The Chelsea Collaborative and the Chelsea Police Department organized a youth vs. police basketball game. The youth played a tournament to choose a team that had the opportunity to play Officer Mojica and his CPD team. Daniel Mojica and Orlando Echevarria organized the tournament with the help of John Montes from the Boys and Girls Club. The competition was tough, but the youth were the winners in the end. This event was a great time to show solidarity in Chelsea and showed that both youth and police want the same thing- PEACE FOR CHELSEA!
We now have a chance to make a difference. My name is Carla Calderon and I have been a Chelsea resident for over 25 years. Last year on August 10th my life was directly impacted by the dramatic increase of violence in the City of Chelsea when my cousin, Luis Rodriguez, was murdered in Central Ave. Since then, other senseless acts of violence have plagued our City and have made living life in Chelsea very difficult.
PEACE is what our city needs and PEACE is what, we as a united city, should promote. This is the reason for which I, along with other city organization, have decided that it’s time for us to come together as a community and promote peace.
On August 10, 2011, we organized over 200 youth and adults for a day when peace was the common thought and motivation for the City of Chelsea. We united to bring together our community and our people as one family and stood for peace.
Our objective was to march through strategic streets of the city where some of the murders have taken place and end at a peace rally. At the rally at Highland Park we remembered those that were lost and took a stand and declared peace for Chelsea. There were motivational speakers (Carla Calderon and Bishop Carlos Ithier, a performance by Ediberto Carmenatty and moment of silence to honor the victims of violence in Chelsea. Participating organizations included the Chelsea Collaborative Summer Youth Employment Initiative, ROCA and Chelsea ASAP.