The Lowell Sun

Lowell teen center eyes permanent home

April 27, 2004 - MICHAEL LAFLEUR, Sun Staff

LOWELL To Aileen Gonzalez, a 15-year-old Lowell High School student, the city's *United* *Teen* *Equality* *Center* is a lot like a family. "And every family has a permanent home," she said. "It's the same thing for us."

Since its founding almost five years ago, UTEC's offices have been located in rented space in the parish hall of St. Anne's Episcopal Church. Now the center, which specializes in teen programming, outreach and peer mediation, must move. St. Anne's wishes to expand its own Sunday school and youth offerings.

"We really need the space, and they've grown so much, it's almost impossible for us to grow simultaneously with the space being used by them," said the Rev. Ramon Aymerich, the priest at St. Anne's.

UTEC teens and administrators are at work in earnest on a campaign to buy a permanent headquarters. The effort kicks off with a rally and march Thursday at 3:30 p.m., outside UTEC's offices at 10 Kirk St.

"It could potentially be seen as a challenging time, but we're turning that challenge into what we consider our biggest opportunity in terms of launching a capital campaign," UTEC Executive Director Gregg Croteau said. "We knew this point was going to come some time."

On Friday, the center will move into temporary offices at 106 Merrimack St., near the corner of Merrimack and John streets, a space that lacks the basketball court and kitchen facilities featured in its current location.

"We're going to provide most of our program offerings, with the exception of the basketball and the culinary arts," Croteau said.

UTEC now offers 20 programs serving about 130 teens and young adults each day, ranging in age from 13 to 23.

"People look for UTEC," said Rosa Luna, 19, of Lowell, who answers phones at the center's front desk. "They come here for a lot of things. They come here just to have somebody to talk to, for the programs, for the basketball. It's a productive place to be. It's definitely unique."

The design of the new center and its fund-raising campaign will be created in large part by the teens it serves, working with architects and other expert volunteers from a nonprofit organization called Jericho Road, which is based in Concord and focuses on helping Lowell social service agencies.

Preliminary plans call for 16,000 to 20,000 square feet of space within a 15-minute walk of downtown. Until a potential location is found, no fund-raising goal can be set, Croteau said.

Michael Lafleur's e-mail address is mlafleur@lowellsun.com .