UTEC awarded grant for re-entry programming

Effort helps young adults transitioning from incarceration back into society

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs has awarded $750,000 in grant funding to UTEC, Inc. to develop programming for young adults re-entering society after incarceration.

The funding was awarded through the Second Chance Act Community-based Re-entry Program, which provides grants to organizations that provide reentry services for offenders, mentor offenders through incarceration or offer training on victim or offender issues.

The award was applauded by U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, who wrote to the Office of Justice

Programs in May in support of UTEC’S application for the fiscal 2020 grant program.

“For more than 20 years, UTEC has provided vital services to our most underserved young adults in Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill. This funding will go a long way towards helping justice-involved young people reenter society, and it will assist them and their loved ones in getting back on their feet,” Trahan said in a statement. “UTEC has been leading the way on these efforts for a long time, which is why they have consistently been recognized nationwide as a model agency and why they’re the perfect recipient for this award.”

UTEC will use the funding to develop pre- and post-release programs in conjunction with correctional partners in Massachusetts, along with specialized programming for at-risk young adults after they are released. Components will include transitional coaching, counseling, education, workforce development and family engagement.

“We are incredibly thankful for the support of Congresswoman Trahan in our work to reduce recidivism with justiceinvolved young adults,” UTEC CEO Gregg Croteau said in a statement. “In partnership with all our correctional facility partners, we have seen the continuum of services from incarceration through re-entry to be essential for these young people’s social and economic success. We are very thankful for this opportunity to expand our work empowering young people in correctional facilities and through their transition back to our communities.”