Mytown

Mytown, an acronym for Multicultural Youth Tour of What's Now, was a youth organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its work centered on helping young people study, interpret, and communicate the history of their neighborhoods and city. Rather than treating local history as a purely academic subject, the organization used historical research and public storytelling as tools for youth development, civic participation, and a more positive understanding of urban communities. The organization was founded in 1995 by Karilyn Crockett and Denise Thomas. Its stated mission was to empower young people through the process of sharing local history and to build appreciation for urban neighborhoods. Mytown also sought to demonstrate how community history could encourage youth activism and counter stereotypes that stigmatize urban neighborhoods. This approach placed teenagers in the role of researchers, interpreters, and public educators rather than passive recipients of historical information. Mytown's founding concept was closely connected to Crockett's own experience growing up as an African American girl in Boston. She had felt disconnected from the city until participating in a walking tour of Roxbury and the South End. The tour introduced her to stories about Pullman porters, the Tent City settlement, and the migrants and immigrants who had helped build and transform Boston over several centuries. That experience gave her a stronger sense of belonging and inspired the idea that other young people could develop a similar connection to their communities by learning and presenting local history. Over the course of its documented work, Mytown trained nearly 300 low- and moderate-income Boston teenagers. After completing their training, participants led historical walking tours for Boston residents and visitors. The tours covered urban neighborhoods and connected visible places to the experiences of the diverse communities that had shaped them. The organization reported reaching almost 10,000 residents and visitors annually through these public tours. Mytown's distinctive offering was therefore not a conventional commercial product but a youth-led community education model. It combined historical research, public speaking, neighborhood interpretation, and civic engagement. Its activities also gave participants practical experience in presenting information to varied audiences while challenging simplified or negative perceptions of Boston's urban neighborhoods. Available reference material identifies Mytown as a Boston-based organization but does not establish its current operating status, a successor organization, a formal parent, or an official website.

Mytown was established in Boston in 1995 by Karilyn Crockett and Denise Thomas. Its name represented the phrase Multicultural Youth Tour of What's Now and reflected an effort to help young people understand the history of the places where they lived. The organization's central premise was that local history could be used not only to educate but also to strengthen community identity, increase youth participation, and reduce negative stereotypes associated with urban neighborhoods. The idea was particularly shaped by Crockett's personal experience. Although she had been raised in Boston, she described feeling disconnected from the city. A walking tour of Roxbury and the South End changed that relationship by introducing her to stories of the Pullman porters, the Tent City settlement, and the many migrant and immigrant communities that had built and reshaped Boston across its history. The experience suggested that historical interpretation could make a city feel personally meaningful and could provide young residents with a stronger sense of belonging. Mytown translated that insight into a youth-training program. The organization taught Boston teenagers to investigate the history of their neighborhoods, community, and city, and then to share their findings with public audiences. Participants became leaders of historical walking tours, linking streets, buildings, and districts to the people and events that had shaped them. This model gave young people an active role in preserving and explaining community history while also developing communication and civic-leadership skills. The organization focused particularly on low- and moderate-income Boston teenagers. Reference material reports that nearly 300 young people were trained over the course of Mytown's documented existence. Their tours reached almost 10,000 Boston residents and visitors annually, giving the organization a public audience beyond the participants themselves. Through this work, Mytown positioned youth as credible interpreters of urban history and used public education to encourage a more complex view of Boston's neighborhoods. The available reference material does not provide a detailed chronology after the organization's founding, identify later directors or executives, or confirm whether Mytown remains active. It also does not identify a successor, parent organization, commercial owner, or official website. Accordingly, the organization's current status is recorded as unknown.

• 1995

  Mytown is founded in Boston

  [1]Mytown (organization)en.wikipedia.org

  Karilyn Crockett and Denise Thomas establish Mytown, formally known as Multicultural Youth Tour of What's Now, as a youth organization focused on local-history education and community empowerment.

A youth-development and public-history organization using neighborhood education, storytelling, and guided tours to strengthen young people's civic identity and challenge stereotypes about urban communities.

• Youth development and public history · 1995

  Youth local-history training

  Mytown trained Boston teenagers, especially young people from low- and moderate-income backgrounds, to investigate the history of their neighborhoods, communities, and city. The program treated participants as active researchers and interpreters, combining historical learning with public speaking, civic awareness, and community identity.

• Guided tours and community education · 1995

  Boston neighborhood historical walking tours

  After training, Mytown participants led walking tours for Boston residents and visitors. The tours presented neighborhood history through stories of the people, settlements, migrations, and institutions that shaped areas such as Roxbury and the South End. The organization reported that its youth guides reached almost 10,000 people annually.

1. 1Mytown (organization)en.wikipedia.org