Urban PowerHouse
Watching Rachelle Alexandre compete at the USA Powerlifting Ladies of Iron competition, Coach Laurie Maranian was overjoyed: Rachelle was squatting over 400 pounds and deadlifting nearly 400 pounds, far exceeding the goals she’d set upon first joining Urban PowerHouse — which was all the more astounding since Rachelle had given birth to her second child only eight months prior. “Rachelle originally came to Urban PowerHouse with general health goals,” Laurie explains. “But soon after, she became pregnant and wanted to focus on having a healthier pregnancy than her first. Well, we smashed that out of the park! Her energy and confidence were way up, and she kept working out well into her third trimester. When Rachelle sets her mind to things, she does them. She had decided to enter her first powerlifting competition shortly after giving birth, and even postpartum recovery wouldn’t stop her.” “Urban Powerhouse became my anchor during one of the most transformative chapters of my life — motherhood,” says Rachelle. “It’s where I found pieces of myself I thought I’d lost (or didn’t even know I had), pushed past limits, reclaimed my strength, and redefined what it means to show up for myself. In the chaos of motherhood, this space became my sanctuary.” Laurie cofounded Urban PowerHouse (UPH) with partner Joseph Stephen in 2019, but their vision began in 2015. The two had known each other for many years, reconnecting after college to become friends and eventually life partners as well. As a former competitive dancer, Laurie faced a lifetime of body image challenges. “I was running for a while in an effort to lose weight,” Laurie recalls, “but then Joseph showed me strength training, and I realized, oh wow, you can actually enjoy exercise. Later, I went to his sister’s powerlifting competition and was amazed by how inclusive it was: not everyone looked the same.” “At that time, there were no powerlifting facilities in Boston,” she continues. “Sometimes a group of us would go out to a gym in Western Mass, but it took a whole day and was expensive. And I’ll never forget the first time we went, and Joseph and the other men with me stopped at the door of the gym and said, ‘you go in first,’ because they were concerned about entering together as men of color into an environment that was predominantly white.” “There have been so many times in my life when I’ve felt I just didn’t belong,” Joseph says. “So I wanted to create an inclusive space where we could support people on their health and wellness journeys. Laurie and I were thinking of opening a personal training studio and almost bought one. But it didn’t work out, and that was probably fate, because then we decided to narrow our focus to strength sports, including powerlifting and weightlifting, as the modalities to help others.” In December 2019, Urban PowerHouse got their 501(c)(3) nonprofit certification, but three months later, Covid shut down the commercial gym where they trained. “There was a silver lining, however,” Joseph adds. “Everyone was working out with their free time, and companies were being charitable. We rented a 250-square-foot storage space where we could train with the seven athletes we were coaching at the time. Training gear company A7 created and sold a custom shirt collab, donating all the proceeds to us, and other companies were supportive as well.” Joseph and Laurie both had prior nonprofit experience, and Laurie still works full-time at another nonprofit while serving as a coach and VP of Development at UPH after-hours. Joe serves as part-time Executive Director and Head Coach. Both continue to add strength-sports skills to their résumés. Laurie became a Precision Nutrition Level One Coach, and Joe got a second bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Health Science and is now working towards a Physician Assistant degree with a doctorate. And since receiving their first grant from The Lenny Zakim Fund (LZF) this year, Joseph and Laurie have been quick to take advantage of all the grantee webinars and other learning opportunities they can. “We’re working with consultant Rana Kannan right now, through the LZF Catalytic Consulting program,” Laurie says, “And she’s helping us construct a logic model and also define the data we want to collect, both qualitative and quantitative.” So far, that data is quite impressive. Since inception, UPH has logged more than 250 unique visitors and 1,000 community event attendees. UPH athletes have participated in at least 60 sanctioned competitions, with 19 first-place wins. Just over half of the athletes receive financial assistance for individualized coaching. In 2021, UPH created a 3,000-square-foot gym out of an unused basement space in a local Hyde Park business with an app that allows access to the facility when it’s unstaffed. Gym membership is $50 per month for adults and $20 per month for students. “We started out as an adult program, but the youth came knocking at our door,” Laurie says. “Everyone needs a place to go and a community to belong to. With all ages working out together, we have an organic, intergenerational mentorship happening at the gym.” Urban PowerHouse now offers free summer memberships for up to 25 high school students. What’s more, this past summer, a City of Boston youth workforce program allowed them to employ a team of five youth workers, ages 14 to 18, with two supervisors, aged 19 to 24. The teens helped with upkeep and ensured that everyone felt welcome and knew how to navigate the gym environment safely. Working with Laurie and Coach Marcus Brown, they also ran a new six-week program called “High School Summer Slam” and helped to provide free breakfast and lunch six days a week. “We knew we had some food-insecure individuals in the space,” Laurie explains. “So Joseph found a federally funded program through the Greater Boston YMCA that delivers meals to us, three days a week, from a Black-owned vendor called City Fresh Foods.” Avery Covitz was part of the 2025 summer workforce
2Gether We Eat
“Holy Basil” was the name of the product that 11-year-old Ethan was pitching to his fifth-grade classmates with the slogan, “After every bite, you feel like you’re in heaven.” Following his pitch, Ethan handed out business cards, complete with a handmade logo, then watched as classmate Abdul presented his business, D7, and an array of fresh vegetables with the catchphrase, “Eat right, live right.” After each presentation, the students congratulated each other and talked about ways they could sell the greens and vegetables they were growing at their hydroponics farm at the Vernon Hill School in Worcester. “The kids are always eager to show their stuff and compete,” says Charles Luster, who runs the after-school program as executive director of 2Gether We Eat, teaching the clean, organic hydroponic method of growing plants in nutrient-rich water solutions rather than soil. “I’ll put pictures or videos of what they’re doing on social media and say, ‘Look, my Worcester class just got 1500 views, and then all the other classes want to beat that number,” he says. As a former college basketball coach and Marine recruiter, Charles has countless ways to keep kids inspired. “I use no pencils or paper,” he explains, “and if someone doesn’t know the answer to a question in class, everybody else chimes in with the answer because there’s never a reason to hide answers.” Recently, two new ESL students joined the class, and Charles challenged his students to take turns leading class in Arabic or Portuguese so the new members would feel welcome. “They were actually fighting over who got to go learn enough of these languages to lead the class,” Charles says with a smile. “I always tell them teamwork makes the dream work, you know.” Charles challenges himself plenty, too. “When something’s uncomfortable, you know you’re learning,” he says. The start of 2gether We Eat came in 2020 after he decided not to pursue a cannabis business with two friends. “But thinking about how we were planning to grow cannabis made me realize we could grow food in the same way and use it to help kids and the community,” he says, crediting his “little brother from another mother,” Soloe, and longtime “big brother, mentor, friend, uncle, and family member” Carl Paisley, who died in 2023, with helping bring his vision to life. “Carl and my good friend Linda Cavalli, who had just retired from the YWCA, joined me for our first board meeting—on an iPhone in my backyard during Covid,” he says. “Now, this month, we’re celebrating our fifth anniversary!” When you’re trying to get a nonprofit up and running, there are almost no better words to hear than, “I believe in your mission and I’d like to write a grant for you.” That magical phrase was uttered by Debbi Lane of Magic Lamp Consulting after 2Gether We Eat won the first cohort of the Greater Worcester EforAll entrepreneurs’ pitch contest in 2020. “I call Debbie my Agent of Change,” Charles says. “She was in the second cohort, and when she heard about us, she wrote a grant proposal pro bono for me that led to us having two Freight Farms and an electric cargo van. We’ve put 13,370 miles on that van so far without a single gas purchase!” The climate-controlled Freight Farms are metal cargo containers from a Boston company and Worcester-based founder whose business was shutting down. “They allow us to grow up to 10,000 plants at one time,” Charles says. “It’s just amazing to see the kids learn how to plant and germinate the seeds, then watch them grow under LED lights in the freight farm. You never know who could be the next George Washington Carver right here!” Charles signed an MOU with Worcester Public Schools to run the first Freight Farm at Vernon Hill Elementary School, where Principal Craig Dalton was an old basketball friend. “I pitched Craig my idea about hydroponics and said, ‘You give us electrical power, and we’ll give you food and educational programs.’” Now, 2Gether We Eat is running programs in eight locations, including after-school sessions at Vernon Hill, Elm Park, and Seven Hills School, as well as programs at the Leominster and Worcester Senior Centers, Webster Square Day Care Center, African Community Education (ACE), and BAMSI’s Brain Injury Community Center. With approximately 125 participants, the youngest farmers are four years old, and the oldest are in their 90s. Charles has recently been able to purchase hydroponic systems for all the participants to take home so that they can grow green, leafy vegetables right on their countertop. “One out of seven kids go to bed hungry,” he comments. “But if they can grow their own vegetables and find a little protein, they can take care of themselves. At Vernon Hill, we’re adding a pantry, so a kid can grab some canned tuna and some plants and make a meal.” Another recent development is a partnership to grow food for the community with UMass Chan Medical School, which purchased a Freight Farm and hired a young hydroponic farmer named Josh Lighten. “Josh is so excited now that he’s got his UMass ID badge,” Charles says. “He was at the Creamer Center alternative school and none of his teachers knew what would happen with him. I was able to intercept with the help of his teacher, Ms. Brennan, who happens to be my next-door neighbor and a fellow plant lover. Now he’s a full-time college student and I’ve trained him in hydroponics. And though he started out interested in biology, he’s decided to major in broadcasting and communications because he’s found his voice teaching others about hydroponics and food justice.” “Seeing his growth is so rewarding,” Charles continues. “He leads intergenerational exchanges with the kids and seniors, letting the older participants ask him fun trivia questions and encouraging the little ones to talk about their dreams and choices in life. In the end, plants and people are the same— we always need to keep growing.” ——————————————
P&O Behavioral Health Initiative (POBHI)
Octavia Nankunda and Priscilla Rwandarugali met at a party in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 2017 and became instant friends. “I recognized Priscilla’s last name,” Octavia recalls. “It was the same as my ‘Auntie Fiona,’ who worked with my family for many years in Uganda.” As it turned out, Fiona was Priscilla’s older sister, and she was just one of several connections the two had between their families back in Uganda. Their friendship deepened in 2020 during the pandemic, as they talked for hours about family and friends, the lives they had left behind when they each emigrated to the U.S., and current events in their new lives in America. “As much as our hearts were hurting for friends back in Uganda, there were so many people hurting here too,” Octavia says. “The need for mental health support in the immigrant community is immense, but there’s still a lot of stigma, and so many barriers.” “So we decided we could help,” Priscilla chimes in. “I had practiced law in Uganda, and Octavia is a psychotherapist with a masters and a concentration in marriage and family therapy and mental health counseling — and we felt like we could make a difference.” They started with mental health group meetings online, and then met in person in Octavia’s backyard. During this time, they got the word out through beauty salons and churches. “We were very intentional about providing services in the immigrant community and for people of color,” Octavia explains, “because they need more guidance and reassurance — to understand how to access resources, how insurance coverage can help, and that counseling sessions are safe and HIPAA-protected. Despite Priscilla’s background as a lawyer, we don’t give legal advice, but we have answers to most people’s immediate questions and can steer them in the right direction. We always say that if we can’t help you, we’ll find someone who can.” That same year, 2020, Priscilla and Octavia officially combined their efforts (and their names) to launch P&O Behavioral Health Initiative, with a mission of elevating marginalized and underprivileged communities by empowering them to achieve success — using evidence-based and culturally competent treatments. “We knew all too well the stresses immigrants face,” explains Priscilla. “For starters, most immigrants to the U.S. have college degrees, but when they arrive, they usually learn that the years of professional experience and academic degrees they bring from their home country are of little use in seeking employment in the States, leaving many to work two to three service jobs, such as geriatric care, to make ends meet.” They also understood how immigrant families needed help bridging the gap between generations. “We see a lot of parents who assume just being in the U.S. will automatically give their kids a better life,” Priscilla says, “because of resources like good schools, books, and computers. But the parents are working so hard they have to leave the children at home with older siblings or cousins, and they don’t get to nurture them and guide their activities and behavior. So what does success mean for each family? The parents might think that just being in America is a success, but meanwhile, the kids are struggling. Seeing a therapist from their own country makes it easier for them to accept help and to feel understood.” On any given day, POBHI is working with clients on a wide variety of issues, from school or work stress to domestic violence. They run counseling groups for kids, teens, and adults, as well as specific groups for mothers, fathers, and seniors, plus a creative group. Meeting virtually, each group can have up to 12 people, but teenagers and seniors also have an in-person meeting at least once a month. Often clients need more individual assistance — sometimes with urgent crises, as when a client discovered her husband was planning to leave the country with their children and POBHI referred her to the police and an attorney. Another time, a client told them she dreamed of opening her own business. “We told her: Of course you can do it,” says Priscilla, “then we helped her figure out the process. She opened her own bodega just a year later. And now she has more time for her kids and can pick them up at school.” POBHI group services are free of charge for those that can’t afford them, thanks to support from The Lenny Zakim Fund (LZF) and The Boston Foundation. “The Lenny Zakim Fund believed in us from the start,” Octavia says. This past year, both women participated in LZF’s Transformational Leadership Cohort (TLC). “My TLC coach, Marianne, was a godsend,” Octavia says. “She has a background in social work and understood the intricacies of what we do for a living as well as the administrative work behind it. I love being a therapist, but the administration makes it so difficult. Marianne helped me get my thoughts organized along with our business, which needed some restructuring. She was good at both sides of it — social services and nonprofit administration.” Now POBHI can see their growth trajectory more clearly, and with two clinical mental health counseling interns joining them this fall, they’ll be able to implement some of their plans. They’re already partnering with several insurance companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Carelon Behavioral Health, and Harvard Pilgrim, among others and now they want to consider how to address demand for more one-on-one counseling, find office space for at least one day a week, and bring more mental health counseling to colleges. “College students are still just kids, even though we consider them to be adults,” Octavia says. “They’re miles from home and stressed out and stranded and don’t know what to do, and sometimes that means they drink their way through school or flunk out. And international students have all the difficulties of being far from home on top of the normal struggles. So we want to offer sessions that teach them coping skills. And as with all of our services,
