People

ALICIA RAHEMA MOOLTREY

Mooltrey was accepted into the Boston Teacher Residency in 2014, an education master’s degree program, and teaches at Burke High School, located within the DSNI area. She’s also on the board of the Irish International Immigrant Center in Boston. Mooltrey says her years with DSNI have helped her understand that young people from an urban neighborhood can have a voice, significant power, and truly affect what happens in their community.

CARLOS HENRIQUEZ

Henriquez represented the 5^th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives until 2014, where he fought to pave the way for positive change in the DSNI neighborhood. He was expelled from office in 2014 after he was convicted of two misdemeanor assault charges. He has consistently reiterated his innocence. After his release from prison, Henriquez moved back to the DSNI area, where he continues to advocate for improvements in public policy and attends various open community and board meetings as an interested community member.

CHE MADYUN

Madyun, a founding board member of DSNI, continues to live in the neighborhood and volunteer her time to the group. She manages the Riley Foundation’s resident-led Family Strengthening Small Grants Fund, which helps support activities such as parenting seminars, local sports teams, and a resident-run radio station. Madyun, a classically-trained dancer, also teaches theater and community building classes at Cambridge College, and is the community relations and education associate at the Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston.

DACIA AND DWAYNE THOMPSON

Dacia and Dwayne remain active leaders in the community. Dacia, a founder of the local neighborhood watch, also participates in DSNI’s “Fair Chance for Family Success” initiative to help families set financial goals for themselves. She says her family feels “very blessed” they had the opportunity to buy “a nice home at an affordable price. Our three young children feel very safe within these walls,” she adds. The couple has repainted several rooms, installed fences, and upgraded the landscaping around the DSNI land trust home they purchased in 2009.

JASON WEBB

Webb became the community and capacity building associate for the National Community Land Trust Network in September 2014. In this position, he brings the DSNI model to communities across the country, helping to create community land trusts by training leaders and giving them the resources they need to be successful. Webb says his current job—where he emphasizes planning, resident leadership, and giving the community a voice in decision-making—is reflective of his journey with Dudley Street.

JOHN BARROS

Following a run for mayor in 2013, Barros is now the chief of economic development for the City of Boston. He works to create policies that help grow the innovation economy in neighborhoods like Dudley, and that support small businesses—especially companies owned by women and people of color. As an “unofficial advisor” to DSNI, he’s often consulted by the group’s staff and board members, and continues to promote long-term leadership development. “Investment in youth fuels the community empowerment work at DSNI and throughout the city, and ensures its sustainability” says Barros. He was executive director of DSNI for 13 years and lives with his family in the same Dudley Street neighborhood where he grew up.

MAY LOUIE

Louie left DSNI in 2014 after serving on the DSNI staff for 20 years in various capacities, including directing work around the Rebuilding Communities Initiative, Leadership and Capacity Building, Boston Promise Initiative, and the Dudley Learning Project. She is currently a visiting practitioner at Tufts University Urban & Environmental Policy and Planning program where she will lead an effort to design and pilot a course on Teaching Democracy. She is a member of the Community Democracy Workshop, hosted by Northwest Philanthropy. Louie is also writing a book about DSNI to share the group’s various approaches and lessons learned to help other urban communities. She lives in the Boston area.

ROS EVERDELL

Everdell started in 1988 as the organizing director of DSNI and works with the staff and board to continue the organizing and planning work necessary to support community economic development without displacement. She says the neighborhood has rebuilt itself over 30 years to become a place with more racial and economic justice. Observing young people growing up and taking their place in the community gives Everdell tremendously positive and hopeful feelings for the future. She lives with her family in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston.