Digital “Home” for People who are Homeless
Launching our new brand last month has launched me away from the computer and the office and out into the community for conversations that have inspired and humbled me. I’m meeting with community service providers and participants who are moving and shaking—and hungry for solutions to problems that slow down their progress.
We have an idea for one such solution and we’ve just received a $16,145 Technology Matching Grant from the City of Seattle to pilot it. (Thank you, CTTAB and City Council!) Conceived by our New Initiatives Director, Steve Albertson (left), Digital Documents is aimed at trying to solve the very real problem that people who are homeless face—loss of key documents and personal papers they need for benefits and program eligibility. Watch Steve explain the idea in less than 1 minute in this video.
We’re piloting Digital Documents with Seattle’s Solid Ground and Tulsa’s Day Center, both stellar organizations that provide Community Voice Mail and Resource Broadcasting to thousands of people in their respective communities. We’ll work with them to host scanning “events” in the coming months to figure out what worked, what didn’t, and how the pilot might scale.
We believe that Digital Documents would be useful in your communities, but we want to know: what do you think? Please shower us with your comments, questions, concerns, and improvements, and stay tuned for updates on this pilot!
Jenn
P.S. We’ve submitted this idea as part of the Technology for Good contest to fund the pilot in Tulsa. If you’re inspired by this project, please vote for it to increase our chance of winning a cash prize to bring it to life!
