Leveraging technology to transform homeless services

[ad_1] <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-476813" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/uKlfToX7-destination-home-logo-og-300x150.png" alt="Destination Home logo" width="250" height="125" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/uKlfToX7-destination-home-logo-og-300x150.png 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/uKlfToX7-destination-home-logo-og-1024x512.png 1024w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/uKlfToX7-destination-home-logo-og-768x384.png 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/uKlfToX7-destination-home-logo-og.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px"/>In 2018, Cisco and Vacation spot: Residence launched into a partnership to deal with homelessness in Santa Clara County. Whereas our main focus was on the event of supportive housing and homelessness prevention, we additionally noticed a chance to leverage expertise to enhance lives. Whereas not a panacea, expertise can play a important position in serving to people experiencing homelessness entry important sources, and may improve the effectivity and repair supply of the organizations serving them.

Assessing expertise wants in Santa Clara County’s supportive housing system We started with a expertise wants evaluation of Santa Clara County’s supportive housing system, which aimed to determine alternatives to leverage information and expertise to strengthen the system of care. The findings have been insightful: each homeless service suppliers and folks receiving companies expressed a necessity for higher communication between workers and purchasers, in addition to the necessity for techniques that permit people to entry companies and handle their very own data.

Primarily based on these insights, the evaluation really useful the event of a client-facing portal. The envisioned device would offer safe entry for e-signatures, appointment scheduling, doc administration, and direct communication between purchasers and suppliers. This laid the inspiration for what would finally turn out to be MyConnectSV.

Constructing MyConnectSV: A collaborative effort <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-476816" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/MyConnectSV-Library-kiosk-edited-300x235.jpeg" alt="MyConnectSV Library Kiosk" width="250" height="196" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/MyConnectSV-Library-kiosk-edited-300x235.jpeg 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/MyConnectSV-Library-kiosk-edited-1024x803.jpeg 1024w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/MyConnectSV-Library-kiosk-edited-768x603.jpeg 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/MyConnectSV-Library-kiosk-edited-1536x1205.jpeg 1536w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/MyConnectSV-Library-kiosk-edited-2048x1607.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px"/> MyConnectSV Library Kiosk Constructing MyConnectSV was not fast. Vacation spot: Residence adopted a considerate and inclusive course of to make sure it was executed proper. Techniques-level modifications, reminiscent of updating insurance policies round digital releases of knowledge on the County stage, have been mandatory earlier than implementation might start.

All through the design, growth and testing course of, the Vacation spot: Residence crew persistently engaged service suppliers and folks with lived expertise of homelessness to assist create an answer that would really meet their wants.

The consequence? A safe, user-friendly platform designed to empower people and streamline service supply.

Key options of MyConnectSV embrace the power to:

Replace contact data in actual time Observe upcoming appointments Add and entry private paperwork Entry important sources, reminiscent of meals and medical care data Signal and add key paperwork electronically Talk immediately with case managers Observe their place within the housing queue Share their location with case managers by way of a “drop pin” function

These functionalities save weeks of time, forestall missed alternatives, and expedite the journey to steady housing. For people experiencing homelessness, this implies staying related to important sources and assist techniques. For service organizations, it means improved outreach and effectivity in delivering care.

The crew continues to enhance the device by actively listening to customers and incorporating their suggestions into ongoing growth—guaranteeing that MyConnectSV evolves to fulfill the wants of these most impacted.

The broader influence of expertise in homeless companies <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-476811" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/YCALrYT7-MyConnectSV_SoftLaunch_1-150x150.jpeg" alt="Two women on a park bench on a computer and a laptop." width="200" height="267" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/YCALrYT7-MyConnectSV_SoftLaunch_1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/YCALrYT7-MyConnectSV_SoftLaunch_1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/YCALrYT7-MyConnectSV_SoftLaunch_1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/YCALrYT7-MyConnectSV_SoftLaunch_1-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/08/YCALrYT7-MyConnectSV_SoftLaunch_1-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px"/>The advantages of expertise like MyConnectSV lengthen past time financial savings. It democratizes entry to data, making important sources out there to all, and is each replicable and scalable. In partnering with Readability by Bitfocus, a platform at the moment utilized by over 75 communities throughout the nation, we ensured that this client-facing module might be simply adopted by Bitfocus customers throughout the USA.

What started as a neighborhood initiative in Santa Clara County is now a replicable, impactful resolution with the potential to make a distinction nationwide. And whereas there’s nonetheless a lot work to be executed, this can be a reminder of how expertise, when designed with empathy and objective, can really enhance lives.