OUR TEEN EMPOWERMENT STORY
OUR MISSION
To employ, train, and empower youth to, in collaboration with adults, create peace, equity, and justice.
OUR VISION
We envision a world in which youth with adults, in mutually respectful and supportive relationships, use their voices creatively to inspire, lead, and empower their communities to achieve justice and peace.
THEORY OF CHANGE
With the right skills and resources, all youth can think deeply about difficult social problems and work successfully with others to create significant change.
While youth are often seen as part of the problems facing urban communities, they are rarely engaged as part of the solution. Teen Empowerment helps young people find their voices and talents to involve large numbers of their peers and adults in building peace, tolerance, and community.
OUR HISTORY
Since 1992, The Center for Teen Empowerment has worked to transform communities, create safe spaces, and invest in the power of youth and adult partnerships to build stronger and more socially just communities.
With headquarters in Roxbury MA, and locations in Boston MA, Somerville, MA, and Rochester, NY, we bring youth voices to community decision-making and the conversations where their voices matter most. We provide a safe space and platforms for youth to share their lived experiences and collaborate with, teach, and encourage their peers to find the strength and power to create the change they want to see.
MAJOR MILESTONES
1992
Stanley Pollack founded The Center for Teen Empowerment (TE) as a response to the violence across Boston. TE hired and trained youth as leaders who would interrupt and prevent violence which led to playing a pivotal role in the “Boston Miracle” — 29 months when no one under the age of 19 died as a consequence of violence.
2003
TE launched in Rochester, NY helping to lower violence and increasing opportunities for more than 18 years.
With city support, TE engaged thousands of youths through conferences, events, and dialogues focused on fostering peace.
2004
Somerville coped with troubled youth-police relationships and 21 teen deaths — sparking the launch and opening of Somerville Teen Empowerment.
An independent study of TE’s work in Somerville showed a 50% decrease in juvenile crime, while arrests for youth ages 10-24 declined 84% (from 126 in 2007 to 20 in 2014).
2019
TE welcomed widely respected and forward-thinking, Abrigal Forrester as the new Executive Director and now, Chief Executive Officer, to lead the overall organization that currently reaches over 6,000 people across three chapters and develop and execute a strategic plan to grow and expand nationally.
“Teen Empowerment has succeeded in developing and maintaining an approach to engaging at-risk youth and reducing youth violence that can serve as a model for other communities. Its systematic approach to selection, engagement, and transformation provide a foundation for individual and community change.”
— Dr. Russell Schutt, Sociologist & Professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston
