This North Jersey nonprofit is promoting anti-violence through skateboarding
PATERSON — About 10 years ago, Steve Wolfe met a group of teenagers from Paterson while he was hosting a weekly skateboarding event in Midland Park.
Wolfe, the founder of a skateboarding nonprofit group called SOLID Foundation, was so impressed by the Paterson teens’ determination to get to the event — taking two connecting buses and walking a mile — that he offered to carpool with them.
Through those rides from the city to the suburbs and back, Wolfe said he learned about the struggles the inner-city skaters endured and their untapped talent because they lacked the investment and infrastructure to succeed in the sport.
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Wolfe last month began the process of moving his nonprofit to a new home in an old industrial building at 39 Governor Street in Paterson’s 1st Ward. SOLID had bounced around to five locations since it received its nonprofit status in 2014.
But Wolfe’s group is on much firmer financial ground after getting back-to-back community-based violence intervention grants from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office — $293,537 in 2023 and $499,945 in 2024.
Pushing for Peace program
The funding is being used for SOLID’s Pushing For Peace program, a combination of periodic events and weekly anti-violence workshops for people aged 11 through 25 from Paterson’s most crime-plagued neighborhoods. The skateboarding is being used to entice city youths to join the program.
"When we asked how our community of skaters see kids escaping these dangerous situations, the most common answer was opportunity," Wolfe said. "Everything we do at SOLID is to give kids opportunities to be inspired, feel supported and connect with community and resources."
Though Paterson isn’t known for skateboarding, that is slowly changing. Wolfe has a feeling that SOLID’s new headquarters is opening at just the right time.
A few flyers taped to the front door and the organization's van parked out front are the only things that distinguish the building from the other factories nearby. That will change in due time. Wolfe and his staff members — which includes one of the skaters he used to carpool with — were moving boxes into the new building when Paterson Press arrived for a tour recently.
The high ceilings will soon accommodate a half-pipe, which is a wooden semi-circular structure that allows skaters to use gravity to skate up and down the ramp and perform aerial feats. Wolfe was hoping to find an even bigger place, but he quickly found out that a nonprofit is not many landlords’ idea of an ideal tenant — especially one that deals with children and skateboarding.
“We had three strikes against us,” Wolfe joked.
Safe haven for young skateboarders
The SOLID facility will be a safe haven for many young skateboarders who aren’t always treated kindly by the world outside.
“People think we’re rebels,” said Darius “DJ” Sample, the organization’s youth development specialist, who was a teenager when he first met Wolfe in Midland Park. “A lot of property owners would kick us out of places because they say we’re vandals.”
The irony is that although many people treat skateboarders like troublemakers, young people often turn to the sport precisely to stay out of trouble, Sample said.
“I’m a product of that,” he said.
SOLID is more than just a place to try out new tricks, according to group members. In addition to the skateboarding lessons on the first floor, the building has a second floor where art classes and an after-school program will be held. These classes have already been taking place at 131 Ellison St. for the past year, but now everything will be under one roof.
In the early days of the nonprofit, Wolfe combined Christian ministry with his outreach, but his position has evolved on the issue.
“Back in the day, when SOLID started, I believed I had all the right answers about life and faith. I had a certainty about how it all worked,” Wolfe said. “If kids asked to have a Bible study, would we? I don't see why not, but I would rather facilitate questions than give answers.”
During the tour of the new headquarters, the desks were still stacked on top of each other and the warehouse was filled with boxes of donated shoes and skateboard decks that some of the students will get for free.
“Apparently, if shoes are scuffed or get returned, stores can’t sell them,” Wolfe said. “We have five different retail shops that send us stuff they can’t sell. Almost every time the shoes are still brand new.”
One of the reasons Wolfe thinks skateboarding is such a good fit for a city such as Paterson — where a quarter of residents live below the poverty line — is that it requires little equipment compared to other sports.
“Skateboarding is an individual sport — you don’t need a team, coach, or a referee to call the plays,” Wolfe said. “You just take your board and hit the streets.”
Wolfe said things will be in place at the SOLID headquarters in time for the expected opening date this fall.
“If a kid is interested in skating but doesn’t have a board, the skate community will provide one,” said Wolfe, who grew up in Hawthorne. “Kids have spare parts and they’ll put them together.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ group promotes anti-violence with skateboarding
