Staff

Molly Baldwin

Executive Director
Roca Inc.

Molly Baldwin is the Founder and Executive Director of Roca. For over twenty three years she has been a tireless advocate, mentor and community convener reaching out to the highest-risk young people from our area’s most dangerous urban communities, and bringing together all the major institutions, corporations, and agencies that affect these young people’s lives. Her magnanimous presence belies her 5’3” stature, as her efforts have helped over 25,000 young people make profound and positive changes in their lives. Molly’s relentless hopefulness and belief that every person can, to paraphrase Gandhi, “be the change they wish to see in the world” is the foundation of our commitment to young people and the communities in which we live. She launched Roca from a single grant from the Teen Challenge Fund of Massachusetts in 1988 to address teen pregnancy and violence in Chelsea. Now, locally, nationally, and internationally recognized, Molly is fortunate to bring adults, community members and institutional partners together with needing young people – from communities of Chelsea, Revere, East Boston, Charlestown, Winthrop and Springfield – to help them become self-sufficient and live out of harm’s way. A graduate of UMass, Amherst, Molly began her professional life as a street youth worker in Revere, relentlessly showing up for troubled youth, at their homes, on the street, all the time, until they came to trust a single adult who would not fail them. These transformational relationships are still the bedrock of Roca’s work, as, under Molly’s tutelage, a committed team of youth workers similarly and intensively reach out to over 706 disengaged and disenfranchised area young people each year. Many of the young people that Molly first “chased down” are now outstanding leaders in the organization and the community instead of being part of sad statistics. She has built a community center, piloted nationally recognized models, and challenges everyone to have hard conversations about the things we find most difficult to talk about and: most importantly, to have hope and to take positive action. Molly Baldwin’s vision and spirit has sustained Roca from its creation until this remarkable milestone and will continue to inspire her organization, employees and young people for many years to come. Today, Roca has adapted the cognitive-behavioral stages of change into all aspects of organizational programming, boldly continuing to help very high risk young people grow, learn and become agents of change in their own lives and in the community. She has built a community center, piloted nationally recognized models, and challenges everyone to have hard conversations about the things we find most difficult to talk about and: most importantly, to have hope and to take positive action. Ms. Baldwin is the recipient of numerous regional and national awards including: The Boston Ten Point Coalition Award, The Fraternidad Guatamaleca de Massachusetts Recognition Award, The Instituto de Salud Latina Award, and the American Medical Association National Congress on Adolescent Health Award for Excellence in Intervention to name a few.

Molly Baldwin In The News

Living Together Well in Diverse Urban Communities: An Interview with Molly Baldwin
by Kali Saposnick from Leverage Points Issue 38

Podcast Series: A Talk with Molly Baldwin of Roca
by ETOlutionist in Current Events

Her Guiding Principle when working with at-risk teens: "Never, ever give up".
By Marilyn Jones, / Correspondent / November 29, 2010

Awards & Honors

• The Boston Ten Point Coalition Award
• The Fraternidad Guatemalteca de Massachusetts Recognition Award
• The Instituto de Salud Latina Award
• The American Medical Association National Congress on Adolescent Health Award for Excellence in Intervention