FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 2000. All Rights Reserved
City
by Michelle MarkLocal corporations and agencies want Calgary’s homeless to hit the highway – the Information Highway.
For more than 1,000 Calgarians, survival depends on learning to cope with starvation and homelessness. Now they’re getting a lesson of a different kind as a multi-million dollar project teaches them to find help by logging onto the Internet. The Calgary INFOPORT Community Empowerment Project targets marginalized groups, including homeless people, and gives them the opportunity to access services as well as information about education and training.
Calgary Technologies Inc. pitched the project to the federal government in a bid to become one of Canada’s Smart Cities – a program developed to connect communities using technology. As one of 12 Smart Cities across the country, Calgary will receive up to $5 million in funding to help the disenfranchised access information on everything from shelters and housing registries to health care and employment.
Together, Calgary Technologies Inc. and its 18 local operating partners from the corporate, health, education and social services sectors will provide $18 million of the $23 million total project cost.
INFOPORT director Charles Reichert says Calgary’s project is unlike any other Smart Cities project because it targets people who have the least access to information technology.
"All the others tend to be focused on the provision of city services that are accessed by the general population," he adds.
The project will supply inner-city agencies such as the Salvation Army, Mustard Seed and Calgary Drop-In Centre with computers and staff to take clients through the process of accessing on-line information. Users will also have access to voice-mail so they can receive messages from prospective employers.
With nearly 700 local organizations providing information for Smart Databases which will be accessed through the program, the project will mean instant access to information that could make a difference in someone’s life.
"We want to develop a portal system," says Reichert, "so when people come in and say, ‘I want training in this area,’ it will lead them to whoever is providing that training."
Although many local agencies already provide this service to their clients, Reichert adds, they haven’t been working together as well as they could have been.
And communication between agencies is one of the most vital aspects of the program, says Dermot Baldwin, executive director of the Calgary Drop-In Centre.
"In situations requiring emergency placement we need to know where vacancies lie, what kinds of services would be available within that vacancy and whether or not we can access it immediately," he says.
Taking it to the next step, Baldwin says there is also a need for access to hospital and police information.
"We have people going through the emergency rooms daily, sometimes dozens of times a day, and people involved with the police departments, so we need to be able to connect with each other...."
At this point, the only means these agencies have for communicating is over the telephone – busy signals and understaffing can result in excessive waiting for people in need of assistance. Once the Community Empowerment Project is on-line, access to the necessary information will be instantaneous.
Dermot says the project will also connect Calgary to other Canadian cities to compare notes on how they’re doing and to find out more innovative ways of operating.
"If we were able to enhance that," he says, "that would be a lot of savings for us."
As an example, he explains, Calgary’s bedding system is very poor. However, they have recently found out that Montreal has a different system that works well and saves tens of thousands of dollars.
Aside from networking, Baldwin says another benefit of the project is that it will enable people to learn how to use the Internet, which will translate to more job opportunities.
"If they have computer skills, their chances of getting into a job are about 75 per cent better than if they didn’t have them."
And this is the hook he hopes will reel people in to using the program.
"The clients have been beaten down so much, and lack so much confidence and motivation... this is an incentive for them to do something they find enjoyable."
Alderman Joe Ceci says making the Internet available to these groups through a hands-on approach shows respect for the individuals.
"It’s empowering when they don’t have to ask yet another person for help," he explains.
The City of Calgary will be participating in the project by compiling information about services available through the city, which will to added to the INFOPORT database.
Because the program targets marginalized groups, including homeless people, and gives them the opportunity to access services as well as information about education and training, Ceci says, "It’s as good a use of money as any that I can think of."
* * *
· According to the 2000 Count of Homeless Persons conducted on May 17, 2000 there were 1,296 homeless people in Calgary, including 30 families with 51 children under the age of 12.
· The federal government is focusing on housing for Calgary’s homeless by guaranteeing an $18-million donation to be matched by private and public-sector organizations.
| Back To This Issue Table of Contents | Back To Main Index |