One Can Help

Foster children, At-risk youth, Struggling Families. Now.

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How to Apply

Only Juvenile Court and Child Welfare related professionals can apply.
All cases must have either juvenile court or DCF involvement (or both).

OCH success depends on professionals like you, who are committed to ensuring that underserved children and families can overcome poverty barriers preventing positive steps forward.

OCH’s approval criteria can be found here.  

Please click here to apply.  

To avoid confusion, do not submit more than 1-2 cases at a time.

Please do not apply for multiple types of “needs” in one application. All requests must fall into only one needs category.

The Basics

  • We are happy to help your client when assistance is not reasonably available elsewhere. One Can Help provides urgent needs, not “presents.”
  • We work as a team. We will need to work with you on the logistics, if we agree to pay.
  • The court or your client must be located in Massachusetts.
  • Before applying, be sure to get a good estimate of the cost of the item or service needed.
  • We cannot reimburse any expense incurred prior to your application’s approval, nor any expense greater than the approved amount.

Application Process

  • We only accept online submissions.
  • You should get an automated response immediately acknowledging the receipt of your application.
  • If your matter is EXTREMELY urgent, please call 617-930-3468 after you fill out the online application.
  • Response time to your request is usually 1-2 days, so please keep an eye out for that email.
  • If you do not hear back, check your spam. If not there, call 617-930-3468 for help.
  • We can provide assistance up to the value of $1000 if the intervention is likely to make a big difference.
  • All applications get a unique number when you apply. You will need to enter that number when writing back to us. Please respond only through the internal link provided in the communication received from One Can Help, not through email.
  • You will have 21 days from date of approval to submit receipts for reimbursement through the provided link. We will send reimbursements as soon as we have received verified proof of expenditures. Photos of receipts are acceptable as long as you keep the original.

Feedback and Follow-up

  • We collect outcomes measurement data to assess our effectiveness. Your participation is essential to our accountability review, and your feedback will help us to attract more donors, foundations and other sources of financial support, so that we can reach more clients at risk.
  • We really appreciate hearing from you. Thank-you cards or emails and notes explaining the impact of this assistance from you or your clients are extremely helpful for our fundraising appeals and foundation grant applications.