Saving the Youth

As a teenager, Luis Acevedo went down the wrong path.

As co-founder of after-school program Save The Youth, he tries to prevent today's teenagers from doing exactly that.

In September 1987, Acevedo was a suspect in the murder of New York banker and Jersey City resident Navroze Mody that took place at Ninth and Willow streets.

According to reports from that time, Mody—together with friend William Crawford—was walking out of a bar when a group of teenagers started taunting Mody about his baldness. Mody, of Indian descent, tried to defend himself, but was knocked to the ground several times, hitting his head on the curb, which led to his death four days later.

The case sparked an outcry from Indians at a time of many racial bias incidents in Hoboken and Jersey City. In April 1989, Mody's father filed a civil rights claim against the city and three Hoboken police officers.

Acevedo—as well as his brother William and associates Ralph Gonzalez and Luis Padilla—went on trial for killing Mody. The teenagers were acquitted of murder charges, but convicted of assault. Acevedo, who was 15-years-old at the time, served four years in jail and was released in 1991.

It was during the time spent in court and in jail that Acevedo said he began to re-think his “life plans" when he began to feel pain and remorse for playing a part in Mody’s death.

Acevedo went on to learn record producing and engineering in New York, eventually startinghis own record label, Get Bucks Music Group, creating a magazine on hip-hop music, and mentoring his younger brother, Miguel, when he was forming his career as rapper “Tito Grahmz.”

In a recent interview, Acevedo said that he is still “making amends” for what he did as a 15-year-old with his current work as the director of the Save the Youth Academy. The academy, more commonly referred to as STY, is an after-school and summer program for kids, which was founded in 2006 by Acevedo and then-Hoboken Human Services Director Carmelo Garcia (now the city’s Housing Authority Director)

STY is supposed to serve as an alternative to gangs, crime and drugs. Between 35-40 kids, many of whom are considered "at-risk," participate in STY's programs, where they learn music production, dance and other creative arts. Acevedo said that as director of STY, he gets to be a role model, something his own childhood lacked, because of an abusive father.

“I never had anyone to show me how to be on the right path, and that’s something I wanted to do with the young kids now,” Acevedo said. Acevedo has two teenage sons—one 13 and one 17—and is not married. 

Ironically, Acevedo became involved with Save the Youth after another murder in Hoboken. In February 2006, 18-year-old Ismar Mineros was shot to death after a fight on Jackson Street near the Housing Authority complex where Acevedo grew up.

“When they had a peace march after [Mineros'] death, parents were coming up to me because they knew I was involved in music and wanted me to do something to help get kids off the streets,” Acevedo said. That was when he teamed up with Garcia to create STY.

The academy started in the Fall of 2006, with 160 kids meeting for classes after school at the Hoboken High School and the Hoboken Boys and Girls Club. Through funding from the city’s recreation department as well as federal funding and donations, the program has been able to stay afloat for almost five years, although Acevedo said the program is in danger of becoming extinct since funding sources for the program have discontinued.

Acevedo said that police have estimated that the program has helped reduce juvenile delinquency amongst Hoboken teens by more than 20 percent in the past few years. He is most proud that several of the students have also built their own recording studio after going through STY.

Garcia also sees Acevedo as being a valuable presence for young people in the community. “It is interesting to see him work with young people," Garcia said, "and to see his passion for youth development.” Garcia added, “and I think it comes from the connection he can make with the youth of today because he had such a rough past.”