Utec seeks to strengthen and expand street outreach and reentry services to reduce and prevent community violence

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded Utec Inc., a non-profit community development organization, a $900,000 Project Grant under the Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CFDA 16.045). The grant supports a 3-year effort by Utec to strengthen and expand street outreach and reentry services to reduce and prevent community violence targeting young adults aged 17-25 in Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Key activities include:

• Forming a multidisciplinary CVIPI team with partners across corrections, courts, parole, probation, law enforcement, and the community
• Expanding Utec's street outreach and increasing its capacity for reentry services
• Increasing visibility of the CVIPI team's efforts through community events and collaborations
• Sharing results and best practices regionally and nationally

The project aims to reduce criminal recidivism to less than 25% within 12 months of enrollment, while also tracking employment, educational attainment, and community-wide crime data.

Utec will lead the creation of a multidisciplinary cvipi team that includes partners across corrections, the courts, parole, probation, and law enforcement, as well as community members and an external research partner. The team will include formerly incarcerated individuals who no longer have any active cases. Activities include expansion of utec street outreach, increasing utecs capacity for reentry services, increasing the visibility of the cvipi teams efforts through community events and collaborations, and sharing results and best practices through coalitions regionally and nationally. The project will reduce criminal activity, based upon rearraignment, to less than 25 percent of young adults within 12 months of enrolling. Utec will also track employment and educational attainment, as well as communitywide crime data, to be determined by the cvipi team. Service area and intended beneficiaries: the target population is young adults (ages 1725), living in or returning to lowell, lawrence, or haverhill massachusetts, who represent the highest risk for engaging in or becoming victims of violence. Utec will identify individuals based on ohio risk assessment screening community supervision tool scores of 24+ for males and 22+ for females.