Page 36 - BusinessWest June 9, 2021

young people away from prison and toward better outcomes, but also worked with police to see their roles differently.
“The loss of life to homicide or prison not only not only impacts that individual, that community, or that city, it impacts all of our society,” Davis said. “Loss of life is loss of possibility.”
In a brief address to the forum, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker noted that “Roca has been a relentless force in disrupting incarceration, poverty, and racism by engaging young adults, law enforce- ment, and systems at the center of urban violence and relationships to address trauma, find hope, and drive change. I’ve seen firsthand that Roca and its programming works.”
Fear Factors
Fortunately, Moreland-Capula said, Roca has been ahead of the curve in paying attention to the relation- ship between root traumas and their societal impact.
“They understand that, for whole communities to heal, for people to heal, there has to be keen atten- tion paid to specific things like community violence, like trauma.”
Some of the chronic fear she mentioned earlier stems from a lack of basic needs, from food and water to shelter, safety, even love and belonging. By helping young people access education and employ- ment, those cycles can be broken as well, she noted. “We know there are complex and structural challeng- es that require a complex and structural approach.”
Molly Baldwin, Roca’s founder and CEO, said the proliferation of drugs, violence, and guns in commu- nities requires innovative approaches.
“Our old methods won’t work. Incarceration is expensive and a failure. Jobs and GED programs are not enough, and even the most credible messenger
cannot convince a young person to do differently if that young person is living in a state of fight or flight and cannot access the thinking part of their brain for healthy decision making,” she said. “If we don’t address the impact of lived trauma, we can’t hope for healing and change.”
like ‘predator’ and ‘offender,’ and concepts like boot camps and scared-straight programs.
But those thing didn’t work, he said, instead gen- erating poor outcomes for individuals and communi- ties. “Since that time, our work at DYS has evolved. We’ve embraced the principle that young people
“Even the most credible messenger cannot convince a young person to do differently if that young person is living in a state of fight or flight and cannot access the thinking part of their brain
”
can make positive change in their lives, that we as an agency can be part of that change, and that our investment in youth development actually contrib- utes to community safety.”
He cited national studies demonstrating that therapeutic approaches to justice-involved youth drive lower recidivism than punishment strategies. “If we run a coercive system, we actually run the risk of young people being worse off for their contact with the system.”
It starts, Forbes said, with meeting young people where they are. “People who work with adolescents see disrespect, non-responsiveness, impulsivity, defiance —
behaviors that Violence
are typical of Continued on page 37
That philosophy is behind the recent estab- lishment of the Roca Impact Institute, which works with communi- ties and institutions that have a clear com- mitment to addressing violence by working with young people who are at the center of local incidents and trends.
MOLLY BALDWIN
for healthy decision making.
Unlike a typical
training approach, the
Roca Impact Institute is
an intensive coaching
approach that works with police departments, crimi- nal-justice agencies, and community-based programs in sustained, collaborative partnerships over a 12- to 24-month period. Experienced Roca leaders engage these partners to learn new, trauma-informed strate- gies and apply them in their local context.
The idea, Baldwin said, is to change together. “If we hope for change for young people, we must change, too.”
At the virtual forum, Baldwin presented Roca’s James E. Mahoney Award to Peter Forbes, commis- sioner of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS), which has implented some of the concepts Roca promotes. Back in the 1990s, he noted, juvenile justice was in a different place, using terms
CBAarchitects.net
Baystate Health & Wellness Center Longmeadow, MA
60+ Years Responding to Client Needs
ARCHITECTS
36 JUNE 9, 2021
HEALTHCARE
BusinessWest