NAVIGATING 2020-2021 – A Year Like None Other

The vaccine brings hope of releasing our traumatized communities from the grip of the pandemic, but it may take years to undo the economic damage caused to our jobs and businesses, and to repair the scars in our young people and families from the long months of psychological and physical stress and deprivation. [...] Roca moved quickly to shut down buildings and cease its outreach in homes and with work crews, and pivoted to run socially distanced outreach, implement an aggressive learning agenda on the quality of programming and to launch virtual programming, and stepped up its intensive support to young people and their families. [...] Over the past 12 months, a core staff team continued to monitor basic needs to stabilize young people and worked to anticipate and internally plan for the ongoing need for support as the virus continues to fluctuate along with housing instability, unemployment, and other negative impacts caused the ongoing health and economic crisis. [...] The Roca Impact Institute serves as Roca's path to scale the key lessons learned from over 30 years of work with the young people most likely to shoot or be shot: that to impact urban violence, we must work with the young people who are engaged in violence and we must work with the organizations and systems charged with serving them. [...] The Roca Impact Institute partners with community, police and criminal justice organizations to plan and implement a multi-tiered approach to working with young people and relevant systems in order to address violence, improve the lives and outcomes for young people, and protect communities.