Stronger together: How Revolution Teen Center’s legacy is being carried forward by StreetWise

Karen Carey was working with middle school youth at her church when she had a realization: All youth — no matter their background or family situation — were at risk of falling into the wrong path in life. All it might take is one bad mistake or hanging out with the wrong person.

To help students avoid these potential negative situations, Karen co-founded Revolution Teen Center in Gwinnett County in 2014. 

Ten years later, after much prayer and consideration, it has officially merged with StreetWise Georgia! The incredible RTC board, volunteers and programming — together with TeenWise @ StreetWise — will allow even greater impact on area teens than either organization could do on its own.

Why did RTC come to be in the first place?

“Our goal was to help them to know that they had a purpose, people care about them and they’re here on this earth for a reason,” Karen said. “So we just wanted to love them, listen to them and be a safe place for students to come and be poured into.”

This is the same vision StreetWise has for its client teens.

As RTC’s executive director, Karen’s vision was for volunteers to be deeply intentional and relational with the teens who came through the program. This approach, she found, created a space where teens could be honest and open with their struggles.

She remembered one pregnant teen who was regularly attending a series RTC was hosting called “How to Avoid Falling for a Jerk or Jerkette”.

“I was sitting beside her and all of a sudden a light bulb came on in her head,” Karen said. “And she looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think the baby’s dad is a safe person for me.’ Like, she just realized that.”

After that realization, RTC volunteers were able to fully understand the situation and help the 17-year-old get a restraining order on the baby’s father to protect her.

Another teen who stood out to Karen was a quiet 10th grader who regularly attended weekly get-togethers for girls called Let’s Talk.

“One day she asked us if we would read her story that she wrote at school,” Karen said. “Her story made it sound like she was thinking about suicide.”

Karen and the other volunteers were able to contact her parents so she could get the help she needed.

“Her mom has always said that the teen center really made a huge difference in helping her,” she said. “And now, she’s doing great.”

This relational approach attracted volunteers like Gwen Perkins, who’s been with RTC for over seven years. 

“What really drew me was the heart of the organization,” Gwen said. “To Karen and the other volunteers there, the mission statement was more than just on paper; they really cared about connecting with young people where they are and helping them really to make the most out of their lives.”

Gwen first realized the importance of investing into the lives of youth in her community about 15 years ago. A teen boy at her church had recently come to Christ and was seeking a group to connect with so he could learn more about living life for the Lord. Her church didn’t offer anything at the time, so she started inviting kids to her home weekly.

“That started this whole journey of compassion and empathy and care for young people,” Gwen said. “The lives they have to lead — and particularly my group — they were marginalized. Most of them came from non-traditional families, and I just saw how much need they had for people to invest in them, pour into them and help them take advantage of opportunities.”

When Gwen’s church got involved with RTC, she started volunteering. One student she developed a connection with was a shy, young teen girl. 

The teen started coming regularly until the COVID pandemic, but for two years, they weren’t able to meet. When they did reconnect after the pandemic, Gwen saw a huge change in her. Instead of being closed off from the rest of the teens like she had in the past, she started making herself available to the younger kids coming to the center.

“She went from being someone who needed a community to becoming someone who’s now helping to provide community to others, and it was just a fabulous transformation I saw in her life,” Gwen said. “And that’s why I think [investing in teens] matters; it literally is life-changing. Kids can be on one trajectory and someone simply taking the time to listen or share or care could alter the trajectory of their lives.”

The pandemic also created challenges for RTC. Since 2014, the program has had more than 200 youth come through its doors, but it wasn’t able to regain full momentum once they started meeting in person again.

Karen, who has always felt God’s calling for her was to start RTC but not run it forever, saw this as the sign to start looking for another organization to carry the mission forward.

“So the board started praying,” she said. “We knew we wanted a nonprofit that was well known in the community. So one day, Tracy Joseph at StreetWise reached out to me. When I talked to him the first time, I just felt this immense peace. I said, ‘I think God’s doing something.’”

Tracy, StreetWise’s CEO, had been seeking opportunities and counsel on how to better reach the youth of families they had already been serving through their other programs. Karen, Gwen and the rest of RTC’s board were committed to ensuring that a new partner could carry on the mission of connecting with youth while honoring the faithful donations RTC had received to do that work.

Both organizations recognized the potential merging together could have in making a larger impact in the community.

“Before we came together, StreetWise didn’t necessarily have the capacity or bandwidth to have a focus on young people,” Gwen said. “While RTC has the focus on young people, because of the impact of the pandemic, we didn’t really have the infrastructure in place to do what we wanted to do alone. So coming together marries that, solves both issues and allows us to be able to reach young people the way we’d like.”

The board unanimously voted to merge with StreetWise, which was finalized in late 2024.

“We wanted to make sure that the transition was just spiritually right,” said Tracy, StreetWise’s executive director and CEO, “and that everyone who was a part of it — from the founders of RTC to both boards — was in agreement and prayerfully felt this was the right direction so these kids could continue to be taken care of.

“We’re honored that Revolution Teen Center trusted StreetWise to take on this transition and will remain partnered with us as we continue on!”

Like Gwen, Karen said she plans on volunteering as much as she’s able. She will also serve on StreetWise’s teen advisory group. She’s confident that the mission that RTC started 14 years ago is going to be faithfully carried forward in good hands.

“I’d like to thank all of the people who believed in the mission of Revolution Teen Center, all the people who volunteered and the people who donated,” Karen said. “I’m just really super, super thankful for that because we couldn’t have done it without the volunteers and without the donors.”

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Click here to watch the full conversation between Karen and Tracy following the merger in December of 2024.