Melissa Long is the program director for the Boy With a Ball team in Boston. With a background in immunology and infectious diseases, Melissa always thought she would build her career in the science field, working in a lab. Instead, it was in a lab where she realized her true purpose: “The thing that really made me come alive was people, and that’s really what I was passionate about.” This realization caused her to search for a place that was all about relationships.
Boy With a Ball had the missing relational piece that Melissa was searching for, an organization where the focus was on getting to really know people and build developmental relationships to help them reach their dreams. Instantly, Melissa felt suited for Love Your City because, “[God] had developed this passion in me for loving and caring for people who don’t have anyone alongside them, [someone] who might care to know the surface level things happening in their life but then also the things that are harder.”
After training for three months at the Boy With a Ball Global headquarters in Atlanta, Melissa then went to Boston to start Love Your City within the community. Melissa and a few volunteers spent the summer attending cookouts and other community events within different neighborhoods in Boston, searching for the right place to start. Once they finally found their neighborhood, they got started right away with walkthroughs. Melissa noticed that the young people within the community faced a history of violence, gang activity, drug activity, and a culture of fear. These young people were often alone for long periods of the day and didn’t fully get the support they needed to have vision for their days, hope for their future, or stay in school. By launching Love Your City in this space, the emerging Boy With a Ball Boston team could be part of the support young people and the community needed to face new opportunities and build a better future for themselves.
When asked about what makes Love Your City work, Melissa said “Love Your City is built on a bunch of individual moments of [connection] with people, but then all of that builds into this bigger picture of seeing how the Holy Spirit is able to work in every corner of the community but then also how those individual moments lead to big picture transformation.” Fondly and in awe, Melissa recalled moments where she felt she saw Love Your City make a difference in the lives of those within the community, walking alongside them as they took chances that they hadn’t been able to before alone.
For someone hoping to step into Love Your City like Melissa did, she advised that “the easiest way to touch it, and get an idea for it, would be to go on a Saturday.” When there, don’t just think of it as something you’re doing but instead keep your mind and your heart open to growth within and outside yourself. If you cannot volunteer, you can still implement the concept of Love Your City into your daily life. Melissa walks through one of the core concepts of what makes Love Your City work which can be done anywhere in your life: coach, team, playing field.
For Melissa, Love Your City is an important place of growth, specifically “noticing what you come alive to and [how] doing those things can unlock pieces of your purpose.” Listen to the whole interview, and get in on this amazing Boston-based changemaker!
