Our Mission
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The primary mission of Tri-CAP, Inc. is to work with all sectors of the community to prevent continuation and development of conditions which cause poverty or come as a result of people living in poverty. Tri-CAP seeks to educate public and policy makers regarding the causes and conditions which stem from, create and perpetuate poverty. Tri-CAP will advocate for and provide services, which create positive, measurable changes in the quality of life of low-income people living in Malden, Medford, and Everett, and other local communities. The agency recognizes and encourages the active participation of the low-income community in all phases of program planning and implementation.
Our History
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Tri-City Community Action Program, Inc. (Tri-CAP), was founded in 1978 by a group of community activists who felt that the cities of Malden, Medford and Everett were not properly served by the then existing community action agencies serving the communities of Somerville, Arlington, and the tri-city area. From the beginning, Tri-CAP had an activist agenda, organizing local public housing residents faced with food access issues, seeking better living conditions and wanting a voice in the management of their housing developments. Later, a welfare rights’ group and voter-registration campaign among low-income residents were implemented. This “activist” tradition remains part of Tri-CAP’s identity, even now as a multi-service agency.
From its humble beginnings in storefront offices and the modest programming of home-based Head Start preschool services to a handful of families, Tri-CAP is now a multi-service agency of three divisions, dozens of programs, special initiatives, and a staff of nearly one hundred, serving about 7,000 low-income individuals and families annually. Tri-CAP offers early childhood education services to preschoolers and their families through Head Start and day care classrooms; housing assistance, pro bono legal services, public benefit enrollment; fuel assistance, conservation and weatherization; free Internet and e-mail accounts at the Cyber Café @ Malden Square; coordination and capacity-building of 13+ Tri-City food pantries and meals programs; housing for the formerly homeless and the chronically homeless; and free electronic tax filing for eligible low-income Tri-City residents.
Even with all of these and other services, the legacy of its beginnings continue in Tri-CAP’s lead role in the Tri-City Workforce Development Task Force and a new initiative, environmental justice community organizing, as part of the Mystic River Watershed Collaboration. A significant accomplishment of Tri-CAP’s community organizing leadership resulted in federal legislation by Congressman Ed Markey that helped seniors qualify for vouchers to help them maintain their housing – without sacrificing basic needs such as food or medicine.
After 30 years of service, Tri-CAP continues its mission of partnering with the community to address the systemic causes and effects of poverty.
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