community voice mail homeless veterans summit nov 09
DESCRIPTION
A presentation about Community Voice Mail, our Veteran clients, and their communication/information needs. Delivered at the VA-sponsored Homeless Veterans Summit on November 4, 2009 in Washington, DC.TRANSCRIPT
Voice Messaging as a Communication and Information Network
Steve Albertson / Jennifer BrandonCommunity Voice Mail National Office
Or…“How Can I Reach You?”
Steve Albertson / Jennifer BrandonCommunity Voice Mail National Office
An Answer to…
• How do you get a job without a phone?
• How do you find a place to live?
• How do you find safety from domestic abuse?
• How do doctors contact you with test results?
National nonprofit providing free voice mail and information services to low-income, homeless and
otherwise “phoneless” people in the U.S..
.
Finding A Job Fleeing domestic abuse Finding A Place to Live
115M Households
23M with Income <$10k/yr.
3M (13%) w/out access to a phone – ~ 6M people
Phonelessness in the U.S.
Does not include homeless
Does include mobile phones
40,000servedby CVMper year
(Not to scale)
Spiral to “Phonelessness”
↓ Injury or Illness↓ Job loss / financial problems↓ Loss of housing (landline)↓ Living with friends (or in car)↓ Loss of shelter↓ Homelessness↓ Loss of phone (cell)↓ Etc. etc. etc.
HOST AGENCY
ParticipatingAgency
ParticipatingAgency
ParticipatingAgency
ParticipatingAgency
Client
Client
Client
Client
CVM numbers are distributed throughexisting social services.
Case workers utilize CVM to stay in consistent contactwith clients, improving time- and cost-efficiency.
(national office)
How CVM Works
VA
VA Medical Center
VA Social Worker
County Veterans Pgm
HVRP, etc.
Client
Client
Client
Client
CVM numbers are distributed throughexisting social services.
More than 118 CVM agencies in 45 cities provide services to Veterans.
(national office)
CVM Working for Veterans
Clients
40,000• More than
4,000 Veterans/yr.
Agencies
2,000• 118 agencies
working with Veterans
Hosts
45 cities• 23 states• Local Program• Local funding
Current CVM Agencies + VA Medical Centers
More Than Voice Mail
• Broadcast Voice/Email Messaging (clients)– Single message to all clients (or segments)– 1,800 messages sent in 2008
• Interactive Response– “Press 4 to respond”, Survey capabilities
• Reach into 2,000 social service agencies
• Local CVM Manager (“filter”)
Cost-effective communication with a hard-to-reachpopulation that needs and wants information.
Multi-Purposing Information
Broadcast Voice Broadcast Email Blog
One piece of information used in 3 ways
High-tech tools: Voice, fingers (for dialing / typing), and cut-and-paste!
+ +
Value 20%
Dignity, Ownership, Independence, Privacy
30%
A Number to give to others
50%
Information broadcasted, and responses
Client Sources of InformationSource Pros Cons
Newspaper Local, cheap/free, paperFewer papers, less
“news”
TelevisionNo literacy problems, fun,
entertainingAccess, availability,
mostly entertainment
RadioLots of options,
inexpensiveAccess, availability
InternetVast information, email,
blogs, agency sitesAccess, tech literacy,
no filter
Case Mgr. / VAProfessional, resource-focused, trusted, local
Expertise “silos”, non-scalable resource,
access
Word of mouth / Friends
Informal, “oral culture,” trusted sources
Accuracy, scalability, effectiveness
Agency “Info Wall”
Accessible, updated, everything visible
Information overload, uncategorized, access
~4,400 (Veterans)
880 (kids)
264 (adults)
+ +
= ~5,544 people per year dependent on CVM#
“Phoneless” Veterans88% male / 11% female79% homeless or at-risk
54% unemployed27% disabled
5% in housing (no phone)5% parolee/prisoner re-entry
61% (45-59) / 30% (26-44)6% over 60 / 3% under 25
$562/mo. avg. income52% with no income
10% with children (avg=2)6% with dep. adults (avg=1)
Client Communication Characteristics
• 2008 Client Survey– National, all clients– Voice response
• 2009 Email Survey (preliminary)– “Active” Veterans with email– SurveyMonkey
• 2009 Voice Survey (in-process)– All CVM Veteran clients (45 sites)– Voice response
2008 Client Survey
• How clients check voice mail– “Free” phone (agencies): 71%– Payphone: 19%– Mobile phone: 10%
• 21% own mobile phones– Prepaid, inconsistent access,
limited texting & Internet access
• 59% with email addresses– Access: Public library, agenciesMobile Phones: Expensive
$20 (200 mins) = 4% of avg. monthly Income
2009 Email Survey (Veterans)
• Phone Access:– “At home” (30%), Agency (21%), Cell (20%)
Payphone (18%),12% VA hospital/agency
• 24% own mobile phones
• Internet Access: – Library (55%), Agencies (15%), Own PC
(15%), Other (15%)
• 52% check email at least once a day
2009 Email Survey (Veterans)
• Information Sources:– 45% listed “Internet” as #1 source (30% as 2nd
choice)– Social service agencies, Television,
Friends/WOM, Newspaper– Radio, Staff at VA/VSO
• Information “Wants”– Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Transportation,
Events/Activities, Social Services, Inspirational
2009 Email Survey (Veterans)
• How does the VA Contact you?– CVM Voice Mail number (27%)– Postal mail (27%)– They call me on my phone (17%)– Email (3%)– In-person at VA facility (3%)– VA doesn’t contact me (no benefits, etc.):
23%
2009 Email Survey (Veterans)
• What do you want to say?
“A lot of veterans who are homeless or in assisted programs such as HVRP don’t have cell phone or hard line phone so they have to rely on messages that might get lot or forgotten, so they would miss a lot of assistance information and employment information without Community Voice Mail.”
2009 Voice Survey
• In-progress - results in December– Email [email protected] to get results
• Communication practices and information needs (similar to email survey)
• Data gathered by voice survey
• Some comments by clients…
Sound (OLE2) Wave Sound
CVM for Veterans
• VA Medical Centers– Appointment reminders, test results, medication
• Employment (DOL-VETS, etc.)– Job listings, training events, interviews
• VBA– Benefits process, notifications, due-date reminders
• Broadcast messages about “core” VA topics• In existing CVM areas, broadcast messages
about jobs, events, health care and other resources
Why CVM Works
• Local manager (filter)• Low technology barriers• Accessible• No literacy requirement• On-demand• Scalable• Cost-effective
Q & A
• Questions for you– How big is the basic communication problem
with homeless veterans?– What do you do if you can’t reach someone
(easily)?– How much time & money is spent trying to
reach clients?
Jennifer Brandon / Steve AlbertsonCommunity Voice Mail National Office
(206) [email protected] / [email protected]
www.cvm.orgcommunityvoicemail.blogspot.com (blog)
@cvmnational (Twitter)
Thank You!