In 2018, Cisco and Vacation spot: House launched into a partnership to sort out homelessness in Santa Clara County. Whereas our main focus was on the event of supportive housing and homelessness prevention, we additionally noticed a chance to leverage know-how to enhance lives. Whereas not a panacea, know-how can play a vital function in serving to people experiencing homelessness entry important assets, and might improve the effectivity and repair supply of the organizations serving them.
Assessing know-how wants in Santa Clara County’s supportive housing system
We started with a know-how wants evaluation of Santa Clara County’s supportive housing system, which aimed to determine alternatives to leverage information and know-how to strengthen the system of care. The findings had been insightful: each homeless service suppliers and other people receiving providers expressed a necessity for higher communication between employees and purchasers, in addition to the necessity for techniques that enable people to entry providers and handle their very own data.
Primarily based on these insights, the evaluation advisable the event of a client-facing portal. The envisioned device would supply safe entry for e-signatures, appointment scheduling, doc administration, and direct communication between purchasers and suppliers. This laid the inspiration for what would ultimately turn out to be MyConnectSV.
Constructing MyConnectSV: A collaborative effort
Constructing MyConnectSV was not fast. Vacation spot: House adopted a considerate and inclusive course of to make sure it was executed proper. Methods-level adjustments, corresponding to updating insurance policies round digital releases of knowledge on the County stage, had been crucial earlier than implementation may start.
All through the design, growth and testing course of, the Vacation spot: House workforce persistently engaged service suppliers and other people with lived expertise of homelessness to assist create an answer that would really meet their wants.
The outcome? A safe, user-friendly platform designed to empower people and streamline service supply.
Key options of MyConnectSV embrace the flexibility to:
- Replace contact data in actual time
- Monitor upcoming appointments
- Add and entry private paperwork
- Entry vital assets, corresponding to meals and medical care data
- Signal and add key paperwork electronically
- Talk immediately with case managers
- Monitor their place within the housing queue
- Share their location with case managers by way of a “drop pin” characteristic
These functionalities save weeks of time, stop missed alternatives, and expedite the journey to secure housing. For people experiencing homelessness, this implies staying linked to important assets and help techniques. For service organizations, it means improved outreach and effectivity in delivering care.
The workforce continues to enhance the device by actively listening to customers and incorporating their suggestions into ongoing growth—guaranteeing that MyConnectSV evolves to fulfill the wants of these most impacted.
The broader influence of know-how in homeless providers
The advantages of know-how like MyConnectSV lengthen past time financial savings. It democratizes entry to data, making vital assets out there to all, and is each replicable and scalable. In partnering with Readability by Bitfocus, a platform presently utilized by over 75 communities throughout the nation, we ensured that this client-facing module could possibly be simply adopted by Bitfocus customers throughout america.
What started as an area initiative in Santa Clara County is now a replicable, impactful answer with the potential to make a distinction nationwide. And whereas there’s nonetheless a lot work to be executed, this can be a reminder of how know-how, when designed with empathy and objective, can actually enhance lives.
To be taught extra, take a look at Vacation spot: House’s newest e-newsletter, Breaking Down Limitations to Housing.
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