Fulcrum Case Studies House of Hope Community Development Corporation: Improving Homeless Outreach with Fulcrum

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	House of Hope Community Development Corporation: Improving Homeless Outreach with Fulcrum Fulcrum

House of Hope Community Development Corporation: Improving Homeless Outreach with Fulcrum

Fulcrum

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries	Cities & Municipalities Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions	Field Services
Use Cases	Real-Time Location System (RTLS) Remote Asset Management
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Challenge	Before the implementation of Fulcrum, House of Hope outreach workers would spend a few hours on the streets, talking with clients and taking notes on paper, then come home and write down who they spoke to and what the conversations were about. The details of these conversations often got lost due to the volume of people they interacted with. Once they had their notes together, workers would manually transfer the data into the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), a database mandated by their funders. HMIS is neither mobile- nor user-friendly, and is prohibitively expensive for a nonprofit organization, so House of Hope’s software licenses were limited to fulltime employees, which meant interns were not able to access critical data. Read More
About Customer	The House of Hope Community Development Corporation is a nonprofit organization that provides a range of services for people who are experiencing homelessness. The organization’s outreach program consists of 5 full-time employees and 13 interns who spend much of their time out in the field, doing advocacy and case management work with the homeless, connecting them to much-needed resources. The outreach workers interact with an average of 20 to 40 people within a two-hour block, making it challenging to remember all the details of their interactions. Read More
Solution	Fulcrum was introduced to the House of Hope by an undergraduate collaborator who had previously used it for voter canvassing. The ease of use and user-friendliness of Fulcrum attracted the outreach program manager, Megan Smith. With Fulcrum, the outreach workers are able to do their data collection on the spot. After talking with a client, they can step aside for a few seconds and write a quick note in Fulcrum, and when they sync it, everyone else who is doing outreach with them can immediately see that note. The ability to edit the app in real time as her coworkers suggest new questions to ask their clients or fields to add to the form is also appreciated. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Cities & Municipalities

Healthcare & Hospitals

Applicable Functions

Field Services

Use Cases

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Remote Asset Management

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Challenge

Before the implementation of Fulcrum, House of Hope outreach workers would spend a few hours on the streets, talking with clients and taking notes on paper, then come home and write down who they spoke to and what the conversations were about. The details of these conversations often got lost due to the volume of people they interacted with. Once they had their notes together, workers would manually transfer the data into the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), a database mandated by their funders. HMIS is neither mobile- nor user-friendly, and is prohibitively expensive for a nonprofit organization, so House of Hope’s software licenses were limited to fulltime employees, which meant interns were not able to access critical data.

About Customer

The House of Hope Community Development Corporation is a nonprofit organization that provides a range of services for people who are experiencing homelessness. The organization’s outreach program consists of 5 full-time employees and 13 interns who spend much of their time out in the field, doing advocacy and case management work with the homeless, connecting them to much-needed resources. The outreach workers interact with an average of 20 to 40 people within a two-hour block, making it challenging to remember all the details of their interactions.

Solution

Fulcrum was introduced to the House of Hope by an undergraduate collaborator who had previously used it for voter canvassing. The ease of use and user-friendliness of Fulcrum attracted the outreach program manager, Megan Smith. With Fulcrum, the outreach workers are able to do their data collection on the spot. After talking with a client, they can step aside for a few seconds and write a quick note in Fulcrum, and when they sync it, everyone else who is doing outreach with them can immediately see that note. The ability to edit the app in real time as her coworkers suggest new questions to ask their clients or fields to add to the form is also appreciated.

Impact #1	The use of Fulcrum has allowed House of Hope to more accurately capture the number of clients they serve.
Impact #2	The geo-pinning feature of Fulcrum is useful in locating clients based on their usual locations.
Impact #3	Data collected in the Fulcrum app serves as a record of homelessness that gives House of Hope’s clients access to resources they would otherwise be ineligible for.

Impact #1

The use of Fulcrum has allowed House of Hope to more accurately capture the number of clients they serve.

Impact #2

The geo-pinning feature of Fulcrum is useful in locating clients based on their usual locations.

Impact #3

Data collected in the Fulcrum app serves as a record of homelessness that gives House of Hope’s clients access to resources they would otherwise be ineligible for.

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Overview

House of Hope Community Development Corporation: Improving Homeless Outreach with Fulcrum

Operational Impact