Who We Are

Roca means rock in Spanish. We are creating a foundation as solid as a rock for young people to change their lives through truth, trust and transformation. It starts with being truthful about everything: what is going on with young people, the challenges in their lives, the realities of their communities, that change is hard but possible, and what we can and can’t do for them. Then we build trust through long-term relationships and stay in them with young people, as well as the adults and institutions in their lives. Transformation comes through participation in life skills, education and employment. We are hopeful no matter what and believe that as long as people are alive, everything is possible.

Roca’s purpose is to relentlessly build relationships with the young people everyone else has left behind, to support their transformation to live out of harm’s way and put them on a path of economic independence. Our vision is clear. Young people will leave the streets and gangs to take responsibility for their actions and have jobs. Young immigrant mothers will raise their children in safety and will be recognized for their contributions to society. Our communities will have the ability to keep young people out of harm’s way and in turn, thrive through their participation and leadership.

Founded in 1988, Roca is a youth development organization committed to serving the most disenfranchised and disengaged young people ages 14-24 (street/court/gang involved; drop-outs; young parents; and refugee and immigrants) in the Greater Boston area including the communities of Chelsea, Revere, East Boston, and Charlestown, MA. Roca builds relationships with the institutions in their lives of young people (criminal justice, child welfare, education, health, etc.). We provide the opportunities necessary for young people to live and succeed. Through intensive relationship building, Roca helps young people re-engage in society - moving them into educational, employment, and life skills programming.

Launched from a single grant from the Teen Challenge Fund of Massachusetts, a passionate group of young people and adults started Roca to address teen pregnancy prevention and violence in Chelsea. Roca has helped more than 15,000 young people make positive, profound changes in their lives, creating a nationally acclaimed model of transformational relationships as a vehicle for youth development, and pioneering effective local, regional, and national relationships with government, state, religious, health, and community partners.

While we have had a marked impact to date, we are at a very important point in our organizational life, where our model has become widely-recognized. Roca has evolved into an adaptive, effective, and entrepreneurial organization that has established a reputation for successful multi-cultural work with very high-risk young people. Roca’s work has elicited national attention from a variety of organizations seeking to serve and/or fund programming for high-risk youth. Roca receives on-going requests for information about program design and implementation and is working with partner organizations and leadership to impact legislation to better serve these young people. Roca has been touted as a national best practice in youth transitional employment by many governments, advocates and services providers, including the National Transitional Jobs Network, and has been sought after regionally, nationally and internationally for its intervention model.

We are committed to rigor in outcomes, continuous learning from best practices, and excellence in our programming, staff development, management, and leadership. Now twenty, Roca has set the goals for the next horizon, facing new challenges and opportunities.