DIRECT2HOUSING
Website: www.direct2housing.org
The Challenge
Finding adequate housing in a large city can be challenging. Finding adequate supportive housing options is even tougher. Direct2Housing.org was created by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) to assist all case managers, housing advocates, social workers and people in the metropolitan Chicago community, in locating housing resources and housing service providers.
The Solution
The only housing database of its kind nationwide, Direct2Housing fosters greater communication and collaboration among housing advocates in different agencies in order to provide the most consistent, highest-quality services to clients, and creates an environment where housing advocates share resources rather than compete for them. Direct2Housing is a FREE online tool for the community. Supportive Housing programs can register for a free username and password that will allow them to enter their program information. The general public can go to any computer with and Internet connection and do a free search for supportive housing options at the main page. The audience is the front line case managers and social workers who see clients who are in need of housing assistance. They can sit with their client and help them do a search for the supportive housing options that they may be eligible to apply for. Because Direct2Housing can be accessed at any computer with an Internet connection, the client is empowered to go to the library or a computer lab and search for information on their own if they can. The goal is to make the contact information, eligibiltiy criteria and application process for the entire broad range of supportive housing options transparent and accessible to the entire community.
The website allows users to view the contact information, application process and eligibility criteria for Supportive Housing Programs. The staff at these housing programs are able to easily update information about unit availability by simply filling out an online form and clicking “submit”. This allows for program information to be more transparent than ever before. When someone completes and submits the short registration form, the Direct2Housing administrator will screen the applicant to determine what kind of housing they provide and therefore, what kind of access rights they will be given. If an agency has a Housing Advocate on staff that develops relationships with Private Market Landlords, the Housing Advocate can use Direct2Housing to enter their Private Market landlord listings. They are given access rights to a password protected search engine that can only be viewed by other users who have “Housing Advocate” access rights. Homesharing is a program that aims to set up compatible matches between responsible adults who have extra space in their homes and those needing affordable housing to share expenses. Ideal participants are people who own their home or condo and have a room for rent. A Homesharing provider could also be a leaseholder who is looking for a roommate. Home Sharing Providers can use Direct2Housing to enter their Home Sharing Provider listings. They are given access rights to a password protected search engine that can only be viewed by other users who have “Home Sharing” access rights.
The Success Story
With limited staff time, AFC had only been able to encourage a small number of agencies to register for a username and password and then follow through with entering and updating their information. For this reason, AFC hired a Community Outreach Consultant to work out in the field, at Supportive Housing Program sites. Since January 2007 this employee has provided demonstrations of Direct2Housing for agency staff members, helped them register for a username and password, and taught them how to enter their agency information. In the first six months of 2007 this has resulted in an increase of supportive housing programs added to Direct2Housing of over 500%. This type of increase directly impacts the amount of transparent, available housing resources for all case managers, housing advocates, social workers, and community members.
Additional funds are needed to further increase awareness of Direct2Housing to the community. Distribution of posters, business cards and postcards began in Spring 2007. An ad campaign ran on the CTA Red Line trains in the summer of 2007 that significantly helped to inform the public, but it must be ongoing in order to be most effective. Training and education will be provided for all Housing Locators, Housing Advocates, Information and referral specialists and Landlords working to help connect homeless clients with resources and services. Direct2Housing is a copyright protected product that AFC owns. At this time Direct2Housing is only being used in the Metro Chicago area. It has potential to be purchased and utilized in other cities. In order for other cities to benefit from this community tool, training materials would need to be developed. The AIDS Foundation of Chicago is grateful for the opportunity to improve the Coordinated Housing Advocacy Program, improve the Direct2Housing community tool and better serve people in need of housing assistance.
ENGINEER AID
Website: www.engineeraid.com
The Challenge
Often in developing and disaster-hit regions there is a lack of appropriate skills and knowledge to allow continuous self-help development and there is a demand for skilled people, such as engineers, to provide advice and solutions to technical problems. Conventional development charities aim to meet this demand by sending volunteers abroad. This requires investing huge resources in travel costs and limits the pool of available personnel to those able or willing to travel for reasonable periods of time. This pool could be greatly widened to include engineers of all disciplines who wish to collaborate and solve problems if there was an effective gateway for communication between them and people in areas of need. EngineerAid believes that with the innovative use of digital collaboration technologies the benefits and reach of the development aid can be improved whilst reducing the carbon footprint and the resources required to send experts abroad.
The Solution
Provide a platform that facilitates the provision of engineering solutions to social development projects. The transfer of appropriate technical skills and knowledge between engineers in developed economies and people who work and live in less economically developed countries allows continuous self-help development in developing and disaster hit regions through effective digital collaboration technologies. Objectives of the program are: 1. Ensure that as far as possible the support given is appropriate and follows the principle of socio-economic and environmental sustainability. Improve the knowledge base of people in developing areas by promoting wider distribution of successful advice and solutions within communities by those who have already benefited. 2. Recruit and maintain an engineering volunteer base which is both technically capable and effective at ideas. 3. Provide a high level of accountability and reporting on their activities to all stakeholders in the charity but particularly those who give their time and donate their money. 4. Identify a continuous stream of development projects suitable for aid in the unique format we provide and developing increased interaction with other non-governmental organizations (NGO) to deliver sustained and long-term support. 5. Generate awareness among the engineering profession that there are opportunities to use their skills in a philanthropic way. Engineer Aid aims to provide a service with open access, giving simple, direct and timely advice required at any stage of infrastructure building in developing countries. EngineerAid works with communities (not limited to, but presently focusing on, Asia and Africa), who cannot access the technological expertise Engineer Aid provides. The solutions are provided by professional volunteer engineers working within public and private sector companies globally. EngineerAid works both independently and in partnership with other NGOs. We intend to continue building networks extending globally and provide a means of opening communication lines with like-minded organizations to compliment and improve each other’s services.
EngineerAid is currently providing remote solutions to technology problems in the less economically developed countries by providing a platform to engineers to communicate, collaborate and solve problems. The Concept and the Strategy: EngineerAid has been the first to successfully facilitate useful and meaningful direct communication between engineers in developed economies and people who work and live in developing economies. Our methodology champions empowerment, concentrating on knowledge transfer from professional engineers to disadvantaged communities and technical answers and advice is given directly to those who make enquiries. Local networks and self-help groups are strongly promoted. The Tools: Enquiries or engineering problems are logged via a tailor-made online intelligent system, and after careful matching are allocated to individuals with a particular expertise in the relevant area. Experts are then able to use online collaboration and communication tools authored and tailored to provide responses to the projects. This integrated network allows specific engineering problems to be translated and reviewed on a large scale and the solutions are provided by professional volunteer engineers working within public and private sector companies/organizations around the world. Transferral of the information takes place in a multitude of formats, languages and time zones but the concept remains the same: open communication channels between our target communities and professional engineers, providing simple, timely and direct help. As all communication between engineers and enquirers is carried out online, expense in terms of time and cost is minimized making EngineerAid entirely sustainable as well as environmentally friendly. In addition to this, the collaboration between the expert knowledge of engineers and the local knowledge of enquirers means that the work we do has a long-term, lasting impact for the communities we help. The Components/Guiding Principles: Technology Requirements – Human interaction and communication technology for the end users, collaborative tools to enable engineers to design sustainable solutions, dedicated software for transmitting and sharing the information, and managed hardware and software (dedicated servers and accompanying software). Enterprise Structure: Non-profit management, Board of Directors, and General Manager. 4 primary team manager roles: IT & Communications, Projects, Fundraising and Marketing.
The Success Story
EngineerAid’s services are supported by professional engineers, each with an average work experience of 10 years (amounting to a commitment of 474 hours of engineering support per month, the equivalent of £569,000 per annum of engineering resource) thus ensuring the highest standard of expertise available within the sector. Their work with other NGO’s – developing strategic partnerships, networking with grassroots organizations and providing support to developmental projects, clearly indicates the quality of delivery of our services. Additionally, EngineerAid carries out regular monitoring and review by using knowledge based systems to ensure that enquiries are answered promptly and that, where necessary, they adapt to the changes in demand. They have been able to provide aid that has an immediate impact on the target groups and have successfully supported over 50 projects worldwide in 2006-07, and the feedback they have received so far from their projects is extremely encouraging. “We are indebted to EngineerAid for their support and prompt advice. We hope to continue this partnership and develop a sustained model of support.” – Department of Forests and Environment, India. “You won’t believe me how much of help your reply is to us here!" – Duetsi Khadro, Indonesia.
