Bowdoin-Geneva is a 68-block section of Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston. It has long been plagued by gun violence and gangs, but it is also home to families, community organizers and people who are working to make it a place where children can be safe. This essay looks into their lives.

Nathaniel Davis Jr. puts in a new set of solar lights at the tombstone of his son, Nicholas Fomby-Davis at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Roslindale, MA. Fomby-Davis, was shot to death in 2010. He was 14. Davis had heard that gang members associated with the shooting planned on desecrating the grave. On the night of Nicholas’ murder Nate had taken a bucket and mop to wash the blood from his son’s crime scene. “I didn’t see no blood. And I just stood out there and I stood out there and pretty soon the sun came up. I didn’t go to sleep for that whole week.”