In the News

WGBH Morning edition spotlights Boston Uncornered’s mission to end gang violence by getting young people to college.
(May 05, 2022) – Let’s take a walk down the block. Bowdoin Street in Dorchester is the center of the Bowdoin-Geneva section of the neighborhood. Most of its residents are Black and Latino; there’s also a large Cape Verdean population. On a typical day, you’ll catch folks like Francisco DePina, who goes by Cisco, hanging around, chopping it up with his neighbors, greeting them in Creole. He’s a college readiness director for Boston Uncornered, a nonprofit that works to end gang violence by getting young people to college. “You go after the ones that nobody wants to work with, nobody wants to deal with because they’re saying they’re criminals, this and that,” he said about this mission.

WGBH Greater Boston reveals how addressing mental health and trauma issues helps Boston Uncornered reduce gang violence.
(May 04, 2022) – Addressing mental health and trauma in at-risk youth populations can help curb violence in the community, and one local organization is doing just that by offering former and current gang members resources they need. “There’s just so much trauma that then leads to actions that create cycles of violence in our community,” said Mark Culliton, co-founder and CEO of Boston Uncornered, on Greater Boston.

NBC 10 news story focuses on Boston Uncornered efforts to reduce youth violence.
(April 23, 2022) – It seems like every day we are hearing about another shooting on the streets of Boston, and the violence has many sounding the alarm about the need to get more guns off the streets. But one organization is trying to help in a different way by paying those who used to be part of the problem. It gives former gang members a small stipend so they can focus on their future. A string of shootings on the streets of Boston — from violence in Chinatown to stray bullets in Mission Hill — has police trying to figure out what’s driving it. But at Boston Uncornered, they’re working to prevent it.

Michelle Caldeira from Boston Uncornered is quoted in the Believe In The Impossible section of this BuzzFeed Article.
(April 4, 2022) – Films like “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind” make leading a social impact cause seem so appealing. It can also make it seem easy, but of course, we know it isn’t. Here are 100 things you need to leave a lasting legacy with a social impact cause in real life.

Tito SantosSilva, the executive director of Boston Uncornered, joined this podcast to discuss how local organizations and a community-focused approach to policing have helped Boston avoided the spike in homicides that other cities are experiencing.
(January 10, 2020) – It’s been a grim companion to the death toll of COVID-19: While the virus has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, homicide rates have also been soaring nationally. Homicides rose by 30 percent in 2020, the largest single-year increase on record. Last year saw a smaller increase, but still an upward trend. While cities across the country have set all-time records for homicides in 2021, Boston stands out as one of the few exceptions among large cities.

Jerrell Engermann grew up in the grittier parts of Boston, eventually settling in Mattapan. Through the METCO program, he was able to attend Concord Public Schools. That experience gave him a unique perspective of how lives are lived on opposing ends of the financial spectrum. Once, he remembers while heading home from Concord to Mattapan, a stranger called him a racial epithet. Jerrell was 12, alone and scared. He ran to a classmate’s house, where his friend’s mom took him in, called his mother and smothered him with love. Today, he spends a lot of his free time helping young people who’ve been in trouble turn their lives around with Boston Uncornered, where he chairs the Board of Directors.

Brockton native Francisco “Tito” SantosSilva could have been another statistic. In 2019, the Brockton Police Department confirmed 16 active gangs with an estimated 195 members, of which 111 (56 percent) were under the age of 25. Growing up on the south side of Brockton, SantosSilva hung out with friends at the Blockbuster that used to be next to the BAT station. He remembers smelling the aroma of his grandmother’s freshly made pastels by day, but by night found himself struggling to know where he fit in growing up in Brockton.

Boston Uncornered, a Dorchester-based nonprofit organization that works to reduce gang violence and connect at-risk youth with opportunities, has named Francisco “Tito” SantosSilva as its new executive director.He comes to Uncornered after having spent over a decade working with underserved and gang-involved youth at UTEC, the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS), and Elliot Community Services. Also joining Boston Uncornered is Jerrell Engermann, the incoming chairman of the board of directors and a native of Mattapan.

Michelle Caldeira and John Huet told listeners about Boston Uncornered, a new initiative aimed at helping gang members go back to school. They also spoke about the organization’s public art exhibit featuring portraits of former gang members, business leaders, and Boston’s mayoral candidates. Caldeira is the co-founder of Boston Uncornered. Huet is a renowned celebrity photographer best known for his portraits of professional athletes.