By J.A. Jones, Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG – Gary Gaines, Erinn Green, Eric Jackson, and Stevmoney Medaries founded S.T.O.R.Y. 727 in 2021. The acronym stands for Stringing Together Obviously Remarkable Youth; and for four years the organization has focused on healing St. Pete through feeding its families and attending to the city’s future – its youth.
Tamika Mitchem, a business owner, leader with Pinellas County Urban League, and STORY volunteer, said one ingredient that has been a strong winning factor for the organization is the team work among the four founders.
“S.T.O.R.Y. 727 is the embodiment of real men doing real work. Their most impressive contribution is how they consistently show up for our youth—modeling leadership, compassion, and accountability in a way that shifts mindsets and changes lives. It’s not just programs—it’s presence,” she acknowledged.
When the team lost one of its youth members to gun violence last year it was a painful reality check; after a recent similar situation, STORY’s board president Eric Jackson was one of the community leaders ABC Action News spoke to.
The desire to work with children who many may be apt “to throw away” is where Jackson says the nonprofit’s focus is right now.
STORY has offered its Exposure & Impact Summer Camps and weekend events for youth and families for several years.
As its reputation has grown, recently city leaders reached out to STORY to support the needs of homeless youth through winter and spring vacation camps. The camps included a mix of displaced children in orphanages or group homes, as well as some children with troubled behavior who are living at home with single parents.
STORY brought in robotics classes with Dr. Alicia Ponds, and as many field trips as they could support. Jackson said even with the short amount of time they had with the youth, the team was able to see “a lot of layers being peeled away.”
Eric Jackson and Erinn Green Photo: Angel Shackleford
STORY has enjoyed a home at Cross & Anvil for several years; currently the organization is looking to acquire space to carry out even more educational programs, with an eye to providing temporary housing for youth in the future.
Jackson said the goal is to be able to provide community transportation – “We need their parents to be able to get in there — to get any necessary assistance and skills that can help strengthen that family.”
He imagines wraparound services, with a future location being a “one-stop shop — so that people can get the food, get their clothes, kids get their education, social activities, and areas where they can exercise. There needs to be social activities, physical activities, available in the space –because they are still kids, and they need to be able to exercise all these components.”
When asked about problematic issues many families in St. Pete are dealing with, he noted the frequency of medications being used to control youth. He acknowledged that while it might be sometimes necessary, the prevalence of youth on anxiety and depression medications seemed alarming.
“It’s sad, but they’re [many parents] medicating their children,” Jackson stated, sharing a suspicion that sometimes medication was more about “comfort for these parents.” He voiced doubts as to whether the youth were being properly diagnosed, and worried that sometimes it became a way for parents to avoid “seeking the proper way to do some true parenting.”
As Jackson sees it, the prevalence of youth medication adds to the problems of a community already battling with addiction and gang violence due to drug sales. “The kids are engaged [in drug use] either directly or indirectly; that is what they’re looking at. They’re looking at either the financial gain by dealing in the drug world, or they are in bad spaces because there is substance abuse all around them. So they’re talking about that while you’re working with them.”
He believes transitional housing is key, noting that the biggest challenges come from children from settings that land them in group homes, orphanages, or troubled families. While the team at STORY can get them to a space of openness and trust, “they have to go back into their own settings — so we have to try to find a way to crack the shell real quick, so we can open up and share something.”
STORY is also tale of the power of volunteers and partnerships. One look at its Facebook page shows the numerous dedicated partners and volunteers uplifting the organization and sharing its progress through words and images, as well as posting various related wraparound services and events.
Jackson speaks highly of the volunteers who have done everything from administrative work to dropping off food and necessities to families and providing man and woman power during events. These same volunteers helped them carry out their impactful feeding activities during the COVID-19 outbreak, and again during the 2024 storms.
Students with Sheena Qualles- De Freece (second from left) Photo: Angel Shackleford
One such volunteer, Sheena Qualles-De Freece, has brought her Kidzonomics program to STORY for a number of years, and notes the organization’s commitment to dealing with the socioeconomic disparities that limit access to basic human needs.
“S.T.O.R.Y. 727 is committed to alleviating the daily social and economic disparities faced by youth and families, through impactful solutions, which foster long-term socioeconomic sustainability and thriving communities.”
Qualles De-Freece said that the organization is building community resilience—one child and family at a time. “They implement empowering strategies that help youth and families thrive. Through culturally relevant approaches, S.T.O.R.Y. 727 inspires and equips young individuals with the skills and tools to transform their trajectory, paving the way for a brighter future.”
If you’re interested in getting in touch and supporting what S.T.O.R.Y. 727 does, email Eric Jackson, youthstory727@gmail.com; you can learn more and donate on the website at https://story727.org.
Follow S.T.O.R.Y. 727 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/414882613818023 and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/727.story.
Read the first part of this story here: S.T.O.R.Y. 727 continues positive impact on St. Pete youth and community
