SPRINGFIELD — Thanks to the congressional delegation from Massachusetts, the anti-violence organization ROCA received a $1.66 million earmark to continue its program that aims to stop violence through employment.
ROCA is an organization that engages with people aged 16 to 24 who are at extreme risk of violent crime, either as a victim or a perpetrator, those who are currently or have been incarcerated, girls and women at risk of sexual violence or of being trafficked. ROCA has five locations in Massachusetts, including two in the Pioneer Valley, as well as a site in Hartford and another in Baltimore, Maryland.
Dwight Robson, ROCA executive vice president of operations, said people do not seek help from ROCA. Instead, the organization uses an approach of “relentless outreach” to people who are referred to them by police departments, correctional facilities and schools. ROCA clocked 130,506 engagements with young people in fiscal year 2025. Robson said almost all — 99% — of people enrolled with ROCA for 18 months or longer showed improved behavioral health, while 90% of those with the program for at least two years had no new arrests.
ROCA of Western Massachusetts Director Solomon Baymon said there are more than 200 young people in Springfield and Holyoke enrolled in ROCA and the ability to help them comes down to building relationships. People who have been referred to ROCA are assigned a mentor “youth worker.” Baymon said the youth workers usually reach out to the person in person eight or nine times, building trust with them, before they agree to come to ROCA and meet the rest of the team.
The transitional employment program helps people build hard and soft skills by working with the city’s DPW or Parks & Recreation Department. People are assigned to a supervised crew, and behaviors are monitored and strictly enforced. If a person is written up four times, they are fired from the crew and work with their mentor to explore what behaviors led to the firing. Baymon said that after they sign a safety contract, they are reassigned to a crew. He said people go through seven of these cycles before they are hired by one of ROCA’s outside partners.
“It takes support from the village,” he said. “To bring one young person through our program takes a lot of work and time.”
Baymon previously worked in a correctional facility and said one of the biggest problems people face when released is, “How am I going to get money? I have a record now.” The temporary employment program helps solve that issue, while also teaching the young people how the interpersonal skills to conduct themselves in a workplace without resorting to violence to solve issues. ROCA also helps people find permanent employment through job fairs. Baymon said the most recent job fair saw nine employers participate, and two people have been hired since the job fair hosted before that.
Baymon shared that he had just spoken to a young person who had been enrolled in ROCA before he had to return to prison to finish his sentence. They told him that what they had learned from the program helped them make better decisions while inside and that they could not wait to continue the program” to get his life together for his daughter. Baymon said it is a sentiment he has heard multiple times.
ROCA is funded through a mix of sources, but 61% of its funding is through federal, state and local governments. Robson said that $4 million in unspent federal grants were canceled last year. Half of that money was slated for Western Massachusetts programs. As a result, about 25 positions went unfilled and another 25 people were laid off.
Baymon said it impacted young people, who had built relationships with the employees, only to have them suddenly gone. “A lot of these young people are used to people coming and going in their lives,” he said. Robson added, “These young people who have been let down so many times” told him it felt like a “gut punch” to have their youth workers leave.
“In the wake of the U.S. Department of Justice’s abrupt termination of three ROCA grants last year, we are enormously grateful to have earned the trust of Senators Markey and Warren, who requested this funding in the Senate, as well as Congressman Neal,” Robson said. “We are fortunate to have them championing our work in Congress.”
