Alycia Gay

Youth Worker, Roca, Inc.

The Organization

Roca has had unparalleled success altering the life trajectories of America's most high-risk young people - the young people that are involved in crime, engaged in dangerous behaviors, have rejected help, have dropped out of school, and are simply too difficult for other programs to serve.

• Roca seeks out the most difficult, challenging young people – the young people who are unwilling or unable to attend traditional programming, work or school.
• Roca's services are designed to work with young people who are not prepared to participate in traditional programming. All program components address issues of relapse, using failure as a tool to help young people learn.
• Roca is an outcomes-driven organization and operates by a rigorous system of performance management and impact evaluation.
• Roca works with the criminal justice system and government to change how they work with those young people.

Why Alycia is a Superstar

Alycia has a phenomenal ability to establish meaningful relationships and keep young people engaged to promote long-term growth. She has gone above and beyond by deep-diving into the data, her work, and the young people on her caseload to assess what works, what doesn’t, and to keep improving.  

When a young person doesn’t seem to be progressing, she asks for help, quickly and creatively brainstorms new strategies, and—most importantly—applies those strategies right away. She looks at where her young people are in the model, patterns as a group and individually, and determines what pieces of programming they still need. Then she works with her young people where they are to keep moving them toward attaining their goals and our outcomes.  

Rather than take a “one size fits all approach,” Alycia analyzes data and makes the necessary adjustments to best serve each individual on her caseload. Her willingness to learn, develop, and adapt—both personally and professionally—have allowed Alycia to be highly effective in her work at Roca.