Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF LINO SANCHEZ (AGE 5); KEN RICHARDSON (SANCHEZ) F irst you see the suit, the trucker hat, and the smile. Then you see the eyes of Lino Sanchez. They are brown, a deep, rich mahogany that stare at you straight, holding shad- ows that tell you they have seen things. Sanchez's eyes have seen the glinting edge of a switchblade, a bloody sidewalk, and graffiti on the walls of a prison cell. They have seen fists swinging at his face from people who were supposed to love him, and they have seen tears. Many, many tears. As Sanchez stands in front of a classroom at the Epiphany School in Dorchester, though, he is the voice of authority, credibility, and respect. Authority because he is the dean of students at the school and the founder of Urban Achievers, a nonprofit organization for troubled kids and fam- ilies in underserved communities. Credibility because he lived the same life as those troubled kids. And anyone would respect Sanchez after what he's been through and where he is now. "I had a very tough childhood," says Sanchez, who grew up in Dorchester. "I was beaten up by my stepfather pretty much every day." School was no joyride either. "I was angry. I got into fights. I got kicked out of half a dozen city schools." When Sanchez turned 13, he left home and school for good. He started selling drugs, earning enough money to rent a room at the Holiday Inn in Brookline. At age 17 he was arrested for attempted murder and thrown in jail. One after the other—from Nashua Street Jail to Walpole State Prison—Sanchez bounced around for five years. His last stint, at MCI Shirley, held a surprise. He shared a cell with a man named "Sam" [whose name has been changed to protect his privacy], who was serving time for a white-collar crime. Sam was unlike anyone Sanchez had met before: He was educated, thoughtful, and spent his free time reading. "I looked at him and thought, What a nerd," Sanchez says. "But he had a confidence about him that I liked." In spite of his brush with The Eyes of Lino Sanchez FROM JAIL TO THE CLASSROOM, LINO SANCHEZ USES HIS LIFE STORY AND HIS NONPROFIT, URBAN ACHIEVERS, TO GIVE TROUBLED KIDS A NEW START. BY LISA PIERPONT Urban Achievers founder Lino Sanchez holds a copy of Native Son, the book that changed his life. BELOW: Sanchez, here at age 5, grew up surrounded by violence. continued on page 56 54 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY 054-058_BC_SP_SpofGen_Spring14.indd 54 2/6/14 4:43 PM