CASPAR’s Emergency Service Center (ESC) is one of three shelters in
Massachusetts that accept homeless people who are actively using alcohol and drugs. At the ESC clients receive medical and mental health care, nutritional food, personal hygiene supplies, clean clothes, counseling, case management, and employment, housing, and treatment referrals in an environment that is welcoming and safe. The ESC provides 24-hour shelter, 365 days a year to residents of Cambridge and Somerville.

For many ESC clients, the shelter represents the entrance point to CASPAR’s continuum of substance abuse services. ACCESS, CASPAR’s sober transitional program, is located at the ESC, and ACCESS staff actively recruit prospective clients from among the ESC’s client population.

The ESC has strong ties to the community, including Cambridge and Somerville hospitals and police departments, who view the ESC as a partner in reducing harm on the streets. In addition, the ESC enjoys a special relationship with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which built the shelter for CASPAR on MIT property in 1994.