Solutions Spotlight: CHIME (Child Homelessness Intercept Mapping and Engagement)

This fact sheet is part of a series of Forward With Families Solution Spotlights – real-world examples of how states and communities are putting family-centered solutions into action, with practical insights to help leaders replicate and scale what works.

CHIME — Child Homelessness Intercept Mapping and Engagement — is a systems-level initiative working to improve how services reach children experiencing housing instability and homelessness. Led by FamilyAid under President and CEO Larry Seamans, the Boston-based effort treats family homelessness as a preventable driver of poor health, learning, and well-being — and brings families, public agencies, and private partners together to strengthen housing stability before crisis hits.

Rather than asking families to navigate siloed systems on their own, CHIME aligns services across housing, food access, education, and family well-being, adapting across municipal, state, and federal systems. Lived experience anchors its design and governance — including a Family Advisory Council, established with Boston’s Mayor’s Office of Housing, made up of families who have experienced homelessness. Since 2021, CHIME has engaged more than 300 stakeholders and catalyzed dozens of new cross-sector collaborations.

Learn how by downloading this fact sheet.