Roca

What Roca does

Roca is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit violence intervention organization founded in 1988 in Chelsea, Massachusetts by Molly Baldwin, currently operating seven physical sites across Massachusetts (Chelsea, Boston, Springfield, Lynn, Holyoke), Connecticut (Hartford), and Maryland (Baltimore). It serves young adults aged 16-24 at acute risk of violence, as well as system partners in law enforcement, corrections, courts, schools, and healthcare, through an intervention model built on relentless, years-long outreach paired with a proprietary cognitive behavioral therapy curriculum called Rewire CBT. Rewire CBT teaches seven brain-science-based skills designed to help trauma-affected youth pause 8-12 seconds between trigger and response, with a specialized adaptation (Rewire4) trained into law enforcement and corrections officers. Services are delivered free of charge to participants and funded through a mix of federal and state government grants, foundation donations (Dalio Foundation, Gates Foundation, Barr Foundation), corporate contributions, individual giving, and special events. An affiliated training arm, the Roca Impact Institute, has coached 2,500+ external practitioners across 21 cities, effectively nationalizing the methodology without requiring Roca-owned sites in each market. In FY2023 Roca served 1,758 young people with an 88% retention rate and reported outcomes of 91% no new arrests and 96% improved behavioral health among long-enrolled participants, alongside a 19% recidivism reduction validated by independent evaluator Abt Global.

Roca's revenue model is grant- and donation-funded rather than transactional: major donors at the $2M+ tier include the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Dalio Foundation, and historically the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance, with additional $1M+ support from the Gates Foundation, City of Hartford, and Maryland state government. Geographic expansion has progressed from a single Chelsea site (1988) to multi-state operations, with Baltimore entering in 2018, Hartford in 2021, and southeastern Baltimore County in 2022. The organization has layered new product lines onto the core model, including the Emerging Adult Court of Hope (EACH) court-diversion program, the Better Tomorrow hospital-based violence intervention partnership with Baystate Medical Center, the Transitional Employment Program, and pharmacy technician and green-jobs workforce partnerships with CVS Health and WIN Waste Innovations. Following the April 2025 termination of $4M in DOJ Community Violence Intervention funding, Roca eliminated nearly 50 staff positions and is formally appealing the decision; the organization continues to operate but with reduced capacity and heightened concentration risk on remaining major funders.

Name

Roca

Legal name

Roca, Inc.

Website

https://rocainc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Roca is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit violence intervention organization serving high-risk young adults aged 16-24 across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maryland through a proprietary cognitive behavioral therapy program (Rewire CBT) delivered at seven sites.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Violence Intervention

NAICS

Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers (621420), Vocational Rehabilitation Services (62431)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Threat Assessment, Violence Prevention & Behavioral Intervention Support (EDAEACAH)

Keywords

• Violence intervention services
• Behavioral health programs
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Workforce development training
• Community violence reduction

Headquarters

HQ city

Chelsea

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Grants and Contracts: Roca receives significant funding from federal, state, and local government sources including the US Department of Justice, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, State of Maryland, Baltimore City, and various municipal governments.
2. Foundation and Corporate Donations: Major donors include foundations such as Dalio Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Barr Foundation, and corporate partners. The organization maintains a portfolio of major donors at various giving levels.
3. Individual Donations: Individual giving through various mechanisms including one-time gifts, donor-advised funds, appreciated stock, cryptocurrency, and employer matching gift programs.
4. Special Events: Annual Breakfast fundraiser and other events to generate donations and community engagement.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Roca is a nonprofit violence intervention organization that delivers a 3-year intensive cognitive-behavioral intervention to young people aged 16–24 at acute risk of violence. Its core service is the Rewire CBT program, which teaches seven brain-science-based skills to help participants regulate emotions, heal from trauma, and make non-violent choices. Direct services are delivered free of charge at physical sites in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maryland, and are supplemented by the Transitional Employment Program, the Young Women's Program, and court and hospital diversion initiatives.

Product overview

Roca is a violence intervention and behavioral health nonprofit offering a suite of programs centered on its proprietary Rewire CBT cognitive-behavioral model. The core portfolio consists of: the Young Men's Intervention Model (relentless outreach + Rewire CBT for high-risk young men), the Young Women's Program (trauma recovery and stability for young mothers and trafficking survivors), and the Transitional Employment Program (paid work experience reinforcing CBT skills). Underlying these direct services is the Roca Impact Institute, which trains and coaches community violence interrupters, corrections officers, and police nationwide using Rewire CBT and Rewire4 methodologies. Roca also operates the Emerging Adult Court of Hope (EACH), a court diversion partnership, and the Better Tomorrow hospital-based violence intervention program in partnership with Baystate Medical. Programs are delivered across eight physical locations in Massachusetts (Chelsea, Boston, Springfield, Lynn, Holyoke), Connecticut (Hartford), and Maryland (Baltimore), with a reach extending to Baltimore County and 21 cities nationally through the Impact Institute.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Roca Impact Institute: Training and coaching arm that trains community violence interrupters, case workers, and police officers in Rewire CBT and Rewire4 methodologies.
• Rewire CBT
• Rewire4
• Young Women's Program
• Transitional Employment Program (TEP)

Products and services

• Rewire CBT by Roca A cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program teaching seven brain-science-based skills that help young people aged 16–24 heal from trauma, regulate emotions, and make non-violent choices by pausing 8–12 seconds between trigger and response. Licensed and trained out to external practitioners through the Roca Impact Institute.
• Rewire4 for Law Enforcement Specialized adaptation of Rewire CBT for law enforcement and corrections officers, training them in emotional regulation, stress management, and improved interactions with high-risk young people. Deployed at BPD, Middlesex County Sheriff's Department, and other agencies.
• The Roca Impact Institute Roca's national training and coaching division that delivers Rewire CBT and Rewire4 curricula to external community violence interrupters, case workers, and police departments across 21 U.S. cities.
• Young Women's Program 3-year violence intervention and trauma recovery program for young women (16–24), including young mothers, trafficking survivors, and those at risk of incarceration. Provides behavioral health support, life skills, parenting support, and employment training in Massachusetts and Connecticut (89% retention rate).
• Transitional Employment Program (TEP) Paid transitional employment and crew-based work experience program providing job readiness training for Roca participants, with supervisors who reinforce cognitive-behavioral skills on the job.
• Young Men's Intervention Model Roca's foundational 3-year intensive violence intervention program for high-risk young men aged 16–24, featuring relentless outreach, Rewire CBT, transformational relationships, and system partner engagement. Achieves 68% non-recidivism within three years and 91% no new arrests among participants enrolled 24+ months.
• Emerging Adult Court of Hope (EACH) Court diversion partnership with the Hampden County District Attorney offering young adults facing felony charges an alternative to incarceration through Roca participation, career path development, and record sealing.
• Better Tomorrow Hospital-based violence intervention program at Baystate Medical Center, developed in partnership with Roca, providing post-shooting medical trauma care and links to behavioral health support to reduce retaliatory violence.

Quantifiable outcome

• 96% of participants improved behavioral health after 18+ months
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Baltimore Police DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull training of BPD officers in Rewire4; 8 city police departments trained under consent decree. Collaborative partnership on violence reduction strategies.
• Middlesex County Sheriff's DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAll corrections officers trained in Rewire CBT to help regulate emotions and stress. Sheriff Koutoujian driving force behind this program.
• Maryland Department of Juvenile ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Roca Impact Institute focusing on adolescent brain science, trauma impact on brains, and cognitive behavioral theory.
• Harvard Kennedy SchoolmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on research and publications including the Executive Session on Community Corrections. Co-authored reports on cognitive behavioral theory and young adults.
• Abt GlobalmajorOthersIndependent evaluator conducting research on Roca's outcomes including recidivism studies in Maryland and Massachusetts.
• Tufts TIERmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership studying sex and labor trafficking among young women served by Roca. Found that more than 1 in 3 young women served are victims of trafficking.
• Everytown for Gun SafetymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEndorsed the Roca Impact Institute as effective training for violence intervention workers. Joint presentation at Bloomberg American Health Summit.
• CVS HealthminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for pharmacy technician training program for young mothers in the Boston area.
• WIN Waste InnovationsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership developing Green Jobs Training Program for Roca participants. Eight graduates from the program celebrated.
• Washington State Department of Children, Youth & FamiliesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Roca Impact Institute to support behavioral support and leadership development at Harbor Heights Juvenile Rehabilitation facility.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Cure Violence: Cure Violence (formerly CeaseFire) is the leading national violence-interruption organization, using health-worker-style outreach to interrupt shootings and retaliations in high-risk communities. It is the most directly comparable peer to Roca in terms of population served (high-risk young people), intervention philosophy (public-health framing), and reliance on government and foundation funding.
• READI Chicago: READI Chicago (Rapid Employment and Development Initiative) provides paid transitional employment, cognitive behavioral therapy, and mentoring to individuals at highest risk of gun violence involvement, mirroring Roca's combined CBT + Transitional Employment Program approach for a comparable demographic.
• Safer Foundation: Safer Foundation is one of the largest nonprofit providers of reentry, violence prevention, and employment services in Illinois, focused on reducing recidivism among people returning from incarceration. It is comparable to Roca in serving justice-involved populations with a combination of behavioral health support and workforce development.
• Osborne Association: The Osborne Association serves people affected by the criminal justice system in New York, offering reentry, family, and violence-reduction programs. Comparable to Roca in its community-based violence intervention, behavioral health, and system-partnership model for justice-involved young adults.
• The Fortune Society: The Fortune Society provides reentry, housing, education, and behavioral health services to people with justice involvement in New York. It is comparable to Roca in serving the same target population with integrated counseling, employment, and system-partner navigation.

Others

• National Network for Safe Communities: NNSC, based at John Jay College, provides technical assistance, training, and research on group violence intervention and community violence intervention to cities nationwide. Comparable to Roca's Impact Institute as an enabling/advisory organization that shapes how cities design violence-interruption programs, though it does not deliver direct services itself.

Broad incumbents

• Boys & Girls Clubs of America: BGCA is a broad national incumbent in youth development, providing after-school programming, mentorship, and violence-prevention curricula to millions of young people. Comparable to Roca as a large, multi-site, youth-services nonprofit that competes for similar foundation and government funding.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: BBBS is the largest youth mentoring nonprofit in the U.S., serving at-risk young people through one-to-one mentoring relationships. Comparable to Roca in mission (improving outcomes for at-risk youth) and reliance on a relationship-based model, though with a broader age range and lighter behavioral-health specialization.
• Communities In Schools: Communities In Schools places site coordinators inside K-12 schools to connect at-risk students with behavioral health, social services, and mentorship. Comparable to Roca as a national incumbent in wraparound youth support, with overlap in the system-partner (schools) and case-management model.
• Heartland Alliance: Heartland Alliance is a Chicago-based nonprofit offering services across behavioral health, housing, reentry, and violence prevention for marginalized populations. Comparable to Roca as a multi-service, social-services nonprofit with overlapping behavioral-health and justice-involved programming, though it serves a broader population.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/rocainc1988
• Facebookfacebook.com/RocaInc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/roca-inc-
• Instagraminstagram.com/roca_inc
• Xx.com/rocainc

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Roca