What Are Safety Net Services?

MCCT’s Safety Net Services (SNS) Program breaks down the siloed system of social service delivery to create an integrated approach to meet community members’ emergent and basic needs through partnerships, resourcefulness, and collaboration. This includes two programs.

First, MCCT provides needs-based grants and case management. Support ranges from securing housing to providing needs-based grants for items such as utility assistance, rental assistance, and basic needs; and from one-time support to continuous case management. 

Second, in 2024, MCCT launched a long-term Intensive Case Management (ICM) empowerment program, where participants received (1) 1:1 goal-setting coaching from MCCT’s SNS Director, Ain Ashby, (2) weekly life skills workshops, and (3) regular community building events.

Workshops in included financial literacy, credit counseling, voting, mental health, goal setting, employment, and homeownership.

Community building events included a robust Friendsgiving celebration; a spa day for 8 ICM graduates with in-kind donations of individual massages, yoga instruction, self-care packages, and gifts for 1-month of yoga, among other items; and a guided wellness hike.

Based on feedback from the first ICM cohort, we have expanded our ICM program. In addition to the 2-hour life skills workshops on Thursdays, community building events, and 30-minute goal coaching sessions with our SNS Director, we are now offering a weekly 2-hour business training on Tuesdays.

Through a structured syllabus and computer program from Empowering Success Now, participants gain valuable insights/strategies to start, elevate, and grow businesses.

Both weekly workshops currently have 25-30 attendees