United Way of
Massachusetts Bay

Lowell Community Receives $100,000 for Summer Jobs and Programs for Youth


Lowell community helped raise funds for Summer Experiences in Greater Lowell initiative 

United Way and Summer Experiences in Greater Lowell (SEGL) committee members joined 12 community organizations at Lowell City Hall today to award $100,000 to support summer programs and opportunities for local children and youth – impacting more than 2,000 youth this summer.

The leaders of the 12 local organizations, along with many of the kids and teens who benefit from their programs, attended a special celebration in the Mayor’s Reception Room to receive their grand award.

SEGL committee members, the community leaders who helped raise the funds for the program, presented the checks and guests all enjoyed food catered by SEGL-funded agency and United Way partner UTEC-Lowell (United Teen Equality Center).

Since the summer of 2000, SEGL has helped to offset summer learning loss among Lowell area youth by exposing them to arts and culture, engaging them in sports, and helping them to develop leadership, social, and academic skills while school is not in session.  The program also provides crucial summer employment opportunities for older youth.

This year, SEGL celebrated its 15th anniversary.  In that time, the community has raised well over $1 million and helped more than 30,000 youth in Greater Lowell.

Organizations awarded SEGL funding include:

  • Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell, Inc.
  • Boys & Girls Club of Greater Billerica, Inc.
  • The Caleb Group
  • Community Teamwork, Inc.
  • Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell
  • Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts
  • Greater Lowell YMCA
  • Lowell Community Health Center
  • Merrimack Valley Food Bank
  • The Paul Center for Learning and Recreation, Inc.
  • United Teen Equality Center, Inc. (UTEC)
  • YWCA of Greater Lowell

The initiative is led by SEGL Co-Charis Joyce G. Leger of Lantheus Medical Imaging, Barb Vlacich of Kronos, Inc. and Alison Kalman of Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank., as well as a number of individuals, companies and foundations.

Sponsors include TD Bank, Kronos, Nancy and Richard Donahue Foundation, Theodore Edson Parker Foundation, Circle Health, Enterprise Bank, Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank, People’s United Bank, Aetna, Eastern Bank,  Comcast NBC Universal, db2/Architecture, ITW Foilmark, Jenike, Red Mill Graphics, Lowell Spinners, The Lowell Sun Charities, UMass Lowell, UPS, Winn Companies, Merrimack Valley Labor Council, John Thibault and Elaine Zouzas Thibault.