City Council President Andrea Campbell. We are honored for the grant amount and the confidence to use the funds to be a part of this special initiative to pro-actively reduce youth violence in the City of Boston,” said Founder José Valenzuela.