The Lew Crew

The Root Cellar’s Lew Crew began with an idea to provide youth with work experience while engaging them to beautify the Tree Streets neighborhood. Supported by a 2015 mini grant from Healthy Neighborhoods to purchase the equipment necessary to make it happen, Lew Crew Lawn Care began.

That first summer, Lew Crew Lawn Care challenged the program’s first eight teens to learn teamwork, customer service and financial management. Healthy Neighborhoods, Gather to Grow, and other community partners collaborated to identify sites that needed work. Thanks to those early partnerships, the program grew. 

Lew Crew Lawn Care later became more than just mowing lawns. The youth learned how to estimate jobs, calculate costs, manage customer service, and understand profit margins. They weren’t just doing the work — they were running the business.

By Summer 2024 the Lew Crew had grown to 85 teens. In addition to lawn care, teens develop real-world leadership and communication skills as peer mentors for elementary-aged kids at Super Summer Day Camp (serving 150 youth from the neighborhood!), gain small business know-how by preparing food and drinks as Common Grounds baristas, and learn interpersonal skills by coaching adults who are learning English. 

“In our broader culture, there seems to be a constant lowering of expectations for teens. We’re trying to interrupt that,” says Joel Furrow, Root Cellar Executive Director. “Giving them opportunities to contribute, to do things that are positive together, leaning on them for ideas about community problems or challenges, giving them space and investing in them: results are that they become mature leaders.”

The Root Cellar’s Lew Crew has grown into an amazing program that weaves together workforce development, leadership training, conflict resolution, financial literacy, life skills, and community service. Teens learn to show up on time, put their phones down, navigate conflict, and speak about themselves with confidence — not because the expectations are low, but because the bar has been raised with support and mentorship.

Thanks to the Healthy Neighborhoods mini grant, what began as a simple summer lawn care program has become a strong youth development initiative in the heart of Lewiston’s Tree Streets.