Boston Area Youth-Cash Assistance for Stable Housing (BAY-CASH) began in 2021. It was the result of over six years of collaboration with data scientists and learning from the field that consistently showed positive outcomes for Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) participants.

BAY-CASH Chair, Matt Aronson, partnered with Chapin Hall in 2017 on the development of a YA homelessness centered DCT model to address critical gaps in our YA homelessness response systems. At the same time, Matt co-led the development of the City of Boston's plan to prevent and end YA homelessness. Among the many action steps in the plan, the community included a DCT program, championed by the YA working on it.

Matt began conversations with Y2Y as a core partner in 2019 and with future co-Chair Sam Zito from the United Way of Mass Bay and Merrimack Valley (now at Camp Harbor View) in 2020. That same year, Matt was a formal advisor to our sister project in NYC, The Trust Youth Initiative, which published a peer-reviewed operational framework for YA homelessness-focused DCT models. With that framework, $90K in early funding from partners, families, and friends, and a growing number of interested community members, Matt and Sam formally launched BAY-CASH in spring 2021.

Readiness Phase (2021-2023)

Over the next two years, we completed what we call our “Readiness Phase.” Using a “Values over Efficiency” mindset, we recruited young people with lived experience, providers, public agencies, and advocates to join a Core Partner Team (our Governance Board). Together, we right-sized our model using expert interviews, community focus groups, and co-intepretation sessions that allowed a broad range of partners to participate in decision-making. We engaged an array of potential allies, developed a sustainability strategy, and published our Readiness Report in October 2022. Critically, we received our first formal grant from the Riley Foundation and then a large commitment from Steve and Lisa Kaufer that validated our approach and would lead to several other significant investments. By the end of the Readiness Phase, we had raised over $1 Million.

Pre-Implementation Phase (2023-2025)

In 2023, we hired a Pre-Implementation Team, including a Project Director and Project Associate. Together, we established formal implementation partnerships, launched a state legislative strategy, and raised enough money to “break ground.” In 2024 we ran a public RFP process to identify Breaktime as our Plus Services Provider. We also worked with our Core Partners to onboard Northeastern University as our Evaluation Lead and partnered with Rep Steve Owens to build support for a BAY-CASH state budget amendment. By the summer of 2025, we brought our total fund raise to $1.9 Million, secured an earmark in the FY 2026 state budget, and negotiated contracts with our Implementation Partners to launch in August.

Implementation Phase (2025-2028)

We hired and trained staff in July, 2025, recruited 15 young adult participants in early August, and formally launched with a fun day of onboarding activities on August 18th. First payments arrived on August 27. Participants are now receiving automatic bi-weekly payments and they are regularly meeting with our Peer Navigator and Program Mentor. We continue to raise money to fully support years two and three and are working with our legislative allies to build BAY-CASH into the state budget and programming for years to come!