Adult Support
Andrea Hornedo, Director
Saludos! My name is Andrea Hornedo. I am a Puerto Rican woman, born and raised in the city of Boston, Massachusetts where I still reside serving and guiding youth to prevent youth violence in the community and help youth of color to reach their goals. My passions are to encourage youth of color to be empowered and help build tools for trauma and healing for youth in our community. I have been pursuing this passion for over 10 years now from when I was a youth myself. Starting off my journey at Beantown Society where I then grew and learned about how to be involved in my community and how I can impact countless(?) lives with the power of community work. I have worked for Chica Project and recently served at AmeriCorps to obtain my Youth Development Certificate from Boston University.
Charming Salaman (they/he), Program Coordinator
Hey y’all, my name is Charming Salaman. I am 20 years old and I am from Boston. I work as a program coordinator with this really cool organization called Beantown Society — we are a youth-led afterschool and summer program and our mission is to end youth violence. We offer young people workshops, projects, and events based on their interest in order to work towards this vision. A little bit about myself — I am an Afro latinx trans person who has been connected to social justice since I was 15. All my life I moved around and have witnessed different forms of environmental racism and I was fed up with injustices that I’ve experienced, so I joined multiple organizations that wanted to create a change. The impact I want to leave behind in the world and in my community is to provide safe spaces for young people across the spectrum to use their voices. I want to have my own organization someday centering healing justice and spirituality using the lenses of social justice. Beantown has impacted the way I communicate with young people, the way I show up for folks in my community but most importantly it has made me center collective care. I hope that the future generations after me gain the knowledge, the power, and the freedom to create change within themselves and others.
Youth Staff
Rosemary Augusta
Bio Coming Soon
Christina Zhu
My name is Christina Zhu and my pronouns are she/her. I’m Asian American and I am in the class of 2022 at Boston Latin School. I’ve been a part of Beantown Society for a few months now and I am one of the youth leaders where we focus on having our voices heard. Beantown has given me a chance to connect and relate with a bunch of other youth leaders as well as learn more about the community. I hope that the actions that we have made now will impact our lives in the future and give youth the ability to take control of their own lives.
Akeem Bernier
My name is Akeem Bernier. I am 17 years old and my pronouns are he/him/his. I go to TechBoston Academy, and I am in the class of 2022. I am a Haitian/American man and I’ve lived in Boston all my life, so I have seen all the good and bad that has happened here. I have been a youth staff at Beantown for a couple of months now. Some of the things we do are educate each other on things that are important to youth culture and find ways to develop each other personally. We also have check-ins to see how we are all doing . I want to try and change the views of how older people perceive teens and young people. I am starting this by doing community service and showing people what we do and can do. I am passionate about youth empowerment because I think that we need more of our voices to be heard because being youth is already putting us at the bottom. Beantown has impacted my life by educating me on things I can do to help myself and others. The connection I have with Beantown is positive, I feel welcomed everytime I step into the space, and just being here just makes me feel good about everything. I hope that other generations that join Beantown after me gain the confidence in what they say and do and to know that their voice is very powerful.
Shaniyah Bailey
My name is Shaniyah Bailey (she/hers). I am 18 years old. I’m from Boston, MA. My family is from Jamaica. I go to Codman Academy Charter School.
Anthony Bernier
Wassup everyone, my name is Anthony Bernier (he/him/his). I’m 17 years old and I’m from Boston MA and live in Hyde Park. I currently go to TechBoston Academy and I play for their baseball team. I’m in many programs in Boston and try to stay involved in things. An impact I would like to make in this world is to make everyone smile bright and value who they are. I want to leave behind the things I have accomplished and the morals and values that I believe. At Beantown, I am a youth staff member and we work together to stop youth violence in neighborhoods and to create a safe space for young people. Beantown has made me realize the types of things that go on in the world and schools. I hope that people who join this organization will use what they learn outside of programming and be able to express themselves more.