Left: Joe Furnari, ROCA Vice President of Operations with a graduate, Djimmy Brutus.Photo: Carl Stevens/WBZ NewsRadio
CHELSEA, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Wednesday was graduation day for a group of young people in Chelsea who just completed a Green Jobs Training Program.
ROCA is a non-profit youth violence prevention organization.
Eight of its members finished a paid pilot program made possible by WIN Waste Innovations.
The program focused on providing at-risk students with training and experience in natural resources management, urban forestry, and environmental conservation.
Lessons were held in the classroom and outside in the nearby marshland.
Joe Furnari is ROCA's Vice President of Operations.
He said the graduates now have a new skill to help them move on with their lives. "It could go into landscape architecture. It could go into landscaping itself, mowing lawns and stuff like that," he said. "It gives the kids something totally different to channel their energy into, which is awesome!"
Djimmy Brutus of Dorchester is one of the ROCA graduates.
He said the program taught him the importance of resilience. "We all go through stuff, but we all can find a way to come back," he said.
Among the attendees at Tuesday's graduation ceremony were Revere Mayor Patrick Keefe and Chelsea City Manager Fidel Maltez.
WBZ NewsRadio's Carl Stevens (@CarlWBZ) reports.