Ellis

The beginning of 2019 saw 9,800 people experiencing homelessness on the streets of San Francisco. Then in the first four months of the COVID pandemic, the number of homeless tents and structures in the city increased by 285%. While there are many homeless service providers that address various needs, their availability and schedules can change frequently and without warning.

Inaccurate and outdated information about service availability makes it difficult for staff and volunteers to effectively and efficiently refer clients to the services they need.

How might we incentivize service providers to feed and maintain accurate information about their offerings in a central directory?

Ellis is a relationship and service manager for organizations to meet our marginalized neighbors’ needs more efficiently and effectively.

Staff and volunteers can submit needs request directly to service provider partners; view up-to-date services, their availability and inventory; and track client progress.

This is an ongoing project. The original app was designed and prototyped in 12 hours for YWAM San Francisco during a missional hackathon.