Category: Blog
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Introducing Link-SF to the Open Referral ecosystem
[Welcome to Rose Trujillo of Zendesk! This is cross-posted from Zendesk’s Zengineering Blog.] We’re happy to announce that Link-SF will be a part of Open Referral’s San Francisco pilot project! What is Link-SF? St. Anthony’s Tenderloin Technology Lab serves many low-income San Francisco residents that are looking for web access. Continue reading →
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Data-driven justice in D.C.
Access to clear, reliable, re-usable community resource directory data is not just important for people who are seeking services that meet their immediate needs — it’s also crucial for people who are seeking to understand the workings of the human service system as a whole, as they seek ways improve health and wellness for entire…
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San Francisco’s Open Referral: Getting out and Staying out
Every other year, the Reentry Council of San Francisco publishes Getting Out and Staying Out, a resource guide for people returning from prison and looking for help to get back on their feet. The Guide is more than 300 pages long, containing rich information about hundreds of health, human, and social services that are available…
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New Partnerships up North: Open Referral in Canada
[UPDATE: The Ontario Non-Profit Network has posted its ‘Data Strategy,’ which specifically references the emerging partnerships described below. Check it out!] Canada is an international leader in the field of open data, especially in the non-profit sector. The Canadian Revenue Agency was the first government entity of its kind to publish open, machine-readable data about…
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Huertas de Datos: Open Referral in Madrid
Early last month, I traveled to Madrid to discuss the community resource directory data problem, and our work here in the Open Referral initiative, at the commencement of a civic hacking workshop hosted by Medialab-Prado. Medialab-Prado is a publicly-funded “citizen laboratory for the production, research and dissemination of cultural projects that explore collaborative forms of…
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Helping HelpSteps Step Forward
Conceived and built by a team at Boston Children’s Hospital, HelpSteps.com (formerly known as The Online Advocate) is designed to help individuals and families identify social service needs and connect to local organizations best suited to meet those needs. The database includes over 1,700 organizations in the greater Boston area, and is maintained through partnership…
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Preparing for the Worst, Hoping for the Best: Data Standards, Superstorm Sandy, and our Resilient Future
In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, many residents of New York City were left struggling. Though a broad array of supportive services are available to survivors — from home rebuilding funds to mental health treatment — it’s often hard for people to know what’s available and how to access it. New York City lacks any…
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First Resort: Building social services resources at DC Public Library
[This is a guest post from Keith Porcaro of Social Impact Lab (SIMLab). SIMLab is partnering with the DC Public Library and the DC Open211 project on a project made possible by the Knight Foundation’s Prototype Fund.] Particularly for those on the wrong side of the digital divide, people often turn to the library for information…
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Building Alameda County’s First Public Health & Human Services Data Portal
Cross-posted from the blog of the Urban Strategies Council. The stakeholders mentioned here all participated in the Open Referral workshop last July. Urban Strategies Council, First Five Alameda County and Eden I&R (the provider of 2-1-1 services in Alameda County) recently agreed to jointly build the first ever Health and Human Service Directory Data Portal…