“We assume goodness behind everyone’s actions…We continually chip away demonstrating relentlessness in our pursuit of positive change.”
~ Gregg Croteau, Executive Director, United Teen Equality Center, Inc., Lowell, Massachusetts
Mission: The United Teen Equality Center, Inc., (UTEC) works with some of the State’s disconnected youth – those inside jails and prisons, and those recently released. While the services offered and delivered are extensive, stunningly effective, and in some cases novel, it’s the undergirding mission, the heartbeat, that pumps life and suffuses energy throughout UTEC’s daily work. “We show ‘mad’ love, unconditionally accepting each person,” says Executive Director Gregg Croteau underscoring a prime UTEC belief behind the services delivered by this remarkable agency.
UTEC’s Proven Record of Success: UTEC’s 2020 Annual Report celebrates its 20 years of anti-violence work. “We served 168 young adults in our intensive enrollment program and over 600 total including Streetworker outreach. Of enrolled young adults, at intake:
- 89% had a criminal record
- 75% were gang-involved
- 70% lacked a high school credential
- 36% were expecting/parenting.”
The results are stunning. “Despite these barriers,” the annual report concludes, “81% of UTEC young adults avoided arrest compared to the state average of 49%.”
From the Individual to Community to State Policy: According to its website UTEC pledges “…to ignite and nurture the ambition of our most disconnected young people to trade violence and poverty for social and economic success.” It is designed for young adults with “formal barriers to success, primarily incarceration and other serious criminal histories.”
UTEC has been working for two decades in the Merrimack Valley (MA) with older incarcerated teens and young adults, those most at risk for victimization and/or victimizing, “those with the highest recidivism rates,” notes Croteau.
UTEC offers a continuum of services, “…services from pre-release to pos-release. The needs of this population differ vastly from, say a 43-year-old inmate, in terms of brain science, impulsivity, recidivism rates, and configuration of services needed,” reports Croteau. UTEC services include education, mental health counseling, job training/work skills, and connections to wraparound supports. Many UTEC street workers have “lived experience,” namely their own past involvement with the justice system. “Continuity and consistency are keys. We know of the conflicts inside the walls and thus are aware and ready when they hit the street upon release.” But the message undergirding the formal programmatic phrase, “continuity of services” transcends “services,” for it is deeper and more powerful. To Croteau it means, “We won’t leave you. We will always be there for you.”
Non-Traditional Services: “And we provide services for families,” continues Croteau. “This is essential because we discovered that many of our youth upon release often missed appointments with us because of childcare obligations. So, we opened our 2Gen Center, an early childhood educational center.”
I asked about “giving back,” providing youth who have been in trouble, the opportunity to do something positive for their community, to give back. UTEC does: the agency runs three bona fide businesses through its Social Enterprises program: Mattress recycling, woodworking, and food services: This gives youth both hard and soft (showing up on time, etc.) skills. Thus upon release from prison, youth are GUARANTEED a job. It’s more than a job: it gives youth the opportunity to see themselves positively, not as trouble, but as learners and givers. And, another step further, UTEC facilities are available beyond participants as a community resource — for conferences, board meetings, yoga retreats, and birthday parties.
And another step further: UTEC as Catalyst for State Policy Changes: UTEC formed a youth policy council, training youth in policy analysis, how to make a compelling legislative case, and how to present the case to state legislators. Months of research, practice, subsequent meetings with state legislators, and testifying paid off: in 2018, the state legislature took the extraordinary step of expunging juvenile records for those offenders who met certain conditions. Thus an offense committed while young, an offense that would follow and inevitably cripple an individual’s life prospects, could be wiped clean.
Because of UTEC’s advocacy, the legislature recently created a line item specifically for this population – younger incarcerated adults. Monetary grants for those working with this population are made available through the Executive Office of Public Safety. Such young adult offender specialized units have now spread to local county jails.
Beyond the Merrimack Valley: Yet Another Remarkable Step: UTEC applied for and received a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to assist 10 community organizations throughout the state to address gun violence in high-risk gun violence neighborhoods. UTEC provides training and support via street outreach, comprehensive needs assessment and referrals, mentoring, workforce development, and community mobilization.
From intense clinical services through job training, services to the community, and creating new state policy, it is little wonder that in 2019 UTEC received the Governor’s “Center for Excellence” award.
Written by Jack Calhoun
Mr. Calhoun is an internationally renowned public speaker and frequent media guest, editorial contributor and author of three books. He is the founder and CEO of Hope Matters. For more than 20 years, Mr. Calhoun was the founding president of the National Crime Prevention Council, prior to which he served under President Carter as the Commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families. Click on “Contact” to book Mr. Calhoun to speak at your next conference. All speaking topics are available at: www.HopeMatters.org/Speaker
