Riot Squad – 2025 YGPC Team Spotlight

Meet RIOT Squad, a 2025 Youth Grant Pitch Contest Youth Team, from La Colaborativa (Chelsea) and their two volunteer coaches, AJ Lemarier and Judy Cazeau.

The RIOT Squad team plans to design and implement campaigns to tackle housing challenges and improve access to vocational education, amplifying the voices of Chelsea’s youth and families for a more equitable future. Their goal is to educate, empower, and organize youth to create lasting social change.

RIOT Squad also had a youth team in the 2023 Youth Grant Pitch Contest. They were awarded $1,500 to start a podcast aimed at amplifying the Black and Latino experience in Chelsea, local education policies, the vocational school bill, and mental health resources for youth.

Their coach AJ Lemarier is a financial planner at Commonwealth Financial Group. He wants to ensure that every hardworking business owner building a future for themselves and their family, as well as every dedicated parent raising their children, has the opportunity to plan for the future and protect their loved ones. During his father’s battle with cancer, AJ’s family saw firsthand the impact of having a solid financial strategy in place, along with someone in our corner to offer support. Since becoming an advisor, he has committed to building long-term relationships centered on guidance, education, and unwavering support, so he can be the resource his family was fortunate enough to have for others in the community. AJ was a 2024 Pitch Coach for the Wakefield Youth Action Team.

AJ noted his previous experience working with youth as a motivation for supporting the Youth Grant Pitch Contest. “Children have such an amazing opportunity to be a positive force in the world. I want to be there as a good role model similar to the ones I had growing up,” he shared.

Another coach for the team is Judy Cazeau, the Principal Broker and Founder of The OPAC Group, a woman-owned commercial real estate consulting firm dedicated to fostering inclusivity, integrity, and excellence in the real estate industry. Based in Cambridge, Judy combines her entrepreneurial spirit, commitment to equity, and passion for creating meaningful opportunities to redefine success in urban retail markets and beyond.

Judy shared that she is looking forward to supporting youth through the Pitch Contest. “I [wanted to] volunteer to mentor young people who are seeking to excel their pitch..”