ROCA

Lead: Boston youth and community development organization uses street outreach to help kids in gangs.

There are an estimated 555,181 gang members in the United States, and for many years, Saroeum Phoung was one of them. Phoung, along with other members of his gang, the Boston Red Dragons, would habitually break into people’s houses and rob people in order to make money. He brought a gun to school, carried an axe around with him, and got into fights and shootouts with other gangs. But when he was 17, he met Molly Baldwin, Executive Director of ROCA, and his life began to change. ROCA (Spanish for "rock") is a multicultural youth and community development organization in Chelsea and Revere, Massachusetts, and part of what they do is outreach and intervention for gang youth. With the help of Baldwin and others at ROCA, Phoung decided on a different path for himself, and now he works for ROCA himself, co-founding ROCA Revere, and coordinating the Cambodian Street Outreach. "You bury some of them, some of them go to jail, and some of them change," says Phoung. With the help of ROCA, more kids gangs are finding ways to make those changes.

"Street Workers" of ROCA
contact through Molly Baldwin (see above)

Saroeum Phoung
ROCA Revere
103 Shirley Avenue
Revere, MA 02151
(781)284-6281

Expert Contacts

Lois Lavinsky, Associate Professor of Social Work and Clinical Social Worker
Boston University
(617)666-2039
E-Mail: llevinsk@gis.net
Relevant area: adolescent and gang-related behavior

Saroeum Phoung
ROCA Revere
Cambodian Street Outreach
(781)284-6281
Relevant area: gang outreach

Molly Baldwin, Executive Director
ROCA Inc.
101 Park Street
Chelsea, MA 02150
(617)889-5210 ext. 221
Relevant area: Gang and community outreach

Selena Respass
Harvard School of Public Health
Violence Prevention
718 Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02115
(617)432-3674
Fax# (617)432-3050
E-Mail: srespass@sph.harvard.edu
Relevant area: violence prevention

Background

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 10 American children ages 18 and under are killed by handguns ever day. (Children Now and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.(1996) Talking with kids about tough issues. [Brochure].)

According to the Child Defense Report in 1998, every day 6 children commit suicide, 13 children are victims of homicide, and 14 children are killed by guns. (Children’s Defense Fund. National headquarters. 25 E Street NW. Washington, DC 20001. 202-628-8787. www.childrensdefense.org. E-mail: cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org)

Nearly 13 children die each day from gunfire in America, approximately one every 100 minutes. That is the equivalent of a classroom of children every two days. (Children’s Defense Fund.)

Research suggests that while factors vary, a need for belonging, poor male role-models, economic struggle, lack of approved social outlets in the community, and media-hype contribute to a young person's desire to enter a gang. (Yablonsky, L. (1997). Gangsters. New York: New York University Press.; Atkin, B. (1996). Voices from the Streets. New York: Little Brown & Company.; Huff, C. R. (Ed.). (1996). Gangs in America (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.)

Research suggests that life in a gang is often violent, but familial. (Yablonsky, L. (1997). Gangsters. New York: New York University Press.; Atkin, B. (1996). Voices from the Streets. New York: Little Brown & Company.; Huff, C. R. (Ed.). (1996). Gangs in America (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.; Scott, K. (1994). Monster. New York: Penguin Books.)

Research suggests that adolescents, while at risk of behaving violently, are also at risk of substance abuse, suicide, teen pregnancy, HIV, and other sexually transmitted diseases. (Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., Sherman, S. J., & McConnell, A. R. (1995). Adolescent Health Issues. In Roberts, M. C. (Ed.), Adolescent Health Issues (2nd ed., pp. 723-740). New York: Guilford.)

Farragher, T. (1998, September 9). Lowell cracks down on gang. The Boston Globe, pp. B1, B7.

1 in 5 Teen-Agers is armed, a survey finds. (1998, August 14). The New York Times, p. A19.

The front line against youth violence. (1998, August 13). The Boston Globe, p. A19.

Compiled by Dan Leidl