Tag: Young Women
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August 16, 2025
Federal grant nixed for Springfield violence intervention program for women
About four years ago, Breasia Mitchell was living at a women’s shelter in Holyoke. She had been in an abusive relationship for years, and shelter staff there referred her to a violence intervention program for young women and mothers at Roca. Though Mitchell credits the program with changing her life trajectory, Roca has less capacity to help young women like her, because the U.S. Department of Justice this spring terminated a grant that brought in about $1 million to the women’s program in Western Massachusetts.
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August 13, 2025
More than a dozen high-risk young mothers and women graduate from Roca Springfield
Roca, a non-profit organization, has been working for 37 years to help high-risk young women in Massachusetts find safety and stability. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen a steep rise in female-perpetrated violence and incarceration,” said Sunindiya Bhalla, Executive Vice President of Women and 2Gen at Roca. Roca’s three-year million-dollar intervention program is making a way to decrease the rise, despite the U.S Department of Justice deciding to terminate tens of millions of dollars in grant funding for community violence intervention programs.
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August 13, 2025
Roca students graduate amid uncertainty over program’s future
Wednesday was an important day for several young women, beginning a new chapter in life after graduating from Roca Springfield. But now, the community violence intervention program is at risk itself as grant funding for these programs across the country have been terminated by the Department of Justice.
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June 16, 2025
Roca Hartford celebrates 22 program graduates
Roca Hartford, a program dedicated to helping young women break cycles of poverty, trauma and violence, celebrated its 2025 graduating class Monday.
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June 16, 2025
PHOTO: First Graduating Class at Roca Hartford
Roca Hartford celebrated as the first 22 young people graduated.
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January 28, 2025
Mass. individuals are building stability and achieving goals after experiencing violence and trauma
In Chelsea, Roca supports young people experiencing hardship by using what it calls “relentless outreach.”