Tools & Resources
[Tools & Resources]
Roca—an Atlantic Works tenant—has an inspiring mission to be a relentless force in disrupting incarceration, poverty, and racism by engaging the young adults, police, and systems at the center of urban violence in relationships to address trauma, find hope, and drive change. One of the only organizations in the country, Roca is working with a forgotten group of young mothers who are traumatized victims of abuse and neglect. To break the cycle for their children, they believe that stabilizing the mother is the first step in stabilizing the family.
With locations throughout the Greater Boston area and Baltimore, their newest Hartford location focuses on these young mothers ages 16 to 24 who are not ready, willing or able to be in other programs or jobs. Through their nationally recognized four-year behavioral health intervention model, Roca helps teach these young mothers the skills they need to learn to choose to live and set their children up for success.
The internationally recognized, long-term behavioral health model created by Roca was designed to teach young people critical life-saving skills. The Intervention Model is based on brain science, and grounded in behavior change because Roca knows that the young people they served have experienced significant amounts of trauma, and that they must help them feel safe before they can address any behavior change.
Roca’s Intervention Model has four main components:
- Create Safety & Stability using relentless, ongoing outreach and building trusting relationships, which minimally include 3 weekly face-to-face meetings for 2 years, with 2 additional years of follow-up support.
- Teach Life-Saving Skills using a simple, non-clinical version of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) delivered by youth workers in multiple settings—on the street, in cars, in classrooms—to help young mothers learn the skills to respond better in situations that put them in harms’ way, instead of letting their trauma take over and sending them into “survival mode.”
- Practice Skills, Relapse, and Repeat by providing education, life skills, and employment services to young mothers, and child development support to children, supporting the cognitive skill development of both young parents and children.
- Engage Systems and Institutions by coordinating case management among all the service providers involved in both generations’ lives and partner to build better outcomes.
Roca has been selected and is honored to be a Connecticut Opportunity Project (CTOP) grantee intended to serve 250-300 high-risk young women in Hartford over the next four years to help them become resilient and find stability and hope, and with the systems they are involved in to collaboratively reduce urban violence, improve outcomes for young people, and break intergenerational cycles for their children.
For more information, visit Roca’s website here and following them on social media below:
