Since 1999, the United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) has been a hub of activity for peace, positivity and empowerment for Lowell's highest-risk youth.  In 2006, we purchased a historic church building in downtown Lowell to ensure a permanent home for UTEC - and for the past 5 years, we've sought your support for our long-awaited building renovation and new construction project.

Today, UTEC is thrilled to announce that construction has begun!

Thanks to our supporters at the individual, corporate, city, state, and federal levels, UTEC's "Building Our Dream" campaign is one MAJOR step closer to being fulfilled.  Over the coming year, we will be working to complete a new three floor addition (7,500 SF) and extensive upgrades to the historic building, turning UTEC's youth center into a LEED Platinum certified green building.  We'll be updating you soon on the final phase of our building's fundraising campaign to ensure that our new spaces will be completed with furnishings, equipment, and technology resources for Lowell's highest-risk youth.

Thank you once again for your commitment over the years, and for making UTEC's dream into a reality.  

UTEC's mission is to ignite and nurture the ambition of Lowell's most disconnected young people to trade violence and poverty for social and economic success.

UTEC's nationally recognized model begins with intensive street outreach and gang peacemaking, reaching out to the most disconnected youth by meeting them "where they're at." UTEC engages youth in workforce development programs in food services, multimedia, and maintenance. We provide educational options through GED preparation and an alternative diploma program. Social justice and civic engagement are embedded in all programming, with special emphasis in our organizing and policymaking work both locally and statewide. Ultimately, UTEC's unique model can provide a pathway from the street to the state house for older youth most often overlooked and considered disengaged.