Boston City Resources

Boston City Resources

Immigrant friendly drop-off sites:

The City has set up many immigrant friendly drop-off sites for family grocery boxes from About Fresh (a BRF grantee). Most of these drop off sites are offices of immigrant organizations or immigrant churches whose leadership has identified a certain number of families who are in need and wouldn't feel comfortable going to any other location and/or need direct delivery. These drop offs are made every two weeks. We have set up 14 Immigrant drop-off sites - 5 sites in East Boston get 780 grocery bag drop offs (serving Latino communities), 2 sites in Roxbury get 600 grocery bag drop offs (serving African immigrants + mix of other communities - Latino, Cabo Verdean, African American), 1 site in Allston gets 300 Grocery bag drop offs (serving the Brazilian community). Grocery bags have different kinds of vegetables and fruits. 

Free meal sites to serve adults: 

The City of Boston is now serving adults, in addition to children and youth, at six meal sites in East Boston, Dorchester, South Boston, Roxbury, Mattapan, and Brighton. Residents can visit boston.gov/COVID19foodto find food resources for all residents, including youth meal sites, food pantries, and more. Meal sites now serving adults, in addition to children and youth, include:

YMCA @ Egleston Square (Roxbury) | YMCA @ Oak Square (Brighton) | YMCA @ East Boston - Bremen Street | BCYF Leahy Holloran (Dorchester) | BCYF Mattahunt (Mattapan) | Mary Ellen McCormack (South Boston)
 
City of Boston expands COVID-19 text service to include 11 languages

Residents can text BOSCOVID to the City of Boston's new number 888-777 to opt-in to alerts in English and the following keywords to opt-in to alerts in the languages below:

• Text BOSEspanol to 888-777 for Spanish

• Text BOSKreyol to 888-777 for Haitian Creole

• Text BOSFrancais to 888-777 for French

• Text BOSKriolu to 888-777 for Cabo Verdean Creole

• Text BOSPortugues to 888-777 for Portuguese

• Text BOSSoomali to 888-777 for Somali

• Text BOSChi to 888-777 for Simplified Chinese

• Text BOSbilAraby to 888-777 for for Arabic

• Text BOSViet to 888-777 for for Vietnamese

• Text BOSRus to 888-777 for for Russian

Residents who had previously subscribed under the former number used by the City will automatically continue receiving these text message alert updates, and there is no need to re-subscribe. Each language has its own page and hosts multilingual print materials distributed citywide:

• Arabic:boston.gov/covid-19-ar

• Cabo Verdean Creole:boston.gov/covid-19-cv

• Simplified Chinese:boston.gov/covid-19-zh

• Spanish:boston.gov/covid-19-es

• Somali:boston.gov/covid-19-so

• Russian:boston.gov/covid-19-ru

• Vietnamese:boston.gov/covid-19-vi

• French: boston.gov/covid-19-fr 

• Portuguese (Brazil):boston.gov/covid-19-pt

• Haitian Creole:boston.gov/covid-19-hc

New map with testing sites in the City of Boston:

Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) launched a new mapping toolto help Boston residents find locations offering COVID-19 testing.

The map is available on boston.gov/coronavirusand bphc.org/coronavirus. Residents are asked to call aheadfor pre-screening and to schedule an appointment.Residents can click on the interactive map to find the testing center with hours, address and contact information. It will be updated as new sites become available for testing.

Codman Square Health Center | The Dimock Center | DotHouse Health | Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center | Mattapan Community Health Center | Whittier Street Health Center | East Boston Neighborhood Health Center | Upham's Corner Health Center | Bowdoin Street Health Center | Brigham and Women's Faulkner Community Physicians at Hyde Park | Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston main campus) | Carney Hospital | Massachusetts General Hospital | St. Elizabeth Medical Center | Tufts Medical Center 

How to make a simple face covering: 

A face covering can be a scarf, bandana or other cloth. For directions on how to make a cloth face covering at home, visit the Centers for Disease Control website. You can also watch our videoon making a face covering with a bandana.

Additional Resources:

• Complete the 2020 Census TODAY!

• Google Form for City of Boston Volunteer Opportunities

• Constituents with individual questions can call the Mayor’s Health Line at 617-534-5050 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) or Boston 311 (24 hours).

• For the latest updates on COVID-19from the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC)

Social Media accounts for Mayor Walsh (@Marty_Walsh), the City of Boston (@CityOfBoston), and the Boston Public Health Commission (@HealthyBoston).

• Instagram: @boston_mayor+ @CityofBoston

• Facebook: @CityofBoston

  • Applications available now for the Mayor's Disaster Relief Fund for COVID-19. Apply online here https://cambridgema.viewpointcloud.com/categories/1126/record-types/6765 and call 617-349-9797 with any questions you may have! The Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund: COVID-19 has been receiving donations to provide emergency assistance to individuals and families in Cambridge who are experiencing financial hardship caused by the current Coronavirus/COVID-19 crisis. The City of Cambridge seeks to assist as many people as possible through these funds

   

  • When Will You Get Your Stimulus Payment? Here's How To Check: READ HERE: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/politics/get-my-payment-stimulus-checks-irs/index.html

   

  • NON-TAX-FILERS and stimulus package: WHERE TO FILL FORM: https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here

    ACTION: Many in your communities may be non-filers, so please pass this on your local channels.

    If you are a non-filer, you need to fill a special form to be considered for a payment from the stimulus package. Please make sure that people who are not good at online stuff are helped by your masjid members.

   

  • Boston City is dedicating $3 million in City funds to help Boston residents at risk of losing their rental housing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. APPLY HERE: https://www.boston.gov/departments/neighborhood-development/office-housing-stability/rental-relief-fund?fbclid=IwAR1hYhe-jr3y1sd9Z1EOLXOr8-m3_X4uY9Cw0nHzAIZte_5vLUnCT_EnO0g 

   

  • Uber Launches Tool To Help Drivers Affected By Coronavirus Find Work: Uber drivers would be able to turn on an option to get drive requests from Uber Eats, Works, and Freight services https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uber-launches-tool-help-drivers-114738624.html

   
  Check out our website for additional COVID-19 Resources! https://isbcc.org/category/news-resources/