On December 12, 2011, people who are homeless had the opportunity to participate in Homeless Connect Hennepin. Open Access Connections connected over 100 people with a free voice mail number at Homeless Connect. KFAI radio covered Homeless Connect. Part of their story was about Open Access Connections, our voice mail program, and our recent funding problems. This is a link to the KFAI story: http://www.kfai.org/node/40588
Since Open Access Connections learned about our state government funding cut, we received media coverage that allowed us to tell our story. Below are links to some of the media stories. They describe the impact of recent funding cuts and the importance of our voice mail services for almost 5000 people annually, and our efforts to seek alternative funding so we can continue to provide our voice mail services, cell phone services, internet access program development, advocacy and community organizing. Here are the links to some of those media stories:
Insight radio show on KFAN, Cities97, KDWB, KOOL108, KFXN, and K102
Truth to Tell radio show on KFAI
We were also on the KFAI Weekly News show but do not have a link to the show.
Join us for a leisurely walk through Minneapolis’ beautiful Minnehaha Park, followed by a picnic and celebration of the good work done by Open Access. this has been a challenging summer financially, so a gathering of friends and advocates will be welcome. Bring your friends and family.
Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis – Wabun Picnic shelter B
Saturday, September 10, 2011 – - 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Join us for a delicious picnic lunch, live music, and activities.
Homelessness is at a 20-year high and joblessness continues to leave Minnesotans without options. Please help us continue this important communication tool that gives people opportunities for housing and jobs. Please make a tax deductible donation on this website or bring a donation to the picnic/
Having a good time at last year's walk!
walk or send a check to Open Access Connections, 1821 University Ave, Suite N-184, St. Paul 55104.
Join us for an enjoyable walk in the park!!
Economic recovery continues to be evasive. This is true for the thousands of people who use our free voice mail services daily, and now it is true for our organization as well. In the wake of the Minnesota state shutdown, Open Access Connections finds itself without a key grant through the Department of Human Services Office of Economic Opportunity. This is the first time since we began in 1994 that no funding from this department has been available to us. In addition, we have seen our longtime foundation donors cut their grants this year considerably or eliminate them altogether. This perfect storm poses a severe and imminent threat.
Our ability to provide our voice mail service to homeless and low income people who do not have reliable telephone service is at risk.
Imagine for a moment you are filling out a job application. You’ve reached the line where the application asks for a phone number. You don’t have a telephone because you are homeless and staying at a shelter. How can the potential employer offer you a job when he can’t even call you? Without a job, you can’t earn money to afford a place to live. You ask yourself, “How am I ever going to get back on my feet again?”
This life-sustaining tool helps people get on their feet. People who do not have a phone have been faced with difficult choices in their lives because their incomes are so low. They must choose among food, housing, clothing and a phone. The phone is always the first to go, yet it is an essential tool to help people out of their unemployment, their homelessness, their abusive situation. We are the only community voice mail program in Minnesota, and because of our active outreach and partnerships with agencies, we are the largest provider of free voice mail to low income people in the United States.
The demand for our services has grown while our funding has decreased. We run a lean organization, support 350 partner agencies across the state, and connect 4600 Minnesotans every year. If we close, there is no substitute.
Please help us in any way that you can to keep this essential
service available to people in need.
You can donate directly on our home page at the GiveMN button.
THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE
A few days ago, we did a broadcast to all voice mail users asking them about what voice mail means to them and how it helps them. A broadcast is where we can leave a message for all 2200 voice mail participants, and they can reply to those messages. The response to this broadcast was overwhelming. Here are just a few of the replies that we received.
“This voice mail has helped me dramatically. Right now I’m a struggling vet trying to get back on my feet. It’s been a godsend to me just having the service. It’s the best thing for veterans all over. We really need it.”
“Without it I don’t know what I’d do ………………. Without the system a lot of people will be totally hurt as far as not getting messages they need about jobs, housing, medical and other resources.”
“This voice mail has been a great help to me. I don’t have a phone and can’t afford one. I’m currently in and out of hospitals. I rely on this service for arranging taxis to give me a ride to my dialysis appointments.”
“I’ve had it for just two weeks now but it’s been invaluable to me to have access to people who need to get in touch with me like agencies that are vital to me for housing and finances.”
“It’s invaluable to anyone who has a disability. It’s the only way I’ve been able to keep in touch. If this service is cut, I’ll be deeply affected.”
The Free Voice Mail Services for People Who are Very Low Income and Homeless that we provide are in jeopardy. Below is more detailed information about this service and the other programs that we offer.
Open Access partners with community agencies and organizations to offer these services. Participants connect with one of our 350 partner agencies to receive a free voice mail number. Open Access encourages agency staff to tailor our voice mail services to the needs of their clients and their agency. 2,200 people use voice mail daily and have an individual voice mail number. Voice mail is available throughout the state of Minnesota.
60,000 people have completed using Open Access voice mail services since we began (as Twin Cities Community Voice Mail) in 1994. On average, the clients use their voice mail an average of 185 days (6 months). In 2010, 4,590 people used a voice mail number. In 2010, people stayed on voice mail a total of 225 days (about 7½ months). People use voice mail longer now because of the economic downturn. The 4,590 people had 2,603 children. These participants set 12,853 goals for themselves and achieved 58% of these goals. Specifically:
52% of voice mail users are African American, 28% are white, 8% are Native American, 4% are Hispanic, 1% are Asian, and 5% are multi-cultural. 46% are between the ages of 26-44, 22% are between 19 and 25, 28% are over 45, and 3% are under the age of 18. 80% are unemployed and 70% are homeless. 18% are disabled.
Grass-Roots Outreach Project
We have trained active voice mail users to perform voice mail outreach at targeted locations within the Twin Cities area. Locations include the Dorothy Day Center, the Salvation Army Harbor Light, Catholic Charities Opportunity Center, Goodwill Easter Seals, the food shelf program at the West 7th Street Salvation Army, free meal programs at Bethlehem Church and Faith Lutheran Church, and the wellness clinic at First Lutheran Church. In one year, this project has distributed over 500 voice mail numbers. It has also given job experience to the voice mail users performing the outreach. These outreach workers provide needed resource information to voice mail users that they connect.
Voice Mail Broadcasting
With a single phone call we are able to leave a message for all 2,200 active voice mail users. We do broadcasts on services available to participants, events and issues of concern to them such as availability of job fairs, employment opportunities, voter engagement, financial literacy programs, health care resources, opportunities for training and education, help with taxes, food giveaways and other food programs.
Metro Shelter Hotline
Through its voice mail system, Open Access Connections is able to offer people who are homeless the ability to access information on available emergency shelters and transitional housing programs. Through one free call (on a 1-800 number), the hotline offer s individuals, families and youth information on location, eligibility rules, and contact phone numbers for shelters and transitional housing throughout the seven county metro area. We receive about 10,000 calls to this hotline each year.
Cell Phone Project
We are currently administering a pilot cell phone project that distributes 30 prepaid cell phones to homeless people participating in a Rapid Re-housing or Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) application program. We partnered with Catholic Charities, Face 2 Face Safe Zone, Health Care for the Homeless, and the St. Paul YWCA to identify recipients of the prepaid cell phones. Case workers have already noted that people receiving cell phones have greater housing, employment, and SSI application outcomes than people without cell phones.
Bringing Internet Access to People who are Homeless
Our Netbook Lending Library lends 10 netbooks to about 30-40 homeless people. Participants use the netbooks to learn computer skills, create résumés, apply for jobs, look for housing, research health information, and communicate with friends and family. We hope to use the results of this program help us implement our long term goal of opening a free internet café for homeless people.
We are currently in the planning process for opening an internet café that will serve homeless and low-income people. We believe that the internet café will be a resource for people to work and apply for jobs, create resumes, look for housing, keep in touch with health care providers, communicate with friends and family, and participate in social media. It will also provide an opportunity to gain basic internet and computer literacy.
Organizing and Engaging Low Income and Homeless People
Membership of our 50+ Group is composed of people over the age of 50 who are currently or have been recently homeless. The goal of this group is to provide an opportunity for homeless people to form a sense a community and discuss issues affecting the homeless population. The 50+ Group is currently focusing on the application process for the SSI.
Our Advisory Group is composed of people that currently use our voice mail service. The Goal of the Advisory group is to provide input to Open Access Connections and become active on issues currently affecting homeless people. The Advisory Group is currently focusing their efforts on employment, the state of the job market, and how homeless and very low-income people often get shut out of the hiring process.
Research and Advocacy
Open Access researches the communication needs of homeless and very low-income people. We have conducted extensive studies seeking the experience of homeless and very low-income people to develop a framework for providing cell phones and gaining internet access. Recently, we completed a major study on available internet access for very low-income people and what participants would want in an internet center. We recently had a public meeting to release this report (see website news section).We are currently are advocating for the development of a federal Lifeline-funded program for cell phones in Minnesota and for policy issues regarding the federal Universal Services Fund.
“I speak to many homeless individuals, being one myself. One of the most pressing problems is our limited access to technology. Each individual seems to have limited ability to access technology at different levels.”
This comment by a former homeless individual reveals why Open Access Connections, with the support of community partners, released a report entitled “Envisioning an Internet Center for Homeless Individuals: One Group’s Quest to Reduce the Digital Divide. At a public meeting attended by a diverse group of people representing many organizations on June 20th at the Communication Workers Hall on Lake Street in Minneapolis, we outlined our vision for a community internet space for people who are homeless. We do not see this center as simply a place for individuals who are homeless or in transition to use computes, rather we see it as a community building space where individuals who are homeless can become more engaged with technology.
Key elements of the vision are that 1) the space will be run by and for individuals who are homeless and low income and that it will be collaborative and participatory; 2) the hours will be convenient for people who are homeless and in a location within walking distance to shelters; that people will be able to use the computers and internet access to meet their needs rather than be having restricted content that characterize many computer centers; people will feel at home at the center and will be a comfortable environment with couches, food, etc. will attain a comfort level at a rate that allows them to feel confident about learning how to use computers; people will skills from their peers; participants will be able to use the space to “tell their story” and to learn about public policy and actively be involved in civic engagement; and where they will feel more connected to society as a whole and with each other. The report included listening to the voices of people who are homeless through focus groups, interviews, and replying to surveys on the Open Access voice mail system. These voices of the homeless helped us create our vision for a community internet space.
At the July 20th event, Rebecca Orrick, the report author, who was a Research Assistant with the support of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota, outlined her research and recommendations. Several videos enhanced the event so that participants could better understand the vision for bridging the digital divide. The following were presented at the event:
This importance of this effort to engage homeless and low income people in accessing the internet and computers is explained by Mignon Clyburn, Federal Communications Commissioner, who stated that “Knowing how to read is no longer sufficient to be “literate’ in the 21st Century. Basic literacy must be supplemented with digital literacy” when she addressed America’s Broadband summit on March 9, 2010.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF THIS EVENT:
THE FOLLOWING GROUPS SPONSORED THE JUNE 20th EVENT:
Open Access Connections, Minnesota Center for Neighborhood Organizing, Main Street Project, Voices for Change, Center for Urban & Regional Affairs (CURA) of the University of Minnesota, Digital Inclusion Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation, Free Geek Twin Cities, Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, Trans Youth Support Network, PC After Hours, Alliance of the Streets, MESH (Metro-wide Engagement for Shelter and Housing)
For many homeless people, their connection to the digital mainstream is tenuous at best.
Join Open Access Connections at a gathering when we release our report about bridging the digital divide for people who are homeless.
SAVE THE DATE: Monday, June 20, 2011 – 1:30-4:30 p.m. – at the Communications Workers of America AFL-CIO Local 7200, 3521 E. Lake Street, Minneapolis.
The report looks at how people who are homeless are marginalized in accessing technology and the internet and describes a unique solution to this. With support from the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota, Open Access Connections was able to do a major research report on how we could bring homeless people in from the cold and provide them with the communications tools that they need.
For more information about this event or to RSVP, contact info@openaccessconnections.org or call 651-621-2494. The event is free.
Sponsored by: Open Access Connections, Minnesota Center for Neighborhood Organizing, Main Street Project, Voice for Change, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) of the University of Minnesota, Digital Inclusion Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation, Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, Free Geek Twin Cities, TransYouth Support Network, Alliance of the Streets, PC After Hours, MESH (Metro-wide Engagement for Shelter and Housing)
Open Access Connections partnered with a Research Assistant, Rebecca Orrick, from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs to find out about how people who are homeless access the internet, how limited access is for them, and what they would like developed to help them gain more access and learn computer and internet skills. The report, “Envisioning an Internet Center for Homeless Individuals: one Group’s Quest to Reduce the Digital Divide”, also explores starting an Internet Cafe for people who are homeless. The report will be available here after the June 20th gathering to release the report.
Open Access Connections asked our participants through a voice mail broadcast their ideas about what they would say to the Governor and State Legislature about their priorities for the Minnesota state budget. Here’s a video with some of their responses.
