Homeless Reddit AMA (or something similar that isn't patronizing and offensive)

lippytak commented 10 years ago

Get a panel of homeless individuals in SF to do an AMA in real life and/or on Reddit...basically some way to bring the StreetSheet (http://streetsheetsf.wordpress.com/) into the digital, scalable world.

cc @cbracy @mattboitan0 @bob741

fureigh commented 10 years ago

<3 "that isn't patronizing and offensive"

migurski commented 10 years ago

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/21ml9a/former_homeless_people_of_reddit_what_unwritten/

alanjosephwilliams commented 10 years ago

"Can we all just stop for a moment to recognize that every homeless person in this thread has a cell phone?"

That's interesting.

On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 10:50 PM, migurski notifications@github.com wrote:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/21ml9a/former_homeless_people_of_reddit_what_unwritten/

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/codeforamerica/health-project-ideas/issues/18#issuecomment-42635479 .

t: @alanjosephwilli p: 817 713 6264

lippytak commented 10 years ago

'Check out the food people give you. I know people who've been given shit sandwiches and stuff with glass in it.'

'My brother, who is mentally ill, was homeless on the streets of DC. He says the other homeless people got him food and forced him to eat it when he looked like he would starve because the voices in his head were telling him to avoid all food. They also made sure he had shelter and generally kept his completely helpless ass alive for almost a years'

'If you have food stamps, share. I once had a homeless man buy me a sandwich, and it was the most humbling experience in my entire life'

'Save every penny. Buy a tent. Put your tent next to a river. Go to the library every single day. Spend as much time as you can applying for jobs. Take the first job you can get. Keep bathing in the river, and working until winter. Do not spend a dime on booze. Once winter comes get an apartment, and keep working. Apply to your local technical college, and get a job in IT. Stop being homeless. Worked for me.'

'Try and get some photo ID, your birth certificate or citizenship certificate and your SIN or SSN. You need these to qualify for transitional housing, medical care, etc. They are surprisingly important when you need them most; I never thought so many people would expect the homeless to have their birth certificate on them.'

migurski commented 10 years ago

Phone + basic documents = black start?

Lots of gold in that thread.

daguar commented 10 years ago

+1 to @migurski.

I also wonder if, for most programs requiring the basic documents, if digital copies (either photos or scans) would suffice.

If so, then the smartphone becomes even more of a potential asset.

Throw on the potential for these things living in cloud services rather than the physical smartphone, and, baby, you got a social justice stew goin'.

alanjosephwilliams commented 10 years ago

Just in case anybody missed it in the AMA thread, here is the top of the funnel for the (or at least one of) the telco-subsidized phone(s) available for those who qualify for food stamps or medicaid:

https://www.safelinkwireless.com/Enrollment/Safelink/en/Public/NewHome.html

Interestingly enough, not available in California.

More background:

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) is an independent, not-for-profit corporation designated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the administrator of the universal service fund (USF). USAC collects contributions from telecommunications carriers and administers support programs designed to help communities across the country secure access to affordable telecommunications services.

http://www.usac.org/about/default.aspx

On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 9:52 AM, Dave Guarino notifications@github.comwrote:

+1 to @migurski https://github.com/migurski.

I also wonder if, for most programs requiring the basic documents, if digital copies (either photos or scans) would suffice.

If so, then the smartphone becomes even more of a potential asset.

Throw on the potential for these things living in cloud services rather than the physical smartphone, and, baby, you got a social justice stew goin'.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/codeforamerica/health-project-ideas/issues/18#issuecomment-42857541 .

t: @alanjosephwilli p: 817 713 6264

lippytak commented 10 years ago

Seriously...

Here's a bit more context for SF:

Assurance (Sprint) gives free phones to all homeless individuals in SF via federal lifeline funding. But the application process sucks and forces homeless individuals to separately fill out state/assurance forms, remember PINs, deal with two waves of paperwork via postmail, etc.
On the ID front, team SF went to Project Homeless Connect last year. The longest line in the building was for DMV IDs. Though not sure if that says more about the need or the alternatives.
What if we could empower the SF HOT team with a mobile application kit to get folks setup with phone + basic paperwork? Or GAAP?

On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 9:39 AM, migurski notifications@github.com wrote:

Phone + basic documents = black starthttp://berglondon.com/blog/2012/07/23/week-371/ ?

Lots of gold in that thread.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/codeforamerica/health-project-ideas/issues/18#issuecomment-42856018 .

codeforamerica / project-ideas

Homeless Reddit AMA (or something similar that isn't patronizing and offensive) #18