“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.”

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