UTEC, Chief Executive Officer, Lowell, MA (Merrimack Valley)
About UTEC
UTEC is a nationally recognized organization for justice-involved young adults. The program starts behind the walls of correctional facilities and via intensive street outreach/gang peacemaking and transitions into an intensive program in the community post-release. The nature of our educational services, wraparound support and counseling, social enterprises/workforce development, organizing/policy work, training institute, and innovative partnerships creates a vast array of impacts in the lives of the individuals and communities we serve, and beyond.
In 1999, UTEC was founded as the result of an organizing movement driven by young people to develop their own teen center in response to gang violence. In 2010, after ten years in operation as a drop-in center and safe space for young people of all ages, UTEC staff engaged in a Theory of Change process that led to a programmatic restructuring to provide intensive, integrated services for the most disconnected youth ages 17-25. UTEC decided to continue the organization’s gang prevention work and education programming, as well as expand its employment and transitional coaching services.
In 2011, UTEC began construction to expand and renovate its youth center in downtown Lowell to accommodate increased enrollment and grow our social enterprises. By 2016, UTEC had expanded its social enterprises into three industry areas: Mattress Recycling, Woodworking, and Food Services. In 2017, the 2Gen Center @ UTEC opened its doors to provide onsite early education for young children of UTEC’s enrolled young adults.
Since 2019, UTEC has celebrated the grand opening of new program sites in Haverhill and Lawrence. In the same year, UTEC was selected as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ provider for a Gun Violence Prevention Training Center for Excellence, which is now the premier training facility in the state for addressing gun violence through both a public health and racial equity lens.
In FY22, UTEC served over 600 young adults including a range of outreach activities, and approximately 150 young adults intensively through our comprehensive program. During this fiscal year, 75% of young adults at UTEC avoided arrest. With over 20 years of experience, UTEC is a catalyst, innovating in the way we serve young adults (ages 17-25) who are criminally and/or gang involved in Massachusetts’ Merrimack Valley.
Today, UTEC is in the process of refreshing its TOC after over a decade of being on the leading edge of the nonprofit sector in terms of its data-driven learning orientation and usage of the Theory of Change framework as a basis for articulating its programmatic strategy and grounding its performance management practices.
For more information, please visit our website at UTEC.
THE OPPORTUNITY
UTEC is seeking a charismatic, inspirational, and community-grounded CEO to advance the organization's mission to ignite and nurture the ambition of disconnected young people to trade violence and poverty for economic success. Based in Massachusetts and serving the towns of Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill, UTEC’s unique, comprehensive program model shows “madd love” to young adults through multiple chances, across multiple years, and with access to multiple pathways. UTEC serves justice involved youth with their successful programs including Street Outreach & Violence Intervention, Behind the Walls Programming, Transitional Coaching, Workforce Development & Social Enterprises/Education, offering young adults ages 17-25 a wide array of wrap around services to support them where they are while propelling them forward.
The CEO will amplify the approach upon which UTEC was founded: centering young adults in all the work that we carry out. The CEO will be focused on instilling the value of community in and out of the building, while ensuring UTEC has the systems and practices in place to activate principles of equity throughout the organization. Through oversight of all day-to-day operations, the CEO will be dedicated to leading the diverse team at UTEC live out the core values of the organization:
- Assuming goodness behind everyone’s actions.
- Show madd love, unconditionally accepting each person.
- Offer everyone a clean slate, never giving up.
- Carry out respectful curiosity, always seeking out moments to connect.
- Be a sponge, actively seeking feedback.
- Embody contagious passion in all they do.
CONTACT
Andy Tarsy, Maureen Alphonse-Charles and Christy Farrell of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. To express your interest in this role please fill out our Talent Profile or email Christy directly at cfarrell@koyapartners.com. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email NonprofitSearchOps@divsearch.com. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
ABOUT KOYA PARTNERS
Koya Partners, a part of Diversified Search Group, is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm dedicated to connecting exceptionally talented people with mission-driven clients.
Our founding philosophy—The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World—guides our work as we partner with nonprofits & NGOs, institutions of higher education, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world. To learn more, please visit Koya Partners website.