The Executive Summary of the City’s Community Benefits Advisory Committee’s work over the past several years

I am excited to share the Executive Summary of the Community Benefits Advisory Committee’s work during the past several years. I have had the honor of serving on the Committee since its inception in 2017. In alignment with the City Council’s charge, our goal has been to thoughtfully distribute funds through nonprofit organizations to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable community members.

Through our own collaborative process, our desire has been to foster outcomes that have a positive impact on community members. At the same time, we have strived to learn how we can best support nonprofit organizations as they work together to address their client’s needs related to housing, financial stability, and mental & behavioral health.

When we put out the call in 2019 for nonprofit organizations to plan how they could work in partnerships, and then in early 2020 issued grants to implement their proposed plans, we had no idea how much this support would be needed as COVID-19 arrived. It would have a deep and long-lasting impact on community members and the organizations that worked tirelessly to assist them. We have learned so much about what it takes to support our community, and that much more is needed.

My hope is that this Summary provides a window into what we’ve done so far and into what the journey may look like as we move forward.

Ellen Semonoff

Chair, Community Benefits

Advisory Committee

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Executive Summary

The City of Cambridge’s Community Benefits

Advisory Committee (CBAC) is proud to share this Executive Summary and offer our perspective and insights about the impact of the Community Benefits Fund. Over the past six years, we have worked to implement the Fund’s goals of addressing the complex needs of Cambridge residents that are low-income, particularly families with children with a single parent or guardian, and to support creative collaborations among nonprofit organizations to address these needs. CBAC as a committee is unique.

We are a cross-sector group that includes community residents, representatives from the nonprofit, business, and university communities, and City staff. Our approach to funding reflects a thoughtful process that integrates the perspectives of our members and the expertise and experience of local nonprofit organizations. Contents 01 04 accomplished learned 06 07

Where we

are now How we move forward Photo courtesy of

Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee

1 accomplished CBAC provided multi-year funding for four Partnerships, each made up of three or more nonprofits, to respond to the interrelated needs of housing stability, financial security, and mental health, in hopes that these grants would address the identified needs as well as the economic and racial disparities that exist in Cambridge.

We prioritized creativity, innovation, and collaboration among the Partnerships, with a focus on participating Cambridge-based nonprofit organizations working together and with families, to provide services that enhanced housing stability, financial security, and mental health. We decided to take a citywide approach rather than focus on a particular neighborhood given that all residents are impacted by development and changes in any neighborhood in a small City like ours.

Over the four years of implementation, the Partnerships were a critical stabilizing and supportive resource with and for families and each other, particularly in light of the intense effects of COVID. Partnerships engaged families through two distinct approaches: two employed a cohort model where families enrolled and received deep ongoing support; two employed an ongoing enrollment model where families received services based on presenting needs.

Survey results demonstrated a significant increase in families’ perceptions of their own well-being, as well as the significant value and benefits of a case management approach with participating families. Family-level impacts related to the top-tier needs include1:

Housing stability:

Increases in families’ perceptions of their housing stability, and some participants described substantial improvements in their housing situation. Between baseline and endpoint, the percentage who reported their housing to be ‘somewhat’ or ‘extremely stable’ increased significantly from h 64% to 81%

Financial security:

Improvements in families’ perceptions in their financial situation. The percentage who reported their financial situation to be ‘somewhat’ or ‘extremely stable’ increased significantly from h 52% to 64% 1 The data and language provided in the bullets in this section reflects content in the formal evaluation conducted by CBAC’s evaluation partner, Health Resources in Action who had completed Family Survey data at baseline and at least one follow-up timepoint. 400 participants

On average, Partnerships

engaged a total of each quarter, with 68 of these enrolled in a cohort model. The final evaluation sample included 101 participants 2 As a committee, we maintained our own commitment to ongoing learning with and from the Partnerships to inform future efforts. Initial funding included 6-month planning grants ($30,000 for each Partnership) and 3 years of implementation ($250,000 per year for each Partnership). CBAC then added a fourth year of full funding (at $250,000), in response to a request from the Partnerships due to the significant stress COVID placed on organizations and on the people they serve. CBAC also provided transition funding after year 4 for each Partnership ($50,000 each), as they endeavor to maintain these programs in some form. We are excited to report that all Partnerships are each finding ways to continue some or all of their respective models with other resources after CBAC’s funding ended. Mental and behavioral health: A significant increase in knowledge of where to go within Cambridge for support related to urgent mental or behavioral health problems. The percentage who reported that they knew where to go in Cambridge for urgent mental or behavioral health problems increased significantly from h 30% to 46% An increased ability to coordinate and collaborate with other nonprofits in addressing the needs of vulnerable families by supporting stronger and more comprehensive service delivery.

By the final Implementation Year, one

organization felt their partnership had ‘Achieved All’ of their goals, and the remaining 11 organizations reported their partnership had made ‘A Lot of Progress’ towards their goals.

These data were collected prior to the conclusion of the Implementation Years, leaving room for continued progress by the partnerships Providing a protective factor for partnering organizations, such that they were better able to pivot or adapt programming to meet emerging needs because of their connections as a funded partnership – particularly in response to COVID.