BIG WIN FOR BOSTON AREA YOUNG ADULTS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS
The City of Cambridge awarded BAY-CASH, Boston Area Youth-Cash Assistance for Stable Housing, $236,626 to launch an innovative new direct cash transfer plus model for young adults experiencing homelessness in Greater Boston. The grant funds will support young adult participants in the pilot who are residents of Cambridge (expected to be about 10% of all participants) and operations costs for the pilot.
“Life changing. Goal changing” — Young Adult with lived experience
The City of Cambridge has long been a champion of direct cash transfer programs (also known as “Guaranteed Income” programs). They have been a national leader in the Mayor’s for Guaranteed Income movement through the Cambridge Rise pilot and the subsequent citywide Rise Up program, and included BAY-CASH as part of their recommendations in the January 2022 report from the Ad Hoc Working Group on Homelessness. In her role as Mayor, Councillor Siddiqui and her Chief of Staff Michael Scarlett worked closely with the City Manager’s office to move BAY-CASH forward.
“We could not have done this without the tireless efforts of Councilor Siddiqui, Michael, Betty, and the team from the City Manager's office. Their support of young people experiencing homelessness and pushing our community toward bold and innovative solutions has been inspiring.” Matt Aronson, BAY-CASH Chair
BAY-CASH is the most exciting innovation in the effort to prevent and end youth homelessness in Massachusetts. The pilot will test whether regular modest cash payments with targeted supportive services are effective in ending homelessness for 60 18-24 year olds. It has been developed in partnership with leading national experts, state advocates, local youth homelessness programs, and young adults with lived experience, and incorporates a rigorous Randomized Control Trial design to evaluate effectiveness. This evidence, experience, and advocacy promises to change the way people think about ending youth homelessness and supporting a broad range of populations, including foster youth, young people aging out of the juvenile system, and families experiencing homelessness.
BAY-CASH responds to youth homelessness in a novel way addressing critical system gaps:
It is equity centered, allowing young people to engage trusted resources and avoid racism, homophobia, and transphobia present in traditional systems;
It is youth powered, trusting that young people know their needs and communities better than anyone else;
It is evidence informed, leveraging a model that is among the most well researched and successful interventions in social policy;
It is fast and responsive, helping young people activate resources immediately to quickly prevent or end their homelessness before they experience serious harm; and
It is efficient cost-per-participant, meaning we can serve many more young people who would go unserved if we only use traditional expensive programming.
“I feel like it’s always too early or too late. Never in the middle, like never in the time when you really actually need the help, when you actually want to get better before you get to the point where it’s too late…Like, I would have wished I had what you guys are offering…something like this, that can help them, like, prevent getting to that place.” – Young Adult with lived experience
BAY-CASH is a collaborative initiative. 18 Core Partners make decisions regarding governance, project design, and overall strategy. They support the project externally and use their influence and relationships to advance the work. The current list of Core Partners includes the following:
The Aronson Family Foundation (Chair); Bridge Over Troubled Waters; Breaktime; CERES Institute at Boston University’s Wheelock College (Local Evaluation Lead); Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago (National Evaluation Lead); Children’s League of MA; MA Coalition for the Homeless; MA Executive Office of Health and Human Services; MA Housing and Shelter Alliance; The Home for Little Wanderers; HopeWell; JRI; More Than Words; Point Source Youth (Technical Assistance Lead); United Way of Mass Bay and Merrimack Valley; UpTogether (Cash Transfer Lead); Y2Y (Fiscal Sponsor); Young Adults with Lived Experience of Homelessness
The BAY-CASH team is still fundraising to launch the pilot for 60 young adults in Greater Boston. They have raised $1.1 million out of $4 million for the pilot and $2.5 for the evaluation. Investments have come from the following funders:
Stephen and Lisa Kaufer; The City of Cambridge; The Aronson Family Foundation; The Wagner Foundation; The Cambridge Community Foundation; The New Commonwealth Fund; The Mary Louise Riley Foundation; Arbella Insurance
For more information, please visit www.baycash.org. A report detailing the development of our model can be found on the website here. You can also email our project director, Shayla Fonfield, at baycashteam@gmail.com and the Chair of our Core Partner Group, Matt Aronson, at aronson.matthew@gmail.com.