From a kid on the streets to restaurant owner, Melvin Medina credits the Worcester Youth Center with making a big impact on his life.

“It was awesome,” Melvin said of the Worcester Youth Center. “They were great with the kids.”

An early member of the Youth Center for six years, beginning in middle school, Melvin felt the Youth Center “changed everything,” he said. “I went there and got off the streets. It opened the door for a lot of us,” he added.

Programs offered there helped youth find employment. Activities such as basketball kept youth busy and off the streets, he recalled.

Never give up. Keep dreaming because dreams do come true.

Melvin returned to the Center 15 years later as program coordinator for Bridging the Opportunity Gap (BOG) initiatives. These included workforce development, training and arts programs for youth involved with the Department of Youth Services.

“It was pretty fun working there,” he said.

The Center’s outreach hasn’t stopped with helping youth. It’s also involved in the community, for example, cleaning up areas that need to be cleaned up. The staff planted trees and flowers outside the Youth Center to make it look nice, he said.

Melvin has this advice for current youth members at the Center: “Never give up. Keep dreaming because dreams do come true.”

His life offers proof. A proud owner of the El Rincon Criollo restaurant in Worcester, Melvin works there together with his mother-in-law, who runs the operation.