Faces of SCC: Jurett Mooltrey-Weathers

I have lived in Somerville for almost 12 years – in fact, it will be 12 years in March! One of the things I love about Somerville is that I can get out and get my walk in. While I’m out walking I feel this true connection with life.  Another reason is that I can go for coffee or walk down the street and almost always see someone I know.  I feel at home in Somerville, and for my son, this has been his home for most of his life.  I have had the opportunity to be a member of different organizations in Somerville and have met many other residents and have made some strong connections and wonderful friends. Home for me means security; it is my safe place, where I feel it’s truly okay just being me and being fine with it.  My peaceful place.  A place to close the door and close out the craziness of the world… unless I turn on the tv!  A place where I exhale once I enter the door. Home for me is a place of rest.I became involved in SCC in 2014, when I took the “Financial Literacy” class that was being offered and stayed connected. I then was helped by SCC later that year when I found some incorrect information on my credit report. During this time my son and I were in the process of losing our Security, our Safe Place, our Peaceful Place.  We were in the process of becoming homeless for no other reason than our rent was being raised and I could not afford to pay it.  SCC and Community Action Agency of Somerville worked with my son, myself and my advocates to make sure we did not end up on the streets.  We did end up in a shelter in Brockton but because of some knowledge of the McKinney Vento Act, we were eventually back in Somerville. Once back in Somerville I began participating in the Massachusetts Learning, Employment and Asset Program (MassLEAP); and this time I became more involved in other aspects of SCC and I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy every minute of it. SCC means a place for ALL.  SCC means working together foreconomic wellbeing and stability, equal access to stable housing, working together to have a more inclusive Somerville.  And what I mean by inclusive is not just in words but true actions.  A mosaic Somerville.  All the differences that somehow come together while not trying to make all the pieces the same but that work together to make all the different pieces one beautiful mosaic Somerville.Community to me is a place where you feel at home.  Community is a oneness even while keeping our uniqueness, a communing, a togetherness, and shared unity.  Community is our shared celebrations, worries, laughter, and tears. Community to me is a commitment to working, in unity, to heal the ailments of our community for the betterment of all.  And that means even for those who are not just like “us”, or may not have what “we” have, or look like “us”, or have the same beliefs as”ours”, or whose income may not even come close to “ours”.  Community is Home and Life.

Unstoppable Us Speak for me for I cannot talkAnd I’ll carry you when you cannot walk Stand with me and help me to believeNow look at just how much WE’ve AchievedWorking together to navigate the courseWatch how WE Become this Striking ForceJust when I think I’ll be drowned in defeatYou let me know there isn’t anything WE Can’t BeatOverwhelm and paralyzed by the pain Then I’m reminded there’s so much more of the Best of Life Yet To GainUNSTOPPABLE US!by Jurett Mooltrey-Weathers