Q&A: JuanCarlos Rivera on UTEC's Street Worker Program / September 2011

JuanCarlos Rivera is Director of Operations at United Teen Equality Center (UTEC), a Lowell, Mass., agency started in 1999 as a response to the city's gang violence. The organization has been nationally recognized as a model youth development agency, and UTEC's street worker program was the focus of a 2010 evaluation conducted by Johns Hopkins University, the first peer-reviewed study to look at a street program in a smaller urban community.

The study found four factors were key to the program's success and sustainability: involving youth in the hiring process for new street workers; providing comprehensive training and ongoing professional development and benefits for staff; proactively reaching out to youth on the streets for follow-up and connection to services; and engaging gang-involved youth in a formal peacemaking process. The rate of violent crime in Lowell is twice the rate in Massachusetts as a whole, and the city is home to an estimated 19 active street gangs with 650-750 members. Rivera is one of the founding members of UTEC and serves on several community advisory boards on behalf of Lowell's young people. He spoke with us about the street worker program.

Q. According to the Johns Hopkins evaluation, one of the reasons UTEC's street worker program works is that the agency puts such a high priority on professional development and ongoing training. Sounds great, but isn't it expensive?

A. Our budget really is not huge in terms of paying out for trainings because it's often in-house. Everyone hired in each department goes through a two week basic orientation. It includes a review of our model, how we view youth work and how we interact with young people, general operations, etc.

Then you get training from your department head. For our department, that would mean learning about street outreach, mediation, conflict resolution, substance abuse, sexual health, suicide — we try to train our workers on any issue they might experience with youth. After that, there are monthly in-service trainings run by me or another director. If staff researches something or has personal experience with something that's relevant, they can also get credit for running an in-service themselves.

Q. Street workers are usually pretty young. What's the typical age for your staff? And how does this affect the format of your professional development?

A. Typically, it's 20s or 30s. The average age for UTEC's staff overall is mid-30s. For street work, there are three levels. A junior worker can assist or shadow someone with outreach. They can see how experienced street workers are interacting with young people. Junior workers are essentially volunteering. Street workers have to be at least 21. They need to be 21 so they can reach out to young people where they're at, which is sometimes in places where there's a 'legal age' to get in, and also for our insurance they need to be 21 to drive and things like that.

AmeriCorps is another option for a year after that. We've had ex-gang members that we start as volunteers, then we put them into AmeriCorps for a year — if we are absolutely sure they are no longer involved [in gang activities], we may hire them after that.

We have a really good mix for staff. If you walk into UTEC, you see just as many people who have life experience as who have degrees and education.

Q. Is the SW staff really integrated into the whole of UTEC staff? Some programs have a hard time with this because street workers are perceived as doing a different kind of work or they're working different hours, and they're not in the office very much.

A. Honestly, it's the starting point to our model. Young people can't join other programs at UTEC without interacting with a street worker first. Street workers will probably be connected with a young person and know their behavior issues, their family background, what they're going through ... things that other staff need to know before they can connect well with them and help them be successful. We actually reference street workers all the time as the heart of the organization.

They have administrative time and they also use their offices for mediation. They're not just out on the street although that's the majority of their time. They can bring a group of gang-involved youth into their office for mediation, too. And they store supplies, food, backpacks, etc. in their offices so they come and go a lot from the center.

Q. So it sounds like this is just built into the culture of the organization — that staff really believe street work is crucial.

A. It's true. Everybody needs to be on board with that. Without street workers, you almost can't do your work. What we've found is that the connections and bonds youth are making with street workers, is what holds them to the center. They're the ones intervening during a crisis and hearing their 'deep dark secrets,' being there when there's trouble in their daily lives. We do a lot of training around being non-judgmental, so unless a young person's in danger, street workers don't report this stuff. Young people know there's someone they can call 24-7. So, yeah, other staff say, 'I need this person [the street worker] in order to get this kid to trust someone.'

Q. Some agencies just aren't operating on UTEC's scale and don't have this level of professional development. Do you think these smaller programs can be effective?

A. Yes. Number one, when we first started we designed our curriculum around what other agencies provided for free. So that's the first step. We started internal committees so staff could research what we needed and we adjusted it over time. There were things we included in the beginning that we've let go of. Now we're 14 years into it and have a strong base of what works in our community. I think you can do it. The training and information that an outreach worker needs is available. The tricky part is designing it so it fits in your community.

Q. We know UTEC involves young people in its hiring process. How does that work? What level of voice do they have in the final decision?

A. UTEC has a three-part hiring process. First, I do an initial interview. Then the second meeting is with the department and young people. We ask people to come in for a couple hours so they can go out on the street with us. We introduce them to youth that know us and young people that don't know us. So we get to see how they handle that and how comfortable they are with reaching out to youth.

When we get back to the center the teens are ready to ask questions. It's good because the young people usually pick up on subtle cues, like they'll tell us, 'I asked a question and then the person looked to staff to answer the question instead of to me.' And it's obviously a learning opportunity for the young people, too, because we talk to them about appropriate interview questions and what things employers aren't allowed to ask.

Our third interview is with the entire staff and our peer leaders, usually 30-35 people. We sit everyone in an arch. It is a lot of people, but if they made it to that phase, we're just looking to answer any lingering questions. Staff may have had questions after hearing about the candidates from me and the young people. And then, ultimately, I make the hiring decision.

Q. Have you ever had any fallout if you decided to hire someone the youth didn't like?

A. We're usually on the same page. Usually if youth don't want to work with them, we're [staff] feeling the same way. Sometimes if we're down to two people, the youth will say, 'I've still got a few questions, can we bring them back?' And that's fine.

Q. Your SW program includes a peacemaking process geared toward reducing gang violence. What does peacemaking look like and how do you know it works? Is this something you've tried to measure systematically?

A. We now have an evaluation director who does all our internal evaluation. We use an outcomes database but in general, besides our data, we track it through the progress of our work. We plan this out quarterly and staff works on building to next steps.

For example, we target four to seven gangs a year. The first stage is that street workers will approach young people and invite them to an introductory meeting. At this point, we don't talk about the gang piece at all but we talk about the external pieces. We ask, 'What else do you need? Somewhere to live? Help getting back into school? Finding a job?' Eventually, after a long time of starting to get involved and working on these external pieces, the young people will say to us, 'This gang piece is not working for me anymore.'

So our approach starts with an introduction, but then comes a peace trip, or actually a series of them. Street workers will leave at four o'clock in the morning and take them fishing. We tell them, 'Your job is solely to get these guys talking. Listen to what people are saying.' Street work is really thinking about how to connect with young people in what's important to them. There will be three to four street workers on a trip with three to four teens around them so they can really talk to them and observe the group. They'll watch for the person that everyone in the group's looking to, to call the shots. That's who we need to connect with.

Then after there have been a few peace trips, we invite them to a peace circle, which is a Native American ritual. The idea is to try to get the young people to communicate differently, to plant the seed of peace, to get them to think, 'Maybe this is not the type of life I should be living.' We ask them, 'What would life look like if you had the chance to change it?'

Before we wrap up the peace circle, we, for the first time, mention the gang piece. We ask who would be willing to go to another circle with a rival gang set. That's when it gets really quiet. Sometimes there's one person who will step up and others will follow or we may have to give them time and follow up later, to let them get into the idea.

Once we have five of them agreeing, we take the young people to an island in Maine that you have to use a kayak to get to. They get paired up in kayaks with rival gang members. And, you know, with kayaking, you have to work with that person, you're not going to start anything in a kayak. The purpose of the trip is bonding. The young people start to understand they have a lot in common — they're frustrated about the same things, angry about the same things, and care about same things. We share food. We have a fire ceremony; it can get very emotional.

How do we define success? Once these guys have signed treaties, we find they aren't the ones getting violent with others; instead they're calling us and saying, 'You need to be here tomorrow or else something's going to happen.' They say they don't want to break the treaty so they want us to know what's going on and they want us to show up to stop the violence. When a young person wants to get out [of a gang], it becomes more challenging. Sometimes a young person is making the 'shot caller' a lot of money and it's harder to get them out.

Q. How indispensible is the peacemaking process to your work? Do you use it every day or just in special circumstances? Is it used just with gang members or do you also do it in schools, with staff, with other adults?

A. Daily, street workers work on their caseload but quarterly, we map out what our peace work will look like. Peace summits happen a couple times a year. Peace trips happen quite often, they're the most frequent part of our peace work. Introductory meetings obviously happen only once, but street workers are also doing a ton of case work with these young people.

Using peace circles is a great way to teach young people how to communicate, to be respectful, how to interact with people. Everything we do at UTEC happens in a circle. So in that sense, it's always a part of it, always being used. We use circles in the center, with staff, everywhere. But the formal peacemaking process we talked about with the trips and the summit, that's more targeted to the young people in gangs.

Q. Do you think peacemaking should be part of every street program everywhere? If so, how would someone get started? What's entailed in incorporating this into SW?

A. Absolutely. I think the best part of peace circles is that everyone's on the same level. We're strategic about staff disclosure but in a peace circle sometimes the adults will open up about something in order to talk about an issue with young people. We also allow young people to express themselves openly, if they're upset, angry, however they're feeling. In the circle, a young person has to be free to say whatever they want to, to say what they feel, what is truth to them. Instead of trying to argue against their position, you let it be. Let them say what they need to. You have to buy into that; otherwise circles won't work.

There's an organization called Just Peace Circles that does training, and so does UTEC. ROCA (a nonprofit in Chelsea, Mass.) also does trainings. Just Peace Circles also developed a curriculum you can purchase. We actually developed our own exercises but there are a number of different resources out there. People can also look into restorative justice where they're beginning to incorporate a lot of this work.

Q. What can you tell me about the challenges associated with doing SW in a multi-ethnic environment like Lowell? Is it ever difficult to make a 'match' between youth and staff — how do you work with this?

A. As an organization, our staff is extremely diverse, not only with life experience, but also culturally. We intentionally make sure we hire staff that covers all of what Lowell represents. So the challenges for us aren't about language barriers. We find that young people often don't believe they can be more than what someone has told them. We often find our young people are completely okay with the fact they're selling drugs or may end up in jail. They can't envision anything else; it's what everyone's told them their whole lives.

Another big challenge for young people in Lowell is a lack of resources, particularly our homeless population. We served over 70 homeless young people this last year.

Also, once someone has a reputation as a gang member, it's hard for the community to see them as anything else. Young people building a connection with street workers all go through a phase where suddenly they want to quit. They feel like they're trying, trying, trying and then someone sees their tattoo and labels them, or they face a big learning setback, and they get discouraged. But once you get them hooked, to see that transformation is amazing.

Another challenge for street workers is that everyone comes in with their own beliefs and biases; religion, personal morals and ethics can become an issue. We work hard to clarify this for new staff. Some people don't make it through the probation period as a street worker because they can't step away from that. If you can get through that, you realize it's not about you; it's about helping that young person make their own decisions.

Culturally, we have such a good mix of people and our programming incorporates so many cultural traditions. At UTEC, you'll hear all different kinds of music and eat all kinds of food. We use it as an opportunity to educate people. Other kids may come in and say, 'What is that?' You know, someone who only listens to hip-hop, we talk to them about this Cambodian music that's playing. When you walk in the center, our values, young people's art and their pictures are all over the place. A lot of it is ownership of the place. Young people call UTEC their home.

Q. If you were going to improve your SW program, what is the first thing you would do?

A. The first step? More street workers! We need more, we only have four at the moment and ideally, to make a greater impact, an average of 10-12 would be great. Next, we're working on a street worker institute so people can come to UTEC to get trained to be street workers. We also want to develop a national network of street workers. We get young people from other states, other cities, and there are different gang issues we may not know about. If we had a formal way to share information with other people, we could do more to help these young people.

Then there's always the policy level, which means getting policy makers to fund more opportunities for young people that are at risk. We really want to professionalize our field, too, similar to the level of the social work field. At this point, you don't normally hear a young person say they want to grow up to be a street worker. You need to be able to get certifications and get paid at a respectable level. The institute is really our next big thing, and that's connected.

Q. What advice would you give to other agencies with SW programs? What if they're not sophisticated enough or don't have the financial resources to do SW the way UTEC does?

A. You have to get young people to give you feedback on everything you do, on your policies, your practices. Do focus groups. Ask them, 'If we met on the street, how could I get you to give me your phone number? What would make you feel comfortable? What should I ask you? What should I wear?' For example, we started out with one 'uniform' with colors of some of the local gangs. Now we wear bright orange. It makes us easy to identify and plus, none of the young people would want to wear it themselves. So you don't get people adopting your uniform.

One of the most crucial things is to have a partnership with the police department — with the police department, city officials, hospitals, mental health organizations, and community agencies. If you can get those five, you'll be all set. A good street work program will mainstream these services. You only have minutes with a young person; you don't have much time and you don't want to lose them.

If you're on the street, you need a relationship with the police department and the city so that it works when you're out there. The police need to know who you are if they meet you with a group of young people. If you get your city officials to back your program — with funding but also with public support — you get validation from the larger community; you're in.


This interview was conducted by NEN research associate Jennifer Smith.

Link to press release
Link to journal article