ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Hakeem Hall talks about his experiences in Roca.
BY THOR JOURGENSEN
LYNN — Hakeem Hall lives in Lynn. He has been to jail and he is one of 100 young local men a Chelsea-based program wants to nudge away from crime and substance abuse and into a productive life.
Roca workers said that process will take months and will be marked by successes as well as setbacks. Founded in 1988, the organization (Roca means rock in Spanish) reached out in 2014 and 2015 to 659 young men across Eastern Massachusetts, including Hall and 50 others in Lynn.
In their bid to reach another 50, Roca Lynn project coordinator Emily Fish and three youth workers have the support of Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, Police Chief Kevin Coppinger, state Sen. Thomas M. McGee and state Rep. Brendan Crighton.
“We’ve known (Roca CEO) Molly Baldwin for a while and Tom and Brendan are big proponents,” Coppinger said.
Police identified for Roca 100 “high-risk” men and secured $251,000 in state grant money to support the Lynn outreach program. The funds have enabled the organization to open an office on Andrew Street where they are working specifically with the Lynn men. Baldwin said Roca’s goal is to change behaviors in young men who grew up in homes where many were exposed to substance abuse, domestic violence and lack of structure or guidance.
Former Florida resident Tristen Lovett, 23, moved to Lynn when he was 16 and got involved in criminal activity, accumulating “quite a few bad charges.”
“Since then my life has been going downhill. I didn’t care if I died the next day,” he said.
A Roca worker reached out to Lovett a year ago. After hearing about the organization from other young men, Lovett made a decision.
“I looked at my past and said, ‘This could be a new opportunity for my life,’” he said.
Hall has also been involved with Roca for a year and his initial contact with the organization came while he was incarcerated in the Essex County Correctional Facility in Middleton. He said behavior that included “causing havoc wherever I was” put him in jail.
On Friday he recalled the words he said to end his initial conversation with the Roca worker who visited him in Middleton.
“I said, ‘I don’t know you.’”
That rebuff didn’t prevent Roca workers from continuing to reach out to Hall. Baldwin and Fish said gradual, persistent contact with men like Lovett and Hall defines the way Roca works.
“We meet young men where they are and we show up over and over again,” Fish said.
Roca defines its method of working with men as intensive engagement and relationships geared toward long-term behavior change. Baldwin said workers spend months stretching into a year or more trying to become a consistent presence in a young man’s life. They don’t work alone. Baldwin said mental health workers, probation officers and workers with Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy assist Roca to reach these men.
Hall eventually decided to meet with a Roca worker and, like Lovett, he credited Roca supervisor Henry Thai with convincing him to give the organization a second look.
“He’s a very down-to-earth-type of guy. He’ll make sure you’re in the right state of mind before he leaves you,” Hall said.
Hall, 25, got involved with Roca and entered a culinary program, but ended up in jail again for six months. Fish said Roca kept in touch with Hall while behind bars, contacting him and sending him literature. After his release, he renewed his Roca acquaintances and his goal is to become an understudy to a chef. He said the “genuine care — the love I got” from Thai and other Roca workers kept him interested in the organization.
Lovett is involved in a Roca program that includes park cleanup work and Baldwin said Roca’s goal is to get the young men its workers contact in Lynn into jobs they can keep.
“If I can get a young person to go to work for a few hours then that is how many hours he is not hurting anyone or hurting himself,” Fish said.
Coppinger said Roca’s track record underpins police department support for its outreach.
“You can’t argue with their success,” he said.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].