LYNN — Standing on the steps of Lynn City Hall, a group of community organizations, advocates, and even City Council members chanted in unison: “Invest in the people of Lynn!”

In a press conference held Thursday morning, the focus was on demanding a Lynn Working People’s Budget within the city’s FY27 budget, totaling $1.6 million of the $53 million city budget. Through research and ongoing discussions the organizations — Neighbor to Neighbor, Lynn United for Change, Essex County Community Organization, New Lynn Coalition, Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Lynn LUCE hub, Comite Primavera Nueva, SEIU Local 509, UNCDC, The New American Association, the North Shore Haitian Association, and the Kakrona Center — identified six key areas of investment that they believe are essential to working class families, residents, and businesses in the city.

They have proposed $300,000, which would be renewed yearly for five years, to be used in funding immigrant support, specifically by the city either contracting or partnering with a nonprofit legal agency to give immigrants in Lynn the means to hire additional legal staff and consultation to those in Lynn who have been wrongfully detained.

“These are ordinary, regular, law-abiding, hard working parents, community members, and leaders in our community that are being sort of taken and chastised and detained and threatened with deportation,” said Councilor at Large Brian P. LaPierre, who was in attendance and commended Ward 4 Councilor Natasha S. Megie-Maddrey, Ward 5 Councilor Cardeliz Paez, and Ward 7 Councilor Jordan T. Avery for their support as well.

“There’s five names there. We only need one more to create some good trouble,” LaPierre continued with conviction in his voice. “And my advice is that this is not the end of the budget cycle. This is the start of a conversation in our communities to be able to adapt to what’s necessary. Our budget is big, and a lot of it is state-funded. I’m going to pivot and say, we need more help federally. We cannot keep surviving off this administration’s cut after cut after cut to the things we care about here, whether it’s SNAP benefits or shoreline or infrastructure projects, culture, higher ed research, the dismantling of the Department of Education on the federal level, you’ve got to be kidding me! Title One funds and everything else, all have an impact and then strains our budgets locally.”

A woman named Eny shared her family’s experience, as both her brother and husband were arrested and deported. She said that “just on them, we’ve spent about $25,000.”

“I’m here to talk to the mayor and the unions,” she said in Spanish, which was translated by Kelly McGuire of the Lynn LUCE Hub. “We need more money in the budget to support immigrants, and without it, this city won’t have any workers left, and it won’t be a city… Lots of working-class families have had people arrested, and we need support.”

The proposal is looking for $200,000 of funds to be dedicated toward investing and offering dedicated support for small businesses and worker-owned cooperatives through coordinating organizations to support them, a multilingual navigator, publicizing information, guiding businesses through red tape, connecting them with the resources they need, as well as training on workers’ rights and “financial and advising support for worker-owned cooperatives,” as was mentioned in a written breakdown of the Working People’s Budget, which was shared with The Daily Item.

The third area focuses on youth leadership and opportunities in Lynn, with a proposed $400,000 to be used to establish and fund a year-round part-time paid internship for Lynn high schoolers to work with councilors and School Committee members, as well as funding to expand the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program.

Brian Ramos, a student at UMass Boston, shared his experience as an immigrant growing up in Lynn and battling poverty while attending Lynn English High School.

“I suffered through poverty and had to work full-time jobs to pay rent,” he shared. “Growing up in America was difficult. I didn’t know English, I had no connections, and could only land jobs that I really didn’t want to do. I felt my goals of going to college slowly diminishing the more I worked and the less I prioritized my studies. It was programs like Neighbor for Neighbor and the Lynn Student Police Academy that Ramos said he was able to gain opportunities that allowed him to still support his family while pursuing career paths that he was interested in, including politics.

“I met State Rep. Sean Reid… who I went and interned for until the end of last year, and continued gaining more and more experience throughout the Massachusetts State House,” he continued. “I believe that if I wasn’t granted these opportunities, I would have not continued my career in anything… The youth are outraged about this, and all we want is an opportunity to show that we are worth it.”

The fourth area addresses the warming and cooling centers available in the city, of which $200,000 will be allocated toward an “investment in community partnered warming and cooling centers to ensure our most vulnerable residents have consistent and safe places to go during the coldest and hottest parts of the year,” mentioned Gabe Cohen-Glinick of Neighbor to Neighbor during the press conference.

The fifth area is centered on housing justice, as their proposal of $200,000 will be used toward funding legal services and assisting tenants who are facing evictions or substandard living conditions, as well as a partnership with community-based organizations.

Lastly, $300,000 will be allocated toward increasing funding for the Lynn CALM Unarmed Crisis and Response Team.

“There is a problem right now,” said Celly De La Cruz from Lynn United for CALM. “(We) can’t respond to calls only during certain times, limited hours, and closes at 8 p.m. and sometimes earlier. Additional funding in the city budget will let this critical program operate at late-night hours when many emergencies happen, and allow CALM to become more widely known as a dependable resource that is available at any time as needed.”

Kathy Paul, who is the Vice President of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, emphasized their support of the Working People’s Budget and the importance of Lynn standing together.

“I have lived through the times the current administration in Washington referred to as ‘great.’ I can say, as a Black woman raising Black babies in the ’70s during integration, it was not great, and we do not want to go back to that time again. Here in Lynn, we are not going to go back. We are here to say, invest in Lynn! We do not have to follow the chaos in Washington and Lynn. We have an opportunity to rise above the hate and invest in our neighbors…

“The amount we are asking for is just a drop for the city budget, but if we take the drop and invest in people, we will have an ocean of opportunities for the people and the City of Lynn.”

Lynn organizations banded together on the steps of Lynn City Hall Thursday morning to call on the mayor to support the “Lynn Working People’s Budget.”

Neighbor to Neighbor Organizer Gabe Cohen-Glinick rallies community organizers on the steps of Lynn City Hall Thursday morning to support the “Lynn Working People’s Budget.”

Lynn City Councilor-at-Large Brian LaPierre expresses his support of the “Lynn Working People’s Budget.”

Mass Senior Action Council member Kathy Paul calls on Mayor Jared Nicholson to support the “Lynn Working People’s Budget,” during a rally on the steps of Lynn City Hall Thursday morning.

Kakrona Center’s Chanpichiny Ros expresses her support of the “Lynn Working People’s Budget,” during a rally Thursday morning.

Lynn resident Eny call on Mayor Jared Nicholson to orchestrate more support for immigrant legal defense during a rally outside of Lynn City Hall on Thursday.

New American Center Chief Clinical Officer and Wellness Clinic Director Dr. Scune Carrington voices her support for the “Lynn Working People’s Budget,” during a rally outside Lynn City Hall on Thursday.

Lynn English graduate Brian Ramos calls on Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson to support the city’s youth by backing the “Lynn Working People’s Budget,” during a rally at Lynn City Hall.

Lynn United for Change’s Celly De La Cruz expresses her support for the “Lynn Working People’s Budget,” during a rally.

Richard Felton, of the North Shore Black Clergy Alliance, voices his support for the “Lynn Working People’s Budget,” during a rally at Lynn City Hall.

Lynn United for Change’s Isaac Simon Hodes calls on Mayor Jared Nicholson to support the “Lynn Working People’s Budget.”

Neighbor to Neighbor Policy Director Miles Gresham calls on Mayor Jared Nicholson to support the “Lynn Working People’s Budget.”