Rewriting the Script in Lawrence
On a recent Sunday afternoon, downtown Lawrence, Mass., became a ciclovia, Spanish for cycleway. Orange traffic cones kept cars off eight blocks around City Hall, as kids on bikes, teens on scooters and mothers pushing strollers made loops around Essex and Common Streets.
“Ciclovia is about community. It is a very unique way for us to say, ‘You know what, come out and play,’” says Vilma Lora, coordinator of the Lawrence Mayor’s Health Task Force. At the same time, the physical activities also create those social connections that are so important for health. “We're trying to promote physical activity to address the issues of obesity, diabetes and chronic diseases.”
This city of 78,000 embodies the notion that from pain comes power. Rewind to 2012. The state had just taken over the city’s chronically low-performing public schools, where only about half the high school seniors graduated. Boston magazine parachuted into Lawrence to discover problems that the community knew all too well: a high crime rate, a drug problem and overwhelming poverty. The ensuing piece, titled “The City of the Damned,” painted a simplistic picture of this complex community.
The residents of Lawrence knew that the turnaround had already begun years—really decades—earlier, something missed in the reporting of the article. Not content to let someone else write their story, the community rallied under the banner, “We are Lawrence.” With that, they began to rewrite the script on what Lawrence was all about, and what it could become. Community groups stepped out of their silos of self-interest to collaborate even further on the shared goal of making Lawrence a healthier city. A spirit of resiliency, built on a legacy of activism stretching back a century, spurred neighbors on.
Wendy Barr is a family physician who trained in Lawrence. After working in New York City, she returned to become assistant director of the medical residency program at the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center.
“Lawrence is a hidden jewel,” she says. “Yes, it has issues. Yes, it has challenges. But there is an amazing breadth of community groups that have come together to create a sense that we’re going to make Lawrence a better place, a healthier place.”
Sixteen-year-old Junielly Vargas, a high school senior with the Lawrence Youth Council of the Mayor’s Health Task Force, echoes her. “I have a passion for my city and want to see what I can do to make it better.”