Community Connections asks Lowell City for help finding space and promoting youth programs

Community Connections, a youth-led nonprofit in Lowell, presented its work to the Lowell City Council nonprofit subcommittee and asked the city for help promoting events and finding a permanent meeting space.

The group’s founder, Levi Dennis, told the subcommittee that Community Connections organizes youth-led events including a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and a back-to-school distribution that gave "over 200 backpacks" to children and provided free food. "We're an organization dedicated to empowering young people in Lowell to become active and engaged citizens," Dennis said.

The request came during the subcommittee’s scheduled nonprofit presentation time on the agenda. Dennis described ongoing programs that he said are run by students in grades eight through 12, including a Thanksgiving giveaway that fed "over 55 families" and a December holiday event. Ninth-grader Aaliyah Burgos, a member of Community Connections, said the group helped her improve public speaking and leadership. "Community Connections helped me get to know people, be a leader, and how to work with others," Burgos said.

Councilors responded by offering specific channels the city could use to amplify the group's outreach. Councilor Liggett suggested contacting the Lowell Public School system to request an email blast to students and families; Liggett said the schools have a "pretty robust communications, media outreach program." Councilor Robinson encouraged the group to connect with the city’s Cultural Affairs and Special Event Office and with Lowell Telecommunications (LTC) to obtain video clips for social media. "I think the sky's gonna be the limit with this group because you guys are doing amazing work with a small budget," Robinson said.

Dennis said Community Connections currently meets at donated spaces and is "in the process of trying to find a space where we can house Community Connections." He described the group's funding as limited and based on donations and out-of-pocket expenditures. He provided an email address on the record in the meeting described as "communityconnections [at] ma dot org" and said the organization maintains Facebook and Instagram accounts under the name "Community Connections." The exact email string on the record contained inconsistent punctuation and was not independently verified in the transcript.

Subcommittee members encouraged Dennis to send event and membership information to the city so staff could forward it to school and city communications offices. Several councilors offered to connect the group to the Cultural Affairs and Special Event Office and to LTC; no formal vote or funding commitment was recorded during the presentation. The subcommittee meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn that was made and seconded.

The presentation combined Youth programming details, outreach requests, and offers of city assistance; no formal grant, contract, or appropriation was proposed or voted on during the item.