Grant Size: $2,669,000 (1st grant $1.6m; 2nd grant $1.0m)
Grantee Since: 2005
Grant Objective: Fund High Risk Youth Intervention Model (HRYIM) in Chelsea, Revere and East Boston and replicate model in Springfield.

 Roca’s High Risk Youth Intervention Model (HRYIM) combines relentless support and high expectations to enable youth in crisis – drug addicted, gang involved, homeless, hopeless youth – to become reliable employees and end risky behaviors. Through a combination of deep relationships with caring adults and opportunities for real work with lots of second chances, Roca prepares young people for success in the real working world. Roca has shown that 76% of its graduates are successfully retaining employment or continuing their education. To put that success in context, 80% of youth who enroll in Roca’s HRYIM are or have been in the juvenile or adult correctional system and are very likely to reoffend. After working with Roca for 18-24 months, the majority of these young people have become and will remain wage-earning taxpayers, as opposed to costing society dearly on the streets and through courts and correctional facilities. SGP is funding Roca to continue its work and evaluation of the HRYIM in Chelsea, Revere and East Boston and supporting Roca’s first replication of the model in Springfield, MA together with the Hampden County Sherriff’s Department.

 Roca Website