Roca

10/15/2026

Nearly 2 in 3 Roca young women are confirmed or suspected victims of s*x or labor trafficking.

That finding comes from the latest external evaluation of Roca's Young Women's Program by Tufts Interdisciplinary Evaluation Research (TIER).

TIER studied how Roca is able to engage young women impacted by trafficking, who are too often left behind by other programs that require a higher level of stability and compliance. At the same time, they investigated the experiences of young women navigating complex, interconnected public systems—and how Roca steps up when those systems fall short.

Read the full brief: https://hubs.la/Q04BlXpw0

10/08/2026

It's , the national day of giving when thousands of DAF holders are joining forces to show the world what their donor advised funds can do.

Every young person can transform their life. But it takes the right tools and relentless support — from Youth Workers who stick with young people through every setback, and from donors who refuse to leave them behind.

If you have a DAF, put it to work to give young people hope for the future.

❤️ Give now from your DAF: https://hubs.la/Q04zxFtg0

10/07/2026

If you have a donor advised fund, you know how important it is to make your impact last. Tomorrow on , please join us and invest in young people's long-term transformation, so they can live beyond violence.

❤️ Make your gift: https://hubs.la/Q04zxFFZ0

10/06/2026

To the 9 young men who graduated from Roca Baltimore last week: through three years of Roca, you stayed committed to your future despite the challenges and setbacks that tried to take you off your path. We admire your resilience, we celebrate your growth, and we look forward to your next chapter.

10/05/2026

When Roca graduate Aliana shared her journey with 5 for Good back in April, she told the world about her next big goal, now that she's regained custody of her two boys: to go to school for baking.

Today, we're excited to share that she's made it happen! Aliana let us know that she's been accepted into the Baking and Pastry Arts program at Bunker Hill Community College, where she can turn her turn her talent and passion for baking into a career. Congratulations, Aliana! We're so incredibly proud to see you rise.

Check out Aliana's baking on Instagram at

Aliana had a long road to reunification with her two boys, Xavier and Kaiden.

We walked beside her at her lowest as she navigated jail, substance abuse, and complex public systems. Today, we're so proud to see her at her highest, regaining full custody of her boys and following her dream to become a baker.

Check out Aliana's baking on Instagram at

Watch Aliana's story on WCVB5: https://hubs.la/Q04fZ7Qf0

10/02/2026

Malcolm Gladwell's new book, The American Way of Killing, asks us to look differently at violence in America — including what he describes as “expressive violence”: violence that can happen quickly, driven by anger, fear, conflict or perceived disrespect.

It’s a distinction that resonates deeply with us, because it reflects what we see every day.

We work with the small fraction of young people facing the most violence — young people who are at extraordinary risk of shooting someone, being shot, or both. And we’ve learned that providing an opportunity for change, alone, isn't always enough to shift how young people respond in the moments that matter most.

When trauma has shaped how someone responds to threat, changing that response takes practice.

That’s why Roca uses Rewire CBT. Our frontline workers help young people recognize what’s happening in their brains and bodies, pause before reacting, and practice making a different choice — again and again, in real life.
Gladwell’s work raises an important question: If we can better understand what drives violence in the moment, can we help people respond differently in that moment?

For nearly four decades, that’s a question Roca has been trying to answer.

We’re looking forward to reading The American Way of Killing and to the conversation it creates about what it will actually take to reduce violence in America.

10/01/2026

Your donor advised fund can be a powerful tool to make an impact where it’s needed most. At Roca, it can do what many people think is impossible: reach young people at the center of urban violence get them to change.

DAF Day is just a week away, the international day for giving with DAFs. Use yours to invest in a life beyond violence.

📅 The countdown is on! - DAF Day is Thursday, October 8, 2026
🔗 Learn how to give: https://hubs.la/Q04yZrgD0

09/29/2026

Community Violence Intervention is critical, lifesaving work wherever it's practiced. But CVI workers in many regions don't often have access to training and professional development that could make their work more effective, sustainable, and safe.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation partnered with the Roca Impact Institute to shift that dynamic. Together, we've just wrapped up a series of trainings across 6 states, training and coaching 129 workers on the frontlines of violence in Rewire CBT: evidence-backed skills for disrupting trauma and changing behavior.

When practitioners from this many cities, programs, and contexts come together (68 agencies participated in total), it creates a community of practice where ideas, strategies, and effective tools for disrupting violence can spread.

09/28/2026

Sometimes being a good neighbor is as simple as showing up right when a small setback could turn into a crisis.

This Good Neighbor Day, we're partnering with NeighborShare to help everyday generosity reach real neighbors in our community exactly when it matters most.

See what your neighbors need: https://hubs.la/Q04yqrzZ0

09/24/2026

Congratulations to the graduates of the Philadelphia Peacekeepers Institute cohort #2, in partnership with the Philadelphia Office of Public Safety, and welcome to cohort #3, who will soon begin their intensive training!

Homicides in Philly and across the country have been dropping steadily since 2021, in part due to the rise of Community Violence Intervention. That's good news, but it doesn't reduce the weight on frontline workers, who work every day with individuals at the center of violence.

To keep those numbers going down we need a sustainable, well-trained workforce, prepared for the trauma and complexity of the job and given the tools to navigate it. That future gets closer with every cohort trained by the Philadelphia Peacekeepers Institute.

Thank you to the City of Philadelphia OPS for including Roca on this exciting new initiative.