Methuen Police to Partner with Lawrence Prospera, MAN Inc., Via $900,000 Safe Communities Initiative Grant
METHUEN — The Methuen Police Department and Lawrence Prospera are excited to announce that a $900,000 grant will enable Methuen Police, the City of Methuen, Lawrence Prospera and Methuen Arlington Neighborhood Inc. (MAN Inc.) to collaborate on a program to reach at-risk and proven-risk youth.
The grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services Safe Communities Initiative will fund the partnership, via which at-risk Methuen residents ages 16 to 24 will be identified through the Safe Communities Initiative and referred to Lawrence Prospera’s SISU Center.
The SISU Center opened in 2018 on Canal Street in Lawrence to provide street outreach, case management, workforce development, and alternative education programming, mental health services, and social emotional development for some of the hardest-to-reach young people in the area.
“We are extremely grateful for this grant funding from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, which will help us make outreach efforts to intervene in the lives of at-risk youth in a positive way,” said Chief McNamara. “We look forward to working with Lawrence Prospera and MAN Inc., to reach the youth within our community in an effort to prevent crime and change lives for the better.”
“Those of us at MAN Inc. are excited to join forces with Methuen Police and Lawrence Prospera to reach youth within the community with outreach, mental health services, workforce development and more,” said Linda Soucy, of MAN Inc. “Our extensive experience working with youth in the community will help us to make positive change in the lives of those in the program.”
“I am pleased that this grant funding will enable the City and Methuen Police to join forces with Lawrence Prospera and MAN Inc. to proactively intervene in the lives of at-risk youth in our community,” said Mayor Neil Perry. “This is the kind of proactive police work that helps to prevent crime before it occurs, and I am excited to see where this new programming will lead.”
“We are grateful for the opportunity to offer our services to the Methuen community,” said SISU Center Program Director Dan Halloran. “My staff are looking forward to this partnership.”
SISU is a youth development program in Lawrence working with some of the most proven risk young people in the area. SISU programming is focused at the SISU Center, a 25,000-square-foot youth center on Canal Street. During Fiscal Year 2023, the SISU Center provided services to 130 young people.
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