Roca Young Women's
Roca’s mission is 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.
Target Population
Roca Hartford Young Women’s Program serves 16-24 year-old young women and mothers in greater Hartford struggling to break cycles of violence and poverty.
Long-term Outcomes
After completing the Roca Hartford Young Women’s Program in 3-4 years, their young women will sustain these outcomes at least 12 months after graduation:
Behavioral health
- Sustained improvements in emotional regulation
- Sustained improvements in mental health
- Reduced intimate partner violence
- Reduced substance abuse
Employment
- Retained employment for 6+ months
Education
- Sustained and demonstrated educational gains
- Recidivism and child welfare systems involvement
- No new arrests
- No new incarcerations
- No new child welfare systems involvement
Program Summary
Roca Inc supports young people across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic with sites in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Connecticut.
Roca Hartford Young Women’s Program is one of the only organizations in the country working with a forgotten group of young women, most of whom are mothers, who are traumatized victims of violence. To break the cycle for their children, they believe that stabilizing the mother is the first step in stabilizing the family.
In their four-year behavioral health intervention model, Roca staff build transformative relationships with participants through relentless outreach and helps them build skills through targeted programming to improve their emotional regulation, life skills, parenting, education, and workforce readiness.
Key components of their curricula include:
- Rewire Cognitive Behavioral skills
- Life and Parenting skills
- Harm reduction programming
- Restorative circles
- Educational programming
- Transitional Employment Programming
Roca Hartford is grateful to the CTOP team for its partnership and support, and for providing thought leadership that elevates the challenges of disconnected and at-risk young people, including the young women Roca serves.