Bridging The Gap | Boston

08/23/2017

Isaiah. You showed us what it was to revel as an underdog. You showed us that "impossible" is a construct, one that need not apply. You showed us what heart was. You showed us what mental toughness is all about. You showed us that obstacles will come, but that's never an excuse...what you do is get back in the game and bury some more 3's.

For us, you cared. You came and visited. You invited us to your practice facility. You shared your life story with us. You brought us to a Celtic game. You shook our hands. You looked us in the eyes. Took selfies with us. You showed us that we mattered.

You also showed us that receiving isn't enough. That we need to give out backpacks and package Thanksgiving meals. That paying it forward isn't just the right thing to do, that it is our responsibility.

Thank you Isaiah Thomas. You made an impact on our lives. For that, we are eternally grateful. I, for one, will continue to stare down my goals like prey and not let any distractions get in my way, as Kobe Bryant told you and you told us. Looking forward to seeing you continue to soar, even if it isn't in Boston with us.

God Bless,

Jovan Zuniga
Director, Bridging The Gap | Boston

12/08/2016

Check out some photos of Bridging The Gap | Boston students and graduates helping Isaiah Thomas,the Boston Celtics and World Vision USA prepare 300 food kits for Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children families. It's a blessing to be able to give back! Afterwards, we got to shoot some hoops with Isaiah at the practice facility court.

12/02/2016

Once again, big shoutouts to Isaiah Thomas, Boston Celtics, World Vision USA and Emmanuel Gospel Center (EGC) for making this trip to the Celtics vs Pistons game possible. We didn't get the win but we had a great time regardless!

09/08/2016

Grateful for the opportunity to work with Isaiah Thomas, the Boston Celtics and World Vision USA to giveaway backpacks to local elementary school children at the Kroc Center of Boston. IT spent some time after the event to inspire a group of our Bridging The Gap | Boston graduates!

04/29/2016

Amazing!

The Department of Boston Public Schools has launched an initiative to confront trauma faced by students on a daily basis in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. The initiative will be administered by Amalio Nieves, assistant superintendent of social emotional learning and wellness, cited as the…

02/23/2016

For the 5th straight year, the At the Well Young Women's Leadership Academy will be held on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. The Academy is one of the only summer institutes for minority teen girls to be held on an Ivy League campus.

06/12/2015

SO PROUD of BTG graduate Stephona for overcoming a mountain of obstacles (including birthing and raising a child!) without ever taking her eyes off her goal. Today she crossed the stage to become a graduate of East Boston High School!!!!

03/13/2015

POWERFUL poem by an AMAZING youth...

I remember reading about people fighting for us all to be equal
When Martin Luther King said “We are the same color, so lets stand for each other”
Thousands died for the rights we have today
but now the law puts in place to prevent violence
the people can’t even obey

We have words that are forever in silence
to stand from all the violence
Yet we put guns in the hands of the youth
that will kill before they ever tell the truth

Imagine how a mother will feel
if her son doesn’t make it home
because he got a bullet in his brain
just for not giving up his chain

Think how a father will react
to find his daughter dead by a knife
just because she said no to a man
who wanted to control her life

We use 6,500 spoken languages
but humans will still use violence to speak
We can take a flight to a place
we know everything will be alright
but it will first start with us

-Lidia Barros, BTG Graduate

01/30/2015

Hello FB Fam,

We are now in the homestretch. Today and tomorrow are the last days that you’d be able to make a direct online contribution to BTG Boston. Join the cause, friends!

http://www.onlineredkettle.org/btgboston

Please keep reading to see a note from the director:

Hi Friends,

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’d like to share a little about why this is important to me and why I believe this is an urgent cause. You see, I’m deeply passionate about this work because I was blessed with gentle care, love and dedication from two parents who cherished me dearly. Unfortunately, this isn’t a reality for the majority of the youth we work with and I take it as God’s calling on my life to give back. At BTG Boston, we work with the court-involved youth of Boston to instill direction and purpose to lives on the brink of being lost in the system. Most importantly, we show them genuine love and care, something not easily measured but remarkably profound.

Today and tomorrow are the last days to contribute directly to our program through small gifts. It really can be in any amount. If $1 is all you can give, that’s one more dollar that helps towards the cause. This will help tremendously in our effort to build capacity. If you can, please visit the link above to contribute. If not, thanks for taking the time to read this!

With Love,
Jovan Zuniga

Thanks for visiting to hear more about why I support the mission of The Salvation Army as a virtual bell ringer.I'm the Director of the Bridging the Gap Boston program. Here's a brief overview on what we do:The Bridging the Gap Boston Program is a 12-week life skills diversion program designed to e…

12/04/2014

Are you DISGUSTED and OUTRAGED at what’s happening in Ferguson and NY and want to do something about it? Please take a minute to read my post:

Look at the two pictures in this post. One is of an irate woman yelling at a cop who unemotionally ignores her cries for attention. The other is a picture of a pickup basketball game. What do these two pictures have in common? Take a closer look at the basketball picture.

#3, #6 and the guy shooting the ball are all BPD cops.

That picture encapsulates our philosophy at Bridging the Gap Boston. With the tragedies in Ferguson and New York, a huge problem has been brought to light and the question now is: how do we deal with this?

We work with inner city youth. Court-involved inner city youth. The same youth who were arrested by the guys they’re now playing basketball with. THIS IS OUR ANSWER. This is how we BRIDGE THE GAP between the inner city and the police. A relationship once filled with distrust, baggage, suspicion and hate is mended through the simple act of bringing people together. Three BPD Officers volunteered their time to teach our youth basketball and physical fitness and through that, gaps were closed, misconceptions corrected, distrust reconciled.

If you want to contribute to this kind of change, a change not filled with adversarial finger pointing, but filled with unity, love and togetherness, please consider contributing to the cause. We are a free program, so any bit of support we get helps to ensure that bridges are getting built in a spirit of love, not division.

If your heart calls you to do so, please visit www.onlineredkettle.org/btgboston to join the cause.

Also visit our FB page to learn more about BTG from the youth themselves at: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=vb.195323900505225&type=2

Thanks friends,
Jovan

NY picture courtesy of © AP Photo/Julio Cortez