Roca Pay for Success Pilot Program (Roca PFS Pilot)

The Roca Pay for Success Pilot Program (Roca PFS Pilot) adapted an existing program focused on justice-involved youth to support men ages 17-24 who were on adult probation and aging out of foster care by connecting them to youth workers and providing individualized employment services, transitional employment, job placement, and post-employment follow up. Strong participant engagement with youth workers trained in evidence-based and clinical techniques of behavior change was a core component of the Roca PFS. After an initial engagement and relationship-building phase, the youth worker developed an individualized service plan that included education and training activities, work-readiness activities, transitional subsidized employment (partially or fully funded by the Roca PFS Pilot), job placement, and post-employment follow-up.

The program provided up to 2 years of intensive services followed by up to 2 years of follow-up services in a phased approach:

• Phase 1: Participants met with youth workers at least twice weekly to build trust until 10 total contacts had occurred (typically within two months).
• Phase 2: Participants continued to meet with youth workers and began transitional employment and other program services. Participants had to maintain employment with a work crew for 60 consecutive days to move to Phase 3 and could be removed from a crew after receiving four write-ups for poor behavior. This phase took an average of 15 to 18 months to complete.
• Phase 3: Participants were assigned to a new youth worker with a larger caseload and meet less frequently, with frequency of contact being based on an assessment of level of need from participant work stability and hitting plan benchmarks.

The Roca PFS Pilot was implemented in sites in and near Boston, Chelsea, and Springfield,  MA.