United Teen Equality Center to Host the Lowell Connector Event at the ICA
For the past decade, the United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) of Lowell has been changing – and sometimes even saving – the lives of the city’s youth, and they want you to know about it. In an effort to share their experiences at UTEC with the Boston community, dozens of the center’s teens will host the Lowell Connector Fundraiser Event on Tuesday, June 30 from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Institute for Contemporary Art. After a gallery viewing of the work of Shepard Fairey (creator of the Barack Obama “Hope” poster) and a reception, young members of the greater Lowell community will take the stage to perform spoken word poetry, dance routines, and speeches about their stories of empowerment and success during their time at their youth organization.
UTEC began in 1999, when gang violence in Lowell was a much larger threat to local neighborhoods. The Downtown Neighborhood Association and the City of Lowell’s Streetworker Program answered the pleas of the city’s youth for a “gang neutral” zone, a place where young people can just hang out while feeling safe and welcome. Today, UTEC occupies an old church building in downtown Lowell and provides a safe haven for over 500 local teens (ages 13-21) annually.
It is difficult to name every opportunity UTEC offers its members, as the organization adds many new programs each year. In keeping with its original mission, UTEC holds a successful street work center that facilitates outreach and peacemaking in the local neighborhoods – so far they have worked with 7 Lowell gangs to initiate mediation and peace processes. In fact, some of the UTEC street workers are actually ex-gang members who turned their organizational skills in a more peaceful direction. UTEC also owns an organic farm that the teens manage in conjunction with their culinary program. The center even holds its own Alternative Diploma Program in partnership with Lowell Public Schools to encourage teens who have given up on their high schools to push through and earn their diplomas. This list offers only a hint of what the kids can get into, and it is hardly exhaustive. Perhaps the fundamental reason that UTEC has become so special to the local youth is that the teens themselves run much of the organization. Everyone participates - some teens prefer to be on the finance committee, many are street workers, and others help run the many activity programs at the center.
Though UTEC is not new to fundraising, Tuesday night will be the first time they bring an event to Boston. Jessica Wilson, the director of development at UTEC, is very excited for their trip to the big city: “We wanted to add a second event this year to communicate with more donors and to show people what our vision is for the next five years. We’re based in Lowell, but the effects of what we do reach far outside. We want more people to see what our teens are doing, whether that be community organizing at the state level, graduating and going to institutions of higher learning all over the state, or participating in spoken word poetry competitions in Boston and Worcester. What we do really crosses city lines.”
All proceeds from the Lowell Connector Event go toward UTEC’s annual budget, which directly benefits the teens at the center. These funds can cover anything from maintaining the building and facilities to providing rides to and from jobs for those teens without transportation. This year, the kids in the spoken word poetry group are hopeful for a large turn out to help get them to a poetry slam competition in Chicago. Wilson says, “We’re asking for folks to buy tickets for Tuesday night. If they can’t come, we ask them to donate a ticket to a teen so they can attend.”
The teens at UTEC are particularly excited about the Lowell Connector Event because they want to show Boston what their organization is all about. Aida Gonzalez, 18, has been a member of UTEC for the past four years: “On Tuesday, I hope the attendees will see that we’re just kids who really want to make a difference in our community. I know people often stereotype teens as careless and lazy, but I want them to see that we are actually good kids and we’re trying to get the word out about our program because it’s so important to us.”
Angelica Lorid, a 17-year-old UTEC teen, is hopeful that bringing their event to Boston might inspire the emergence of similar teen centers. She says, “I hope to see more organizations like this. We need to get more students and teens off the streets. I really think UTEC will help put an end to the gang violence in my community. When you see the fundraisers and peace walks we do around here, it’s all teenagers. You don’t see that very often, especially in this area. It’s nice to have somewhere to come and feel safe, like a second home. I want more people to experience that.”
The effects of community organizing and leadership building at UTEC are certainly long lasting, if 19-year-old college sophomore Chirayu Patel is any proof. Patel joined UTEC in 2004, and he is incredibly grateful for the way his peers and staff challenged him to get involved in his community. “Overall,” he says, “I’ve changed a lot in terms of my leadership and communication skills since starting here. I just finished my first year at Bryant University, and UTEC has inspired me to get involved on my college campus as well. UTEC really forced me to get out there and see what I could do. It’s been a great journey.”
Attend Tuesday night’s event to witness more tales of teen empowerment and support UTEC in its mission to create social change for its youth! Tickets and more information can be found at their website: http://utec-lowell.org/
