Serving a broad spectrum of communities, CSR programs enhance and enrich the city as a whole, and helps to bring together diverse people and groups. Currently, 90%-95% of CSR’s clients are racial, ethnic, cultural and/or linguistic minorities including African American, Latino, Cape Verdian, Haitian and Asian. Traditionally, CSR has worked almost exclusively with constituents living in the historically minority neighborhoods of Boston: Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park and Mattapan. However, in the past ten years, CSR’s services have expanded to reach a diverse mix of families beyond Boston in areas such as Chelsea, Brockton, Tewksbury, Worcester, the Merrimac Valley, the Berkshires, Northampton, Springfield, Lawrence, Cape Cod and the Islands.

Significant issues community residents face are often deep rooted challenges of poverty, such as unemployment and underemployment; serious chronic health problems; a lack of affordable and accessible housing; access to safe, quality and affordable childcare; higher-than-average pregnancy rates and premature birth rates; and bias and prejudice. Additional personal challenges that are unique to each family include substance abuse problems; single parent families, lack of education and job-related skills; literacy barriers; welfare reform related issues; and conflicts over work and family demands. CSR sees these and other challenges every day with clients currently served throughout the community.

In addition, a secondary level of service gaps is also critically important including the poor quality of public schools; insufficient number of after school programs; inadequate literacy program services for adults; discrimination; insufficient resources for providing parenting skills and supports; reunifying families; and achieving permanency placements for children in the foster care system in which children of color are over-represented.

CSR addresses the most basic needs for food, shelter, and safety, as well as family support, through promoting and strengthening healthy families and individuals, permanency placements for foster children, and family reunification. The agency’s approach always combines prevention and intervention techniques.