Partners providing housing, healthy food, medical care, and more to ensure our neighbors have the essentials.
Founded in 1985, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) is driven by a singular, powerful mission: to ensure unconditionally equitable and dignified access to the highest quality health care for all individuals and families experiencing homelessness in our community.
People experiencing homelessness endure heightened threats to their health and safety, yet too often struggle to access a consistent and trusted source of health care that responds to the challenges they face. BHCHP strives to bridge gaps in care and address inequities that fuel the health disparities that homeless individuals and families endure. Serving over 11,000 patients each year, BHCHP delivers innovative, comprehensive, and trauma-informed health care and supportive services at over 30 locations across greater Boston through the work of multidisciplinary health care teams who engage patients in places that are accessible to them: within shelters, on park benches, on the street, and countless other unconventional locations.
The mission of CASPAR, Inc. is to improve the lives of individuals and families who have been affected by substance abuse and related issues such as homelessness or mental illness.
The approach of all of CASPAR’s homelessness services is harm reduction, and is designed around the idea that a person can’t recover from substance use disorder, or find a permanent place to live, if they perish on the street. The Street Outreach Team’s overall goal is to save a life today, so that recovery is possible tomorrow. We do this by meeting the unsheltered residents of Cambridge where they are, providing daily, basic needs support and opportunities to access shelter, housing, addiction treatment and more. On any given day, the Street Outreach Team offers lifesaving support to 60 to 80 people. Last year, they served a total of 468 unduplicated people.
Circle of Hope protects health and meets the deepest clothing and hygiene needs of vulnerable infants, children and adults experiencing homelessness in Boston, Cambridge and MetroWest by providing clothing, toiletries, and essentials in strategic partnership with 27 homeless shelters, health clinics, and community-based organizations.
Circle of Hope serves people experiencing homelessness in Greater Boston through their highly impactful programs: Emergency Response Program (critically needed clothing, coats and toiletries delivered within 24-48 hours to displaced families in crisis); Dignity Project (essential hygiene supplies to protect health); Welcome Baby (diaper bag backpacks filled with newborn essentials for homeless infants); and Get Set (clothing, toiletries and essentials for homeless public university and community college students).
Circle of Hope has a highly efficient system in place to ascertain needs from shelter directors and community partners, procure and package necessary items, and make safe, contactless deliveries using volunteer drivers from the community.
The mission of FamilyAid Boston is to empower parents and caregivers facing homelessness to secure and sustain housing and build strong foundations for their children’s futures. FamilyAid is Greater Boston’s largest organization solely dedicated to children and parents facing homelessness, providing prevention services, emergency shelter, housing placement and support, and comprehensive case management to 3,000 children and parents in FY21. FamilyAid serves the lowest-income homeless and unstably housed families in the state facing the most complex societal and personal challenges: 93% in communities of color; 75% led by single mothers; and 57% children.
FamilyAid’s innovative model is founded on a two-generational approach designed to disrupt the cycle of poverty and homelessness through comprehensive case management, housing search, placement and support, financial assistance and coaching, and enrollment in community-based resources. This approach empowers parents and children to develop the skills and supports necessary to stand on their own in the long-term.
Food For Free improves access to healthy food within the community by rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste, strengthening the community food system, and creating new distribution channels to reach under-served populations. Food For Free envisions a future where everyone in the community—regardless of age, income or ability—has consistent access to fresh, healthy, delicious food.
In the last year, Food For Free has distributed over 7 million pounds of food, helping to feed some 40,000 people throughout Greater Boston.
Food For Free's direct service programs reach those most vulnerable to hunger, including kids, seniors, and people with disabilities. Healthy Eats Home Delivery, Heat-n-Eat Prepared Meals, Just Eats, and Weekend Eats all rely on volunteers to get the job done.
Healthy Waltham (HW) is a community health organization that promotes healthy eating, active living opportunities, and mental wellness for the most vulnerable residents in Waltham--including recent immigrants, low-income seniors and families with young children. HW's mission is to remove barriers to access, education and affordability, making healthy living more accessible to those who live and work in the community. In April 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Healthy Waltham immediately pivoted to fight the hunger needs of Waltham’s low-income residents. Today, HW is at the center of the emergency food response in Waltham. The organization has more than quadrupled its food emergency pantry service since then from serving 400 families once a month pre-COVID to nearly 1,000 families per pantry.
Household Goods provides a full range of donated furniture and household items, free of charge to help people in need make a home.
Finding and securing housing is essential for health, well-being, and stability, but it is only the first step. Without basic furnishings like beds, a couch, chairs, a dining room table, and kitchenware, a house or apartment is little more than a bare shelter.
Wily Scholars bring unique experiences, challenges, strengths and goals to the college journey. Some have experienced homelessness or foster care, some have been denied family support due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, some have lost their parents, and some have family members dealing with addiction, mental illness or incarceration. All are talented and motivated, and all are braving college on their own.
The Wily Network provides a critical safety net for Scholars as they navigate college independently. The Wily program offers weekly clinical coaching, financial assistance, community-building support, and networking opportunities to help them move from surviving to thriving.
Victory Programs opens doors to housing, health, recovery, and hope for individuals and families facing homelessness, substance use disorder, or other chronic illnesses like HIV/AIDS.
Victory Programs is a Boston-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals and families who are homeless and may have substance use disorders, often accompanied by chronic health issues like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and mental illness. Providing a welcoming environment, their compassionate and inspiring team is committed to helping them regain their health and restore their hope through immediate access to safe and stable housing.
We Got Us is a Boston-based grassroots collective of Black students, health professionals, community members, and allies dedicated to addressing racism in healthcare through increasing access to health education, medical care, and whole-person healing for historically oppressed and marginalized communities.
Their student-led organization started during the pandemic and initially focused on providing information about COVID for vulnerable groups across Massachusetts. One of their major pillars is increasing access to optimal health. To promote this during the pandemic We Got Us worked with various organizations to host community-led events, vaccine clinics, and canvasses to increase vaccine accessibility. To date We Got Us has hosted over 20+ events across Boston, provided over 2,000 PPE kits, and have collaborated with over 50 community groups across the state. Over the next year the organization plans to build on this momentum to create a sustainable model for community-centered public health promotion through intentional partnerships and mutual healing.