Roca

08/29/2026

At 16, Yanisha was struggling to learn how to be a young mother while surviving an abusive relationship. She was heavily involved in the streets, constantly getting into fights, getting into trouble with the law, and was eventually kicked out of school.

In her own words:
"At the time, I didn’t always think about how the decisions I was making could affect my future. I was reacting to everything happening around me and trying to survive the only way I knew how. Over time, Roca helped me learn how to slow down, think before reacting, and make different choices even when every part of me wanted to respond the way I always had. My past could have easily stopped me from believing that I was capable of more, but it didn't."

Now Yanisha is a high school graduate, she's completed Roca's Transitional Employment Program, earned her driver's license, moved into her first apartment—and this week, she graduated from Roca Springfield alongside 15 other young women who have gone through transformations of their own.

Congratulations to each of the Springfield grads, and a big thank you to Carlos Gonzalez State Representative and Senator Adam Gomez for coming out to the graduation ceremony to celebrate our amazing young women! These two legislators have been steadfast champions of Roca and the Young Women's Program and we were humbled by their belief in young people.

08/28/2026

The team at ARC has a remarkable gift for creating beautiful, functional spaces where young people can feel welcome, comfortable, and safe. We're so grateful for their generosity and partnership across many years and several program sites.

08/27/2026

Rewire CBT is the heart of Roca's violence intervention mode. Young people learn essential emotional regulation skills: how to recognize triggers, manage emotions, slow down in moments of crisis, and make safer decisions.

The goal is not simply to help young people understand trauma. The goal is to help them change behavior.

08/21/2026

Roca young women from Hartford, Chelsea, and Springfield have been rowing strong and rowing together all summer, building discipline, teamwork, and resilience. Now they're ready to show what they've got at tomorrow's annual young parent regatta!

Come cheer them on at the Holyoke boathouse!

08/20/2026

If we want to meaningfully reduce violence, we must be willing to engage the young people who are already at its center.

The reality is that a relatively small number of people drive a disproportionate share of serious violence. Roca's young people are often described as “high-risk,” but we prefer to be more specific: they are the young people most likely to shoot or be shot.

That is where Roca works.

08/15/2026

Roca is proud to endorse Vote Yes For a Safe Massachusetts. This November 3rd, vote YES on Question 9!

Any instance of gun violence is a tragedy, and Massachusetts’ strong, data-driven laws have made our state a national leader in gun violence prevention. To keep untraceable ghost guns off our streets, maintain the ban on fi****ms in polling places, and more, vote YES on 9 this November!

08/14/2026

Thank you to the 40+ local community organizations that participated in Roca Baltimore’s Family Fun Day, a day of community outreach connecting Baltimore families and residents with the essential resources like healthcare, transitional housing, and legal aid—plus giveaways, games, food, and fun for the whole family.

Roca’s young men participated and gave back by staffing Roca Mart, where community members could ‘shop’ for essentials like clothing and household supplies – all free for those in need.

Safety is created by communities, systems, and resources coming together in relentless partnership.

08/13/2026

We're so grateful to Dalio Education for their relentless support!

Roca Inc.’s Hartford Young Women’s Program supports high-risk young women, primarily mothers, through a multi-year behavioral health and life skills intervention program to break cycles of trauma, violence, and poverty. But first, Roca youth workers need to convince their young people to even be part of Roca’s programming in the first place.

Youth workers use a tactic called Relentless Outreach, where they never give up on contacting the young women in their program. In the 2025-2026 grant year, Roca youth workers made 12,536 relentless outreach attempts to show their young women they are cared for, offer basic needs support, and eventually, build a transformative relationship to help their young women reconnect to school and work.

Read more about how Taylor uses Relentless Outreach and the impact it has on her young people: https://www.ctopportunityproject.org/2025-annual-report/roca-inc-s-hartford-young-women-s-program/

08/11/2026

Public safety depends on trust—and trust depends on every member of our community feeling safe to participate in civic life: to report crimes, seek justice, access healthcare, and send their children to school without fear. When people are afraid to come into contact with public institutions, communities become less safe for everyone.

Our participants, staff, and neighbors in Chelsea and across Massachusetts have felt this fear firsthand. That’s why Roca proudly supported the PROTECT Act, legislation that strengthens due process and protects access to courthouses, schools, hospitals, and other sensitive locations. These protections matter not only for the people directly affected, but for the safety and wellbeing of entire communities.

We are deeply grateful to the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and La Colaborativa for originating and championing this legislation, and to the legislators and advocates who made its passage possible. This signing in Chelsea sends an important message: Massachusetts can protect public safety while ensuring that all people can access essential institutions with dignity and without fear.