Street Roots • July 1-7, 2016
Page 7
News
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Clicking for change
How social services and technology are
coming together to help people on the streets
BY RIANNA HIDALGO
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
t seems there’s always “an app for that”
They range from the practical — paying
for parking, communicating with friends,
navigating a new area — to what some might
deem absurd — an app that helps you track
all the places you’ve pooped is a fine
example.
More and more, entrepreneurs are
looking to harness technology in another
area: helping people in need. In the last few
years, there has been a surge in apps, social
media pages and websites that aim to
address gaps in services for those
experiencing homelessness.
They are cropping up all over the world,
and they represent a merger of tech and
social services.
Take WeCount, for instance, an app
launched June 1 in Seattle to facilitate peer-
to-peer donation of needed items. It was
founded by Graham Pruss, an expert
researcher who studied homelessness and
vehicle residency with experience in
outreach work; and Jonathan Sposato, an
investor, tech entrepreneur and founder of
multiple startups.
“What happens if we take all the same
sorts of skill sets we apply to the creation of
consumer internet applications and social
media, and marry that to someone who has
been thinking about these social issues for
years?” Sposato said. “What is the kind of
alchemy you can get?”
The answer might be in San Francisco,
where HandUp enables users to donate to
campaigns created by nonprofits. Or
Portland, where PDXShelter helps people
find nearby shelter and get real-time info
about space and amenities. Studies have
shown that smartphones are increasingly
considered a lifeline and priority for those
living on the street, especially for youth, and
that a majority of homeless people have
access to Wi-Fi via their own devices or
through places such as public libraries.
As entrepreneurs bring new ideas to the
table, they traverse a complex set of
challenges — privacy, safety and the ultimate
question of how we ensure technology
brings us together rather than drives us
apart
I
n the surface, apps serve some kind of
simple, practical function: They help
people donate goods with a few swipes,
offer funds to an individual at the click of a
button or rapidly gather volunteers. In a
network of nonprofits and agencies that are
often under-resourced, that kind of
crowdfunding capacity can be a game
changer.
JustServe, a website and app affiliated
with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints, allows potential volunteers to
search for projects by ZIP code. It has
O
100,000 registered volunteers, 15,000
posted projects and 190,000 service hours
performed, said Doneen DeMeester,
representative of the program.
A search of the Seattle area pulls up
opportunities to provide hot meals at the
tent city in Interbay, prep summer lunches
for kids through the Hunger Intervention
Project, offer engineering and construction
skills for new low-income senior housing, or
respond to calls on helplines.
“You think, ‘OK, where do I start?’”
DeMeester said. “This offers it to you on a
silver platter. You don’t have to sift through
multiple websites to find a project close to
you. It’s one button and you’re there.”
Slightly beneath the surface, some apps
have potential to connect users with social
services and long-term help.
WeCount matches those who need an
item, such as a tent, sleeping bag or laptop,
with someone who can provide it, similar to
a Buy Nothing group where people make
requests for or offer free items. But by using
staffed, third-party drop-off and pick-up
locations at social service organizations
throughout Seattle, it also aims to expose
people to services they may not have been
aware of, Pruss said.
GiveSafe is an app created by Jonathan
Kumar to make it easy to give cashless
donations to a person who can use the
money at participating stores, such as
restaurants, coffee houses, barbers and job
consulting firms, or meet with a case
manager who can access the funds. The app
relies heavily on users forming relationships
with nonprofits.
Kumar is still gathering users before the
official launch, but in practice, organizations
distribute tiny Bluetooth beacons. When a
passerby with the app comes within range
of a beacon holder, they get a push
notification with a bit of the person’s story
and the option to donate $1 or more. The
beacon holders must be reactivated once a
month at a partnering nonprofit.
Creators of these apps are all motivated
by a strong sense that, given the right tools,
people will choose to help.
For the founders of JustServe, it was a
hope to inspire more action around Jesus
Christ’s teaching to “love thy neighbor as
thyself.” For Pruss, it was the dichotomy of
the haves and have-nots. On one side, he
observed overconsumption - his own bag of
old cell phones, for example - and on the
other he saw scarcity among people with
great need. For Kumar, it was a desire to
change an interaction between passersby
and panhandlers that often seemed full of
friction, judgment and discomfort
“It was, ‘What can I do about this
interaction that happens on a daily or
weekly basis, where they see someone in
need and choose not to help?’” Kumar said.,
“Because they don’t have cash, or they don’t
have time, or they don’t think cash will help,
or their car isn’t in the right lane, or they
HANGE NEWS
have a green light, or they don’t believe the
person really needs help. There’s just a
million things that get in the way of showing
compassion.”
f technology is going to make the world a
better place it must do more than
increase donations. There is always a flip
side. If donating a dollar is as simple as a
drag and a tap, do we miss out on potential
human interaction? If we want to create
meaningful connections and relationships
that inspire change, can technology do that?
Rex Hohlbein, founder of Facing
Homelessness, uses a Facebook page and
Instagram to disseminate powerful photos
and stories with the goal of breaking down
negative stereotypes. The challenge, he said,
is ensuring technology does more than
appease a sense of guilt, that it doesn t lead
to what some might call “clicktivism.”
“The danger is that we think the task is
just to provide the product or the service,
but that’s only part of it,” Hohlbein said. “It
could keep us in a cycle where we keep all
this in our heads and not in our hearts.
Where we go, ‘I’ve seen a lot of charts, read
a lot of reports, watched a lot of news, and I
donate a sleeping bag through this app once
a month. And therefore, I’m doing
something.’ Yes, You are. But I think you
might have just ducked out a little early.”
Kumar said it’s ultimately up to the User.
In some cases, GiveSafe will simply be a
mechanism to donate a quick dollar that
otherwise might not be given, he said. But
he also believes the app can be “step one”
in fostering trust and connection. The first
screen that a user engages with reads
“Break the ice,” and offers interesting
tidbits about the beacon holder, maybe their
favorite sports team or that they were a pro
I
ice. skater.
.
. _
WeCount has erred on the side of caution
to avoid compromising safety and anonymity,
and has created its app after months of
intensive research. For the moment, they
are focusing on the core purpose of
facilitating donations, but Pruss believes
that alone generates something bigger by
making people feel empowered to help their
community.
“When a person requests an item and
another gives, it creates a sense of goodwill
and grace,” he said. “I would say anytime
someone asks for something and someone
gives, we consider that a win: That is what
underlies the positive political will that it
takes to fund programs that help with
poverty.”
The point? No one wants the journey to
end on a screen.
“I think the message is that they are
beginning points, and not to think of them
as end points,” Hohlbein said. “They are the
beginning of a hard journey. And it’s
important not to let ourselves off the hook -
to think we’ve done something and step
away. It’s a journey that if we are going to
live a beautiful life, should continue to get
deeper and deeper. The app is a tool, not a
solution.”
If technology is only a tool, it is a
powerful one. On the Facing Homelessness
Facebook page, which has around 35,000
likes, every single request for help, goods or
services has been answered in the last six
years, Hohlbein said.
“Every. Single. One. I refer to it as this
crazy empathy wishing well. I always think
to myself, ‘Oh my god, is this going to be
answered? And always, just like that,
‘Boom.’ It has blown me away.”
Reprinted from Real Change News, Street
Roots sister paper in Seattle, Wash.