During his second State of the City address, Mayor Jared Nicholson focused on the challenges Lynn faces and the steps it is taking to overcome them. This is especially relevant following the shootings that shook the city at the end of December. While Lynn has made significant cultural and economic progress over the last decade, acts of violence like this put into stark focus the problems that still confront us. In this context, it was important for Nicholson to reassure us that all of the strides the city is making are helping to create a safer community.

Many of the different themes Nicholson’s speech covered tie into the city’s ongoing efforts to achieve peace. Children whose families struggle to find affordable housing, for example, are more likely to grow up in an insecure and bleak environment, and eventually may turn to violence in response to the problems in their lives. The efforts Nicholson highlighted, such as the creation of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, help reduce the conditions in the city that lead to this kind of behavior. A new proposal touted in the State of the City, the creation of a policy to protect tenants from landlord harassment, would have a positive impact on children.

The city’s schools are also an important front on this issue. A positive and safe environment at school can foster an incredible sense of community with one’s peers, while a negative and dangerous one can make conflict and hatred seem inevitable. A strong education can provide the necessary foundation for a fulfilling career, while a poor one can leave students without direction or the ability to succeed. Nicholson emphasized in the State of the City how under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Evonne Alvarez, Lynn Public Schools is adding pre-K seats, teaching its students a variety of skills, and ensuring that education in Lynn remains accessible and affordable. At the same time, the district’s increased focus on social-emotional learning and mental-health resources is vital in enabling students to address their emotions and struggles in a constructive way. By allowing the city’s youth to see promising futures and supporting students who need help, the district is working to provide a pathway to a more peaceful future in the city.

Violence in the city can’t be solved by one organization, and Nicholson listed different ways the city is pursuing this issue. The Police Department, which welcomed 17 new officers last year, is enhancing its suppression of gang activity through coordination with other agencies and the hiring of specialists. A new unarmed public-safety team, the Lynn Calm Team, will be able to respond effectively to an array of incidents and allow the Police Department to further concentrate on dealing with problems such as gang activity. Workforce development programs that are creating job slots for at-risk youth are also steering people away from bad decisions that can ruin lives. While none of these alone will bring peace to the city, they are part of a coordinated effort to confront one of the most serious challenges Lynn has.

None of the problems the city faces exist independent of the others; they all feed into each other. Nicholson’s State of the City demonstrated that in the same way, the individual initiatives to address them influence other areas. By moving forward in many ways, Lynn will become a more peaceful community. There will be more days like the ones we saw at the end of December, when we will be overcome with grief and unable to think that the city is making progress. But if there is one theme from Nicholson’s speech to take away, it is that the city’s residents can find resolve in each other and create connections to solve its problems. That isn’t something that will be accomplished by the mayor’s office, police, or school district alone, however. It is something that requires the entire city’s dedication to creating a revitalized Lynn.