Nonprofit Partners

Children’s Services of Roxbury

Children’s Services of Roxbury (CSR) is one of the largest minority-operated nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts, serving more than 6,000 children and families annually. CSR’s mission is to bring peace of mind to children and families across Massachusetts. When a family is at peace, children are healthier and communities are stronger.

Over 50 years, CSR has grown to meet the needs of diverse populations across the state of Massachusetts by offering children and families an array of programs and services designed to maintain continuity. CSR offers emergency, transitional, and permanent housing and stabilization services for homeless families; supports for children and families struggling with domestic violence and substance abuse including family stabilization, comprehensive foster care and adoption services, and parent mentoring; affordable childcare for Boston’s most vulnerable families, including homeless, abused, and neglected children, and children of teen parents; children’s mental health services, including an extensive partnership in 15 Boston Public Schools; youth development programs, including hip-hop therapy and our Youth & Police in Partnership program.

Issue Area: Economic Opportunity and Sustainability

Boston Healthcare for the Homeless

Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) is committed to a singular, powerful mission: to provide and assure access to the highest quality health care for Boston’s homeless individuals and families.

BHCHP bridges critical gaps in services for over 11,000 people experiencing homelessness each year, delivering innovative and comprehensive health care, where and when it is needed most: within the walls of over 40 shelters, under bridges, along back alleys, and countless other unconventional locations.

Issue Area: Homelessness, Addiction Recovery

FamilyAid

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.

Issue Area: Basic Needs

Healthy Waltham

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 850 – 950 families per pantry nearly 3-4x/month).

Issue Area: Basic Needs

Horizons for Homeless Children

The mission of Horizons for Homeless Children is to improve the lives of young homeless children in Massachusetts and help their families succeed by providing high-quality early education, opportunities for play, and comprehensive family support services. Horizons for Homeless Children is the Commonwealth’s leading organization devoted exclusively to serving homeless children. They focus their efforts on helping young children mitigate the trauma and stress associated with homelessness and providing them with a solid foundation for school. 

Issue Area: Education

CASPAR

CASPAR’s mission is to improve the lives of individuals and families who have been affected by substance use disorder. Dedicated to underserved populations, including individuals who are indigent and homeless, CASPAR’s vision is to reduce the harm associated with substance use disorder and contribute to a healthier community. To achieve this vision they offer a comprehensive array of substance use treatment services with integrated mental health and homelessness services.

Since July 2014, CASPAR has been part of Bay Cove Human Services, a Boston-based non-profit agency that is committed to providing individualized and compassionate services for people facing the challenges associated with developmental disabilities, mental illness, homelessness, aging-related needs and/or drug and alcohol addiction.

Issue Area: Homelessness, Addiction Recovery

Circle of Hope

The mission of Circle of Hope is to provide homeless children, women, and men in Boston and MetroWest with clothing, toiletries, and other necessities in order to preserve and enhance overall health and personal dignity. The LSC funded Get Set program provides homeless college students in the Greater Boston area with basin necessities not covered by financial aid.

Issue Area: Basic Needs, College Students

CitySprouts

The CitySprouts mission is to cultivate wonder for all children with hands-on learning through urban gardening. CitySprouts partners with public elementary and middle schools in Boston and Cambridge to provide hands-on science education through schoolyard learning gardens.

CitySprouts reaches thousands of children from preschool through middle school to level the learning field for children in economically stressed neighborhoods, English language learners, and students with differing abilities. Of our 21 school partners, 80% are Title 1 schools.

Issue Area: Education

Jeremiah Program

Jeremiah Program (JP)’s mission is to disrupt the cycle of poverty for single mothers and their children, two generations at a time. JP believes the impacts of generational poverty and structural racism can be disrupted through a two-generation (2Gen) approach that invests simultaneously in a mother’s vision for her future (her post-secondary, career, and leadership goals) and the education of her children.

Issue Area: Economic Opportunity and Sustainability

Food for Free

Food For Free improves access to healthy food within our 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. They envision a future where everyone in our community—regardless of age, income or ability—has consistent access to fresh, healthy, delicious food.

Issue Area: Hunger Relief

Kids In Tech, Inc.

The mission of Kids In Tech is to excite, educate, and empower children to use technology, promoting a positive environment and fostering a lifelong interests through innovative afterschool programs in Lowell and Greater Boston, Massachusetts.

Issue area: Education

New England Culinary Arts Training

New England Culinary Arts Training (NECAT) offers training, support and employment services to prepare adults to secure and retain career-ladder jobs in the Boston area’s diverse and wide-ranging food services industry.

Issue Area: Economic Opportunity and Sustainability

Household Goods

Household Goods provides a full range of donated furniture and household items, free of charge, to help people in need make a home. Each year Household Goods’ furnishes over 2,600 homes for individuals and families referred by social service agencies in Massachusetts. Household Goods helps people in need build a better life by providing the dignity of a furnished place to call home.

Issue Area: Basic Needs, Home

School on Wheels Massachusetts

School on Wheels of Massachusetts’ (SOWMA) mission is to support the academic, social and emotional growth of students impacted by homelessness. SOWMA’s vision is for all students to have the support necessary to be successful in school and achieve a productive future that will help end the cycle of homelessness.

Issue Area: Education

Just A Start

Since 1968, Just A Start (JAS) has been strengthening the housing security and economic stability of low- to moderate-income people in Cambridge and nearby communities.

Each year, JAS serves 3,000 residents by creating and maintaining affordable housing, providing housing resources, and offering workforce training for youth and adults. As a community development corporation, JAS’s vision is a better future for each and every community member: a secure home, a sustaining career, and a connection to the community.

Issue Area: Career Development

Science Club for Girls

Since 1994, Science Club for Girls fosters excitement, confidence, and literacy in STEM for girls and gender-expansive youth from underrepresented communities by providing free, experiential programs and by maximizing meaningful interactions with women-in-STEM mentors. With women making up less than 26 percent of the STEM workforce—and Black and Hispanic women at less than 4 percent—SCFG addresses a critical need, offering a continuum of engaging activities in STEM for K-8 girls, junior mentoring and leadership experiences for high school girls, and adult mentoring and role modeling by committed women with STEM careers. Join Science Club for Girls to transform the face of STEM!

Issue Area: Education

The Food Project

The Food Project’s mission is to create a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a more just and sustainable food system. They envision a world where youth are active leaders, diverse communities feel connected to the land and each other, and everyone has access to fresh, local, healthy, affordable food.

Issue Area: Economic Opportunity and Sustainability

Young Man with a Plan

Young Man with a Plan (YMWAP), launched in 2015, creates a new culture of brotherhood, respect, aspiration and achievement for 175 at-risk Black and Latino male teens and young adults in Boston. YMWAP achieves this through research-informed strategies of connecting youth to caring adults; strengthening youth academic, social emotional, critical thinking, and financial literacy skills; engaging students in individualized success planning for college and/or career; and creating a protective community.

Issue Area: Economic Opportunity and Sustainability

Victory Programs

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.

Issue Area:  Basic Needs

We Got Us

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. 

Issue Area: Basic Needs

Youth Enrichment Services

The mission of Youth Enrichment Services (YES) is to inspire youth through outdoor experiences and leadership opportunities that build confidence and prepare them to summit life’s challenges. Founded in 1968, YES has been delivering on its mission to inspire and challenge Boston youth through sports-based programs for more than 50 years. YES has grown from its origins as a one-season ski program to a year-round youth development organization that offers a rich menu of outdoor enrichment and leadership programs.

Issue Area: Education

Tech Goes Home

Tech Goes Home creates social justice and equity by empowering communities to access and use digital tools to overcome barriers and advance lives. Simply put, they bring computers, Internet, and training to those without so students can do homework, adults can find jobs and manage finances, and seniors can connect with loved ones and lead healthy lives.

Issue Area: Education, Technology

The Possible Zone

The Possible Zone’s mission is to advance economic equity by ensuring young people develop the entrepreneurial spirit, skills, and networks to launch successful careers.

Issue Area: Education

The Wily Network

The Wily Network provides a critical safety net for promising students as they navigate college independently. Wily offers clinical coaching, financial assistance, community-building support, and networking to help them move from surviving to thriving.

Issue Area: Education, College Support