Material Aid and Advocacy Program

The Material Aid and Advocacy Program offers unhoused community members material aid, access to resources, organizing opportunities and support. The core of our work is providing a low-threshold space free of criminalization, harassment, and judgement twice a week including regular organizing meetings. At MAAP, people access material aid of their choosing and resources they identify as necessary or important to meet their needs. People are treated with dignity and respect and help take responsibility in running the space. At the request of participants MAAP staff and Board are also in the community: on the street, at encampments, or in public meetings spaces. Examples include helping community members clean up an encampment so they aren’t swept by police, meeting participants at a fast food restaurant at 6:30am after shelter closes and before they must get to work to go over the testimony they’ve written and will present at the State House, and coordinating bail from the Massachusetts Bail Fund and then providing transportation to a community member back to the shelter space that called the police on him because it is the best of bad options. One participant described MAAP as “a community where I can actively work towards escaping my homelessness, meet my basic needs and help others do the same. Where my contributions are valued and I'm able to fight for my community”.