Public Benefits and Community Assistance

Our teen support text line connects young people up to age 24 with a peer they can talk to when they feel lonely, depressed, overwhelmed, or suicidal.

We offer a variety of services, supports and programs dedicated to ensuring equitable access and success for students who have a documented risk of regression during the summer months.

Our food and supply pantry is open to all on a first come, first served basis until supplies run out.

Our cadet training program is a paid, benefitted full-time position with a two-year commitment for Cambridge residents between ages of 18-23 who are interested in pursuing a career in public safety.

This program is designed to help youth to acquire the professional skills and coaching experience needed for working within the parkour industry, while also building valuable professional skills.

We offer a free dual enrollment program with Bunker Hill Community College. Students take two classes and receive advising support to prepare for their next steps, such as college or career training.

The Winter Warming Center is a welcoming and safe drop-in center where unsheltered adults can spend the night and be safe from the environmental hazards of the street during the winter months.

Safehome: Up to 1 month stay in a confidential location for an individual or family.
Transitional Housing: Up to two years of rental assistance for up to 16 survivors and their families.

The CLC offers five levels of English conversation, grammar, reading, and writing classes for Cambridge residents. There are daytime and evening classes. We do not offer online-only classes.

We provide free and nutritionally balanced meals to Cambridge residents 18 years of age and under. There are vegetarian and non-vegetarian options offered at all meal sites!

We offer summer jobs to Cambridge teens, from age 14 through the summer after they graduate high school.

We visit moms and dads of young children at a convenient location to share information about early literacy development, talking and reading with children, and community resources.

We connect people who are homeless in Cambridge to appropriate housing opportunities using our assessment tool.

As part of our program, we hand out various combinations of sandwiches or bagged lunches, juice boxes, snacks, socks, some seasonal items, toiletry kits, and more to the community.

Restaurant prepared hot meals served primarily to unhoused persons.

This is a paid career exploration and internship program for young adults (ages 18-24) living in Cambridge who've graduated high school (or Hi-Set) but still don't know their next steps in life.

Assist older adults with transportation to and from clinics so that they can keep much-needed medical appointments for screenings and treatments. This role is in high demand!

Help an older adult in Cambridge or Somerville budget and manage their finances. This program helps ensure that essential bills like rent and utilities are paid!

Riverside Early Head Start is a comprehensive early childhood program that partners with parents to promote children’s healthy development.

We provide several support services for senior citizens in Cambridge each year including regular outreach meetings, education on common scams or general safety, and our Secret Santa for Seniors event.

In addition to shelter, we offer case management, workshops and trainings, supplemental resources, seasonal support, and more to 126 families in shelter.

We can help you find what you need, offer screenings, treatment options, support groups, and more using our online screening tool.

Our hotline helps prevent suicide by giving free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you and loved ones, and best practices for professionals.

This program offers paid school-year internships at Harvard University for CRLS juniors and seniors.