Special to the Record
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley at a Roca event in Chelsea last week, Pressley delivered over $900,000 for the organization’s Managing Trauma in Corrections program.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) visited Chelsea to celebrate the $922,000 in federal community project funding she delivered for Roca, Inc’s “Managing Trauma in Corrections” program. The federal dollars secured by the Congresswoman, which passed under a previous spending bill signed by President Biden, helped create the new program at Roca, which supports young people cycling through incarceration and correctional officers addressing and mitigating trauma.
Congresswoman Pressley has led efforts in Congress to address trauma and transform our criminal legal system to center the dignity and humanity of every person.
During her visit, the Congresswoman participated in a roundtable discussion, tour of the building, and press conference with Roca leadership, staff, and impacted families and youth served by Roca.
“The team at Roca have been incredible partners in our shared work to end cycles of trauma and violence across Chelsea and across our Commonwealth,” said Congresswoman Pressley. “It was a joy to visit Roca, to hear directly from the people they serve, and to celebrate the vital role they play pouring into our young people and strengthening our communities. While Trump and Republicans terrorize our communities and traumatize our children, I’m grateful for organizations like Roca who’ve been standing in the gap.”
“Our intervention model has proven to be very effective at helping the highest-risk young people heal their trauma and learn skills required to achieve long-term behavior change,” said Molly Baldwin, CEO and Founder of Roca, Inc. “That drives dramatically reduced rates of recidivism and helps young people choose a better, more productive path, while enhancing public safety and saving taxpayers money. We are enormously grateful for Congresswoman Pressley’s leadership in securing this funding. This allowed us to impact more young people through our reentry work and expand our Rewire4 training, which helps corrections staff better understand and support the individuals in their custody.”
The Managing Trauma in Corrections (MTC) program modified Roca’s existing Rewire4 training materials being used by the Baltimore Police Department as training materials to support their officers addressing vicarious trauma, for use by correctional facilities across Massachusetts. The project would also serve all emerging adults with customized services designed to give young people the tools and skills critical to behavior change, regardless of the length of time they are detained or incarcerated.
Since its launch, Roca’s MTC program has achieved strong outcomes, significantly advancing its goal of reducing recidivism and improving behavioral health for high-risk, justice-involved emerging adults across Massachusetts. Grounded in Roca’s Intervention Model—combining relentless outreach, Rewire CBT, life skills development, and community partnerships—the initiative substantially exceeded its original service targets, engaging over 1,051 young people statewide compared to a goal of 400–500 between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025.
Rep. Pressley has secured approximately $43 million in federal community project funding for the Massachusetts 7th since Fiscal Year 2022.