Have you looked at the services we offer?
CAAS plays a central role in the community by working with other agencies and organizations in Somerville to
coordinate programming and services. At CAAS, we offer two major programs:Head Start
,and Advocacy & Community Services. Both programs are administered at the CAAS main office, 66-70 Union Square in
Somerville. For directions to the CAAS office or to its Head Start classrooms in Somerville and Cambridge, please see
the Contact page.
The Head Start Program is a comprehensive developmental pre-school program that
provides education, health, nutrition, special needs, and social services to more than 350 three-to-five-year-old Somerville
and Cambridge children and their families. CAAS Head Start provides disability services for at least 36 children and their
families. The program offers:
- Head Start services 4-1/2 hours per day, five days a week during the school year for 315 children and families in
Somerville and Cambridge.
- Full-day services, five days a week during the school year, for 20 families in Somerville.
- Full-day, full-year services for 20 families in Cambridge.
We provide a variety of services in the areas of Child Development, Health, Dental Health, Nutrition, Mental Health,
Substance Use/Abuse, Literacy, Family Partnerships, Community Partnerships, Disability Services, Inter-Generational
Services, and Male Involvement. Follow the
link for more information about the program and how you can enroll your children.
The Advocacy & Community Services Program serves low-income Somerville residents. (Household annual income
limits are: $18,953 for 1 person, $25,498 for 2 people, $32,043 for 3, $38,588 for 4 people, and so on. Please call
us if you are not sure whether you are eligible.) We can help keep the roof over a family's head, food on their table,
and heat in their house in the winter. We work with elderly individuals, large families, and everyone in between,
regardless of immigration documentation. In case of eviction, CAAS helps defend tenants in court and maximizes
their income through access to benefits. CAAS makes it possible to apply for food stamps and fuel assistance
right here in Somerville. Like an emergency room for non-medical needs, through direct services and through referrals,
the Advocacy Program works to strengthen and support clients with the help they most urgently require. The Program also
provides expert advice and support to partner organizations in the community so that they can serve Somerville better.
Current Advocacy programs and projects include the following.
- Eviction Prevention: We work to preserve tenancies and keep people in their homes by informing tenants of their rights and responsibilities in English, Spanish, Haitian-Creole and Portuguese. Often, we are able to open a
dialogue with landlords and mortgage lenders. We collect summons from Somerville District Court, send out letter in four languages informing tenants of availability of assistance, meet with tenants to help prepare Answer and Discovery,
negotiate with landlords and lenders, schedule health inspections, stand up in court with clients, connect to resources, mediate, and in nearly half our cases, keep people in their homes. If tenants must move, we help them by assisting
them in finding safe, sanitary, affordable housing.
- Housing and Benefits Advocacy: We help low-income residents obtain subsidies and benefits for which they are eligible, to stabilize their current living situation and assist them to strive for economic self-sufficiency. Often, people have never applied
for or have been denied benefits which they are entitled to. We can help make sure people get what they deserve.
- Income Maximization: CAAS has become home to a satellite of the Department of Transitional Assistance and a partner of the Fuel Assistance program, so that our clients will be more easily and promptly served with
these forms of entitlement. We can help you apply for food stamps/SNAP, cash assistance, health insurance, social security and other sources of assistance you are entitled to. Call CAAS to make an appointment.
How do I get help from CAAS?
- Are you low-income?
- Do you live in Somerville (or do you live in Cambridge and want Head Start services)?
- Could you use any of the help listed here?
Then call CAAS at (617) 623-7370, or
contact us by e-mail.
