"We count ourselves successful when an individual or family becomes self-sufficient and no longer needs our help." —MASSCAP |
All About MASSCAP
What is MASSCAP?
We work with the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development and other state agencies to open doors to self-sufficiency for low-income Massachusetts residents. For more information, view the MASSCAP Fact Sheet (PDF). To open a PDF file, you need to have the free Adobe PDF reader installed on your workstation. If you do not have this free software, you can download it from the Adobe Web site. What is a CAA?Community Action Agencies (CAAs, also known as Community Action Programs or CAPs) are private, non-profit human service and advocacy organizations that were established by Congress and the President over 30 years ago to fight poverty by opening the doors to self-sufficiency. CAAs provide emergency assistance to people in crisis; address the causes of poverty through programs that fight unemployment, inadequate housing, poor nutrition, and lack of educational opportunity; and provide training in advocacy skills. How do CAAs open doors to self-sufficiency?CAAs provide basic support and training services. If you need any of the services that CAAs provide, please call the CAA closest to you. (For a complete listing of all Massachusetts CAAs, their addresses and phone numbers, Web sites, communities served, and programs/services they offer, see the Agencies & Services section of this Web site.) Each CAA operates an average of 12 to 15 programs, and these typically include several of the following:
What impact do CAAs have in their communities?CAAs help hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents meet their basic needs and achieve self-sufficiency. In addition, CAAs play a major role in the economic well-being of local communities, providing jobs for residents and contracts to local businesses. CAAs are economic engines, providing communities with an annual infusion of over $250 million in total resources. CAAs generate twice that amount by helping clients become self-sufficient and productive. What are the highlights of CAA activities in Massachusetts?
How do CAA Boards represent their communities?Each CAA is anchored in the community by a Board of Directors made up in equal parts by low-income people, members of the business community, and local public officials. The Board of Directors sets the goals and policies for each CAA. How are CAAs funded?Core funding for CAAs comes from the federal Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program. CSBG funds are allocated to the state's housing agency and then distributed to each CAA. CSBG enables CAAs to implement a variety of support services, programs to promote self-sufficiency, and training in advocacy skills. CAAs also receive funds from other federal sources, the state, and private contributors. A large portion of these resources are leveraged by CSBG funds. CAAs are also among the most cost-effective and innovative service and training agencies in the state. We devote less than 10 percent of our resources to administration, leaving 90 percent of our resources for programs. Who are the MASSCAP officers and what committees are in place?See the Officers & Committees page of this Web site. Who do I contact to learn more about MASSCAP?See the Contact page of this Web site. What are MASSCAP's policies in regard to this Web site?Copyright Although material on this Web site is accorded all appropriate protections under copyright law, permission is given for fair dealing with this material, including for the purposes of private study and research. Apart from those uses, no part may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Massachusetts Association for Community Action . Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction of materials on this Web site should be directed to MASSCAP. Contact information and an email form are provided on the Contact Us page of this Web site. Photos used on this Web site have been provided by MASSCAP and its member agencies, including ABCD, ACTION, Citizens for Citizens, CTI, Community Action! of the Franklin, Hampshire, and North Quabbin Regions, and PACE. MASSCAP's use of the photos on the site is with permission. Accessibility Statement MASSCAP is committed to supporting simple, affordable access to information on the Web. In this spirit, MASSCAP has made every effort to make the material on this Web site accessible to people with technical constraints, such as older browsers and lower speed Internet connections. Nonetheless, for best results, we recommend that visitors access the site with computer hardware and software that meets the following minimum technical requirements:
Information on the MASSCAP Web site is accessible with older hardware and software, but the visual presentation of information and associated visual cues may not appear entirely as designed. MASSCAP has made a good faith effort to make all of the information in this Web site accessible to site visitors who use screen readers and nongraphical browsers. This effort was guided by the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by 29 U.S.C. §§§§794(d). Additionally, MASSCAP has sought to meet the priority one requirements of the World Wide Web Consortium Content Accessibility Guidelines. If you encounter accessibility difficulties with the MASSCAP Web site, please inform us by using the contact information or email form on this site's Contact Us page. Privacy No attempt will be made to identify site visitors and their browsing activities to legal authorities except in the event of an investigation where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the host server's logs. Except for the Online Forums section, the MASSCAP Web site is a cookie-free site. Nonetheless, for statistical purposes, the following information is collected in the host server's site visit logs:
For privacy information related to the Online Forums section of this Web site, see the forum's terms of use notice. Disclaimer Related to Outside Links References on the MASSCAP Web site to other Web sites are provided as an information service only and should not be construed as an endorsement of any organization or product. Although care has been taken to provide links to suitable material from this site, no guarantee can be given about the suitability, completeness, or accuracy of any of the material linked to from the MASSCAP Web site. MASSCAP does not accept responsibility for any of the content of material that may be encountered on other sites to which we provide a link. |
The Massachusetts Association for Community Action (MASSCAP) is a statewide association of the 24 Community Action Agencies (CAAs) operating in Massachusetts. Through the combined skills and vision of its members, MASSCAP works to enhance the ability of each agency to better serve its clients. (For a list of MASSCAP member programs, see the