Tonight is a big night for Ivan Richiez. He's speaking at Youth Design's "Winter Warm-up" fundraiser at the Liberty Hotel about what it means to be a winner. A couple of years back, he was mourning the loss of his friend, Keldrin, murdered on the streets of Roxbury. He was depressed about another buddy, AJ, tossed in jail for attempted murder. More than anything, he was sick of watching his contemporaries — 15 and 16-year-old kids — speed down the wrong road in life. 'Cause Ivan, you see, has other plans. He's looking for what he calls "the path to success."

It’s what his mother, Carmen Avalo, was after when she left her family back in the Dominican Republic. It’s why she lay down the law about doing well in school with Ivan and his older brother, Eric. “Education is everything,” she’d tell her boys. “No one can take it away from you.” Ivan liked to study all right, but he loved to draw. Art class was the place where he felt free, where he felt like himself. During sophomore year, he created a collage of a hand holding a high school diploma. His art, he decided, was going to imitate his life. 

One day, he heard there was a woman visiting his school, Madison Park High in Roxbury. She was a designer educator looking to recruit students for Youth Design, a nonprofit started by Denise Korn and devoted to mentoring inner-city kids with a knack for design. Ivan sought her out, applied for the program, and was accepted after a rigorous interview process. He interned at Tank Design in Cambridge, where he watched designers create logos, print ads, and billboards under the supportive eye of principal Andrew Smiles. Ivan saw how the staff immersed themselves in a client’s company and then transformed what they learned into simple, powerful visuals. Good design, he understood, meant simplicity.

When Youth Design challenged its students with a design competition. Ivan entered the contest. He had something to say. He researched statistics. Talked to kids in his neighborhood. Got advice from his mom. He created the shape of a gun and instead of coloring in it, filled it up with facts about violence on his streets: 65% of youth reported witnessing one or more acts of violence in the past year. 16% said carrying a gun made them feel powerful. 42% said it would be very easy to get a gun. Ivan won.

Today, Ivan’s gun logo blazes across a line of tee shirts that are for sale at the Newbury Street boutique Karmaloop. Tonight, Ivan will be sharing his “path to success” with guests at the Youth Design fundraiser. And this May, when he graduates from Madison Park High School, he will give a gift to his mother. Here's an idea: his collage of a hand holding a diploma. 

 Youth Design