You’ll be fine. I won’t lie and say NOTHING sketchy happened while I lived there — a few friends got mugged. On one notable occasion, a woman was abducted from the corner of Clifton/Oberlin as part of, IIRC, some gang initiation. A few friends got jumped, but it turned out they were all picking fights. Some friends had their house broken into not long after they moved in cos it used to be a dealers’ house.

That was, btw, ten years ago, and the area has only gotten safer since. I have a deep and abiding love for Main South and Worcester.

I’m telling you that in full the spirit of full transparency, and to say: just use basic precautions. The area is most “dangerous” in summer when there aren’t a lot of students and high school kids aren’t in classes — all the muggings I knew of took place over summer. The folks who got jumped were picking fights, so like, don’t yell shit at locals? The other two instances were scary, but I think, in context, two scary moments over 6+ years is pretty minimal/par for the course in a University area.

Clark is really involved in the local community, and that breeds a lot of good will. They run two of the local schools, and students from the area can qualify for a full ride to Clark.

One summer night I was being kinda stupid and walking home with one friend at 2:30 AM. A group of high school kids on bikes rolled up, started circling, and were generally causing mischief.Petty crime, tagging stuff, that sort of thing. I started to feel pretty nervous, especially when one kid rolled to a stop in front of me.

He pulled down his hoodie and asked how I was doing. I ran his after school program. We had a nice chat and I walked home safe. Great kid — I saw him at my five year reunion: he was a Junior at Clark.

When?? I was there in the late 2000s/early 2010s and never experienced that.

Yeah I lived near Clark around the same time period. Had way more friends get jumped than one would expect — but then you talk to them, and it’s like “are you fucking serious? You provoked the locals.”

Don’t be a jerk. Don’t pick fights. It’s all good.

I lived on Clifton for 4 years when the area was way less safe than it is now.