The Emergency Service Center and First Step Street Outreach are two front-line crisis intervention programs whose goal is to save lives.  The FirstStep Street Outreach program operates foot teams and teams in vans throughout the communities of Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. weekdays.

FirstStep outreach workers travel to known hangouts and hideouts where homeless individuals congregate, and provide transportation and referral to those who are willing to engage in services. The majority of FirstStep referrals are transports to CASPAR’s Emergency Service Center, where clients have immediate access to on-site medical care, counseling, treatment referral, mental health assessment, crisis stabilization, and housing search.