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UTEC leads Streetworker Conference on violence prevention. 400 attend conference to build safer communities. Mack Hollins, wide receiver for the New England Patriots, does a Q&A with violence prevention workers at Gillette Stadium this week for UTEC's 2026 New England Streetworker Conference, focused on violence prevention. (COURTESY OF UTEC) PUBLISHED: September 26, 2026 at 5:45 AM EDT FOXBOROUGH - More than 400 streetworkers, community violence intervention practitioners and public health leaders from 120 organizations gathered at Gillette Stadium this week for UTEC's 2026 New England Streetworker Conference, which was focused on community violence intervention and frontline violence prevention. This year's conference centered on a theme that streetworkers, also known as community violence prevention specialists, know firsthand: "Community is the strategy." Streetworkers are specialized social or outreach workers who engage directly with vulnerable individuals - such as at-risk youth, gang members or people experiencing homelessness. Streetworkers are often among the first people called when violence happens, and among those working long before a crisis to prevent it. They build relationships with people at the highest risk of violence, mediate conflicts, respond in hospitals and neighborhoods, support people returning from incarceration, connect young people and families with resources, and help communities heal after violence. They are proactive in preventing harm in communities across the region. The New England Streetworker Conference brings those professionals together not only to learn, but to build the relationships and shared infrastructure that allow community violence intervention work to become stronger across city and state lines. "For decades, community-based organizations and violence intervention professionals have been doing this work on the front lines, building relationships, interrupting cycles of violence, and creating pathways and opportunity," said Nichelle Sadler, executive director of UTEC's Training Center for Excellence. "Today is about recognizing a step toward ensuring that the people closest to the challenges are also recognized as essential partners in creating safer communities." The gathering has grown significantly alongside the field itself. UTEC, an agency that started out in Lowell as the United Teen Equality Center but now serves youths up to age 25 across the Merrimack Valley and statewide, launched the conference at a time when street outreach was far less recognized as a formal part of violence prevention. Today, community violence intervention programs operate across the country, combining trusted relationships and lived experience with structured approaches to outreach, healing and violence interruption. In Boston, there were 53 shooting incidents through July 19 this year, compared with a five-year average of 68, according to a July 30 report in The Boston Globe. While no single strategy explains that decline, the progress reinforces the value of sustained, community-based prevention work. The conference gives practitioners a chance to share what is working, learn from one another and strengthen a network that extends well beyond the event. Frontline expertise. Rather than treating streetworkers only as fringe participants, the conference focuses on their expertise, giving their role center stage. This year's sessions addressed conflict mediation and de-escalation, restorative justice, reentry, data and case planning, community healing, engaging men in violence prevention, staff wellness and burnout, and the role of trusted relationships in preventing violence. The conference also created dedicated space for practitioners to exchange strategies, build partnerships and support one another in work that can carry significant emotional and personal demands. Timmeka Perkins, senior associate at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, based in Baltimore, Maryland, delivered the conference keynote. Perkins' work focuses on community-based strategies for safety and violence reduction and strengthening the people and organizations leading community violence intervention. "I have such a deep respect for the work that everybody in here does, the work of the front line. I see y'all. I admire y'all. I look at y'all as heroes, but I also see the human in you," Perkins said. "Young people are looking for their credible messengers to help them navigate the next part of their life." The program also featured Jabee, a three-time Emmy Award-winning musician, educator and community activist from Oklahoma City who serves as executive director of LiveFree Oklahoma and has built community initiatives spanning violence prevention, youth opportunity, arts and economic development. Like many streetworkers, Jabee shared how his activism is rooted in his own experience. "My purpose has been to help people find their vision, help people find their hope, and community is a strategy," Jabee said. "Everything I do, I do in my community. Because I know, had somebody not intervened with me that night, I would have been gone." "We don't do a good job at collecting what doesn't happen - when it isn't a homicide, when it isn't an assault, when an ambulance doesn't come, and when a family or friend doesn't grieve. You're doing that work every day," said Glenn Daly, the director of the state Office of Children, Youth and Families. "It's been a privilege to be able to walk beside you in this work." A network that matters. For frontline practitioners, the value of the conference extends beyond a single day of workshops. Community violence intervention is deeply local work, but many of the challenges facing streetworkers are shared: gaining trust, mediating conflicts before they become dangerous, supporting families following violence, navigating reentry, responding to trauma and sustaining themselves while repeatedly showing up for others. Bringing practitioners together gives them a chance to share what is working in different communities and to create relationships they can call on after returning home. The conference opened with a Networking Night at Patriot Place before the main conference program the next day at Gillette Stadium. The program included remarks and activities led by practitioners from across the field, two rounds of breakout workshops, the keynote address, the Legacy Award presentation and a conference-wide gathering on the field. Attendees were also joined by Mack Hollins, wide receiver for the New England Patriots. "One of the things I've learned over my 10 years in the NFL is you don't have to have a 'C' on your jersey to be a leader," he said. "You don't have to be up here on stage to be a leader in your community like you all are." Sponsors included the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Fund for a Safer Future, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Massachusetts Gun Violence Prevention Program, GIFFORDS, Health Resources in Action, The New England Patriots, Mass General Brigham Health Plan, and Roca, along with other organizations and partners. For UTEC, the continued growth of the New England Streetworker Conference reflects something larger: growing recognition that lasting public safety requires people who know their communities, have earned trust, can reach individuals whom traditional systems often cannot, and have the resources, training and professional support to do that work well. "I've been a streetworker for 12 years, and I always learn something new," said Angel "Ace" Vasquez, Lawrence streetworker manager with UTEC. "When we come together as streetworkers, it's not only in trainings. It's talking with each other, having each other's backs and making sure we're doing check-ins with each other. That's community for us." UTEC, Inc. helps boost the potential of young people ages 18-25 who are disengaged from school and work or are involved in the justice system. Through street outreach, education, social enterprises and advocacy, UTEC helps young people build skills, heal from trauma and lead change in their communities.

The Violence & Overdose Prevention Training for Incarcerated Young Adults Initiative: an HRiA Innovation Incubator project. In Massachusetts, emerging adults aged 18-25 face higher rates of arrest, incarceration, and reincarceration than those of other age groups. In recent years, the state government and criminal legal system have formally recognized the significance of this period in which the brain finalizes its development - recognizing that young adults are more susceptible to external influence and risky behavior during this period. At the same time, a person's risk for death by drug overdose in the first two weeks post-release from incarceration is estimated to be nearly 130 times that of the general population. Several factors can help break the cycle of reincarceration for young adults. These include educational programming, family engagement, positive youth development, and prohibition of harmful correctional practices (e.g., solitary confinement). Proactive education around risk factors, overdose response, and safer use strategies is one tool we have for reducing fatal overdose in our communities. The Violence and Overdose Prevention Training for Incarcerated Young Adults Initiative, funded by the HRiA Innovation Incubator, provides skill-focused training around these topic areas to help incarcerated young adults avoid harmful outcomes related to violence and substance use, access employment, and avoid reincarceration. Partnering for change. HRiA has a long-standing relationship with UTEC, an organization that nurtures "the ambition of our most disconnected young people to trade violence and poverty for social and economic success." Over the past several years, HRiA has partnered with UTEC on the Emerging Adult Re-Entry Initiative (EARI). This state-funded program bolsters programming with incarcerated young adults both pre- and post-release. Partnering with UTEC on projects such as EARI makes it possible for HRiA to work inside Massachusetts' correctional facilities. Through EARI, staff were exposed to the unique work of the BRAVE UNIT for emerging adults, which is modeled after juvenile facilities, emphasizing a therapeutic approach and an orientation toward re-entry. First year outcomes. In the first year of the Violence and Overdose Prevention Training for Incarcerated Young Adults Initiative, we trained eleven emerging adult residents and five older adult mentors of the BRAVE (Building Responsible Adults through Validation and Education) Unit at North Central Correctional Institute (NCCI) in Gardner, MA. NCCI houses individuals who have already been convicted and sentenced (as opposed to those awaiting trial or sentencing). This creates an environment where incarcerated men are settled into a long-term housing arrangement and have more time and motivation to pursue educational programming as well as build relationships with their mentors and other mentees. Numerous training topics were covered including harm reduction, overdose rescue, trauma, pathways of recovery, stigma, conflict resolution, systemic violence, recovery, safety planning, and healthy masculinity. Participants practiced a variety of critical skills along the way, including overdose reversal, motivational interviewing, public speaking, and more. The learning culminated with an impressive set of "teach back" presentations, where pairs of participants worked together to train a new audience on a topic they learned. The materials and slides from these sessions were compiled into a booklet participants received at the conclusion of the training. This initiative was the HRiA team's first significant engagement with young adults in the BRAVE Unit. Their kindness, engagement, curiosity, and critical thinking fueled powerful discussions that assumed little, but moved the needle of opinion significantly. At the end of our training, each participant received a certificate acknowledging their work along with verbal affirmations from staff and others. On the horizon. This project has deepened our partnership with UTEC. In the first year, 16 of the 23 members of the BRAVE Unit participated in the program. We anticipate a mix of old and new faces joining the second cohort. The team is in the process of collecting feedback and suggestions from BRAVE members regarding future curricula to probe deeper into first-year topics while introducing new information, materials, and activities. Given the prominent impact of education and employment on recidivism risk, we are also exploring ways our training series could provide college or other post-secondary credit. This will mean bolstering hard and softs skill training to ensure participants are leaving with increased capacity to meet their future goals, whether that be pursuing further education pre- or post-release, securing stable employment (through UTEC's Circling Home Fellows program), or sharing their knowledge with their community behind and outside the walls. Ultimately, we envision a world where all people are equipped with the resources, knowledge, and skills to thrive at home in their communities and where incarceration is no longer the outcome for so many of our young adults across Massachusetts.