Outreach Specialist

Outreach Specialist

Roca is a fast-paced, data-driven, and relentless organization that serves over 1,600 high-risk young people every year. Founded just outside of Boston in 1988, Roca operates a nationally acclaimed Intervention Model with five sites in Massachusetts, one in Baltimore, Maryland, and one in Hartford, CT.

Over 38 years, Roca has learned that to impact urban violence, we must work directly with the young people and systems at the center of it. Roca's Intervention Model engages young people at the center of urban violence in an intensive four-year program to address trauma, teach life-saving cognitive-behavioral skills, and break the cycle of incarceration and poverty that traditional youth programs alone can't break.

And, because it takes all of us, Roca also helps institutions like police and state agencies change the way they work with young people who are traumatized and living at the intersection of gangs, drugs, poverty, violence, immigration challenges, and involvement with multiple public systems.

This position reports to the Site Director or another member of the site management team.

The Outreach Specialist is responsible for engaging young people at the highest risk of violence through consistent, proactive street outreach, crisis response, and partnership coordination. Working closely with Youth Workers and site leadership, this role focuses on identifying, assessing, and engaging young people who are most disconnected from services, including those impacted by acute violence.

The Outreach Specialist plays a critical role in supporting safety—both in the community and within Roca sites—by maintaining real-time awareness of community dynamics, responding to critical incidents, and ensuring timely communication of safety-related information. This position builds and maintains strong relationships with key system and community partners to increase referrals, strengthen coordination, and support participant engagement.

Through direct outreach and ongoing engagement, the Outreach Specialist supports young people in beginning their journey toward behavior change, reinforcing the use of Rewire CBT, and helping to stabilize participants so they can more fully engage in Roca programming.

• Conduct consistent, proactive street outreach to identify, engage, and build relationships with young people at the highest risk of violence, including those impacted by acute incidents
• Respond to critical incidents, including hospital-based outreach and community violence response, to support immediate engagement and stabilization of participants
• Carry and actively manage a caseload of high-risk participants, supporting engagement, safety planning, and connection to Roca programming
• Work closely with Youth Workers to locate, engage, and re-engage participants who are off-track, difficult to reach, or presenting elevated safety concerns
• Support participant eligibility assessment and vetting, including gathering key information related to risk factors, barriers, and system involvement
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of community dynamics, conflicts, and safety concerns and communicate relevant information to staff in a timely manner
• Manage and maintain Safety Lists and Safety Profiles, ensuring accurate and real-time documentation of participant and community safety information
• Build and maintain strong relationships with community and system partners (e.g., law enforcement, hospitals, shelters, and violence prevention partners) to support referrals, coordination, and participant safety
• Represent Roca in community meetings, events, and partner engagements as appropriate to strengthen presence and collaboration
• Engage participants in behavior change work by reinforcing and supporting the practice of Rewire CBT and other Roca interventions during outreach and engagement
• Accurately document outreach, engagement, and safety information in ETO and other systems in alignment with Roca's performance-based management practices
• Support site operations and team needs as requested, including providing coverage for programming or work crews when needed
• Contribute to overall site safety,…