Kelord Kynard, of Roca Springfield, accepts the Roca Peace Award at Monday’s breakfast.
At the Seaport Hotel, Bryan Stevenson—a nationally recognized activist, lawyer, professor and director of the Equal Justice Initiative—delivered the keynote address to more than 300 attendees including state policymakers, criminal justice officials, and business and civic leaders. The event celebrated Roca’s 26 years of work transforming the lives of high-risk youth throughout Massachusetts.
Based in Chelsea, Roca is a non-profit organization committed to reducing violence, poverty and incarceration among the highest-risk young people. The organization recently launched the MA juvenile justice Pay-for-Success project, which now serves justice-system involved young men from 16 cities across the state, marking a significant expansion of its efforts.
Stevenson’s keynote emphasized Roca’s distinctive approach to creating meaningful change in the lives of young people involved with the justice system. He urged political, business and community leaders to reform a broken corrections system and make the courageous decisions necessary to move forward.
Drawing on his own experience, Stevenson recounted a pivotal conversation with civil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and Johnnie Carr, organizer of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, when he explained his work to them. After he detailed his efforts to reform juvenile justice policies, overturn wrongful convictions, and address bias and discrimination in the legal system, Parks told him, “Bryan, that’s going to make you tired, tired, tired.” Carr then leaned forward, pointed her finger at him, and declared, “That’s why you’ve got to be brave, brave, brave.”
Kelord Kynard of Springfield was honored at the event as a testament to Roca’s success. Kynard, who had previously been incarcerated, exemplifies the impact of Roca’s data-driven intervention model, which serves the highest-risk young people in Boston, Greater Boston, Springfield and greater Springfield. Through Roca’s education and employment programming, he has transformed his life and now maintains a stable career and fulfills his responsibilities as a father.
Roca founder and CEO Molly Baldwin presented the organization’s annual peace award to both Stevenson and Kynard. She emphasized that while Roca’s work has demonstrably succeeded in keeping young men out of prison, maintaining employment, and generating government savings, the organization’s impact is often measured in quieter, more personal achievements.
Baldwin elaborated on this philosophy, stating: “Our work has never been defined by monumental leaps of progress. Rather, it is most often defined by small, incremental steps forward and the quiet success of individuals learning to make the right choices, one decision at a time: One more gun turned in, one more day sober, and one more day to work on time.”
Roca’s three-phase intervention program—comprising rigorous outreach, case-management, life-skills training, pre-job training and transitional employment—will serve more than 500 young men this fiscal year.
Visit www.rocainc.org for additional information about Roca.