VISION
The Rebuild, Overcome, and Rise (ROAR) Center aims to co-create with survivors a community in which people who experience crime or systemic injustice are empowered to achieve their own sense of justice, healing and well-being.
MISSION
To engage with individuals and communities in Baltimore City by providing holistic, client-driven services to survivors of crime and influencing efforts to reform systemic responses to crime.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Inherent Dignity & Worth
We recognize the value in every person. We believe and operate on the premise that we all must be treated with dignity, respect, and in a non-judgmental manner. We also understand that systems often dehumanize survivors, especially those from marginalized groups. We center the experiences and voices of those survivors and invite their wisdom to direct our work.
Survivor-Led & Embracing Intersectionality
We believe that each person has the wisdom and strength to guide their own sense of healing and justice. Because all survivors experience discrimination and violence differently due to their intersecting identities, we are committed to meeting all survivors where they are on their healing journeys.
Trauma Informed & Healing Centered
We recognize that trauma can have a profound impact on a person. We view each person as a “whole person” who is more than their trauma and has the strength and capacity to determine and foster their own wellbeing. We support all survivors on their self-defined journey towards healing.
Justice
Justice should deliver safety, healing, and accountability[1] – and what that looks like can be different for each survivor. Justice is part of what can bring an individual back to peace and self-worth, and ROAR will do all it can to facilitate that journey.
Answerability & Accountability
ROAR seeks out answers, resolutions, and results for survivors, in alignment with what they are seeking. We will help them understand the process and explain results. When the results are unfair or unjust, we will employ all available mechanisms to achieve better results.
Within ROAR and with external partners, we will endeavor to communicate openly and transparently. When we make mistakes, we will gently and in real-time hold each other accountable, and own our mistakes. We will treat each other with grace and compassion, and we commit to a continual process of asking rather than assuming and finding the ways in which our respective areas of expertise can complement each other’s in order to make our work more effective, supportive, and satisfying for survivors and ROAR’s staff.
[1] With credit to Equal Justice USA: https://ejusa.org/what-is-justice/.
The ROAR Center at UMB is a “one-stop-shop” that serves Baltimore City residents who were harmed in the city with an annual income of no more than $70k without dependents, and an additional $5k for each dependent.
Victims of crime, whom we call survivors, can access wrap around services, which include legal, social work, nurse care management and therapy. We assist people of all ages, races, gender identities, and income levels.
ROAR is designed to offer access to wraparound support for survivors of crime and their impacted family members. We support survivors who have experienced the types of crime listed below:
- Sexual and physical assaults,
- Intimate partner violence,
- Stalking/Harassment,
- Human trafficking,
- Hate and bias crimes,
- Gun violence (non-fatal and homicides)/Stabbing/Carjacking,
- Home invasion and Robbery (when injuries are sustained).
YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE REPORTED THE CRIME TO POLICE.
At the ROAR Center, we believe that every person who experiences a crime deserves access to services and support that can help survivors rebuild and reclaim their lives. We know that far too many survivors of crime experience challenges with accessing legal services and participating in the criminal justice system. That is why the ROAR Center is particularly focused on serving those who are the least likely to trust the police, report their victimization, or participate during the investigation or prosecution process.
WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING LEGAL SERVICES IF THEY ARE RELATED TO THE CRIME:
- Crime Victims' Rights (representing your rights in a police investigation and prosecution),
- Peace/Protection Orders,
- CICB (Criminal Injuries Compensation Board) Appeals,
- Housing,
- Education and Employment Accomodations.
