Scrapping of antiviolence program a sad chapter in distressing saga

We, former employees at the City of Boston’s SOAR program, wanted to respond to the recent article “City nixing program to stem violence” (Metro, Sept. 19). We brought complaints against the city in federal court alleging that we faced discrimination and retaliation there. As former street workers who worked for years to address and prevent gang violence, we find it incredibly unfortunate that SOAR, which stands for Street Outreach, Advocacy and Response, has been disbanded. An utter lack of leadership, professionalism, and experience in management is the source of this turmoil.

We as a group were tasked with creating relationships and building trust with high-risk and gang-affiliated youth, in an effort to redirect them to educational and job opportunities that would lift them out of poverty and off the streets. Management — from the top down — failed to provide us with the tools we needed to succeed in doing that, and that frustrated the program’s ability to reach these goals.

The work environment at SOAR was intolerable, and clearly not just to us but to all of the other numerous employees who have left the program as a result of the dysfunction.

SOAR’s mission must be kept alive, and it must be done with unionized city workers. This is our community, and we were committed to making that mission successful without the politics and power plays that have gone with it. We hope that that is the future of the city’s violence prevention effort.

JAMAINE GAITOR TERECK JAMISON

SEAN PITTS DONNIE POWELL

UNDINI SANZ Boston