Transitional Employment | Chelsea

Roca’s innovative workforce development model—which includes relentless outreach and intensive case management, behavioral/mental health services (CBT), life skills and workforce readiness, transitional employment, job placement, and long-term follow-up—equips young adults with the cognitive, life, and work skills they need to stop engaging in violence and go to work. The primary components are the Transitional Employment Program (TEP) and Bridge to Success (B2S). TEP acts as a “behavior change accelerator” in which young people are paid $15/hour to work 26 hours per week on a work crew assigned to municipal contracts where they clean, repair, or landscape properties under Roca supervision. TEP participants must generally complete TEP successfully to be eligible for job placement through either B2S (up to 80 hours subsidized for employer partners who are open to hiring Roca participants after the initial trial period) or direct placement.

Together, Roca’s TEP and B2S provide low risk opportunities for participants to practice the CBT skills they are learning in real time—starting with showing up on time no matter what they did the night before, following instructions, and learning to problem solve and not let the rest of their life get in the way of what they’re being paid to do. These are essential life skills for any young adult, but especially for traumatized young people who have not been able to engage with anything long enough to develop skill and discipline.