Multiple Assistance Center (MAC)

The Multiple Assistance Center (MAC) combines safe housing for single men, single women and families with children and with in-depth case management and on-site direct services. The facility opened in April 2005.

Mission Statement:

The MAC provides a hospitable environment where men, women and children can find respect and dignity, as well as comprehensive services integrated to assist them in overcoming their condition of homelessness. Through widespread community support and involvement, the MAC brings together disparate groups in our society so that each can discover the dignity, worth and innate potential of the other.

Our goal is to assist each individual and family in achieving increased stability and acquiring the knowledge and skills to improve their ability to acquire secure and decent housing, sustain a healthy lifestyle and establish the life-giving relationships necessary for personal stability and growth.

Programs for the residents are designed to assist the disenfranchised in reintegration with the community and gaining increased physical and emotional health while working toward self-sufficiency. Programs are designed to strengthen family skills, support successful family reunification and interrupt the cyclical nature of children growing up in poverty, homelessness, addiction and violence. Recognizing that all individuals are an intrinsically valuable part of the community, residents of the MAC will meet with a case manager to complete an in-depth needs assessment addressing all facets of the family’s life including: physical health, mental health/counseling, financial planning, nutritional skills, educational issues, parenting skills and parent/child attachment issues, housing and employment. As the residents learn new information, they will establish more long-term goals, develop linkages to community support networks and regularly review their progress toward self-sufficiency. Both parents and children learn to live in community, establish new social connections, accept and honor diversity, and work cooperatively with one another.

The Multiple Assistance Center is currently Humboldt County’s highest prioritized homeless project, receiving broad-based support from government, public, private, nonprofit and community sectors. The idea of the MAC developed over the past 13 years as a collaborative community effort including the City of Eureka, County of Humboldt, Redwood Community Action Agency, St. Joseph Health System, Humboldt County Children and Family’s Commission and numerous other nonprofit agencies and community service clubs, organizations and private citizens. The MAC developed in response to Humboldt County’s lack of year-round, 24-hour staffed facility where individuals and families are challenged and supported to move from crisis toward stability and finally to self-sufficiency. The MAC is designed to address this major gap in homeless services.

Learn more about getting a referral to the MAC http://www.rcaa.org/FamilyServices/MacReferrals.htm