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.

1. Voice Messaging as a Communication and Information Network Steve Albertson / Jennifer Brandon Community Voice Mail National Office

2. Or… “How Can I Reach You?” Steve Albertson / Jennifer Brandon Community Voice Mail National Office

4. National nonprofit providing free voice mail and information services to low-income, homeless and otherwise “phoneless” people in the U.S.. Fleeing domestic abuse Finding A Place to Live . Finding A Job

5. Phonelessness in the U.S. Does not include homeless Does include mobile phones 40,000 served by CVM per year (Not to scale) 115M Households 23M with Income <$10k/yr. 3M (13%) w/out access to a phone – ~ 6M people

7. How CVM Works CVM numbers are distributed through existing social services. Case workers utilize CVM to stay in consistent contact with clients, improving time- and cost-efficiency. (national office) HOST AGENCY Participating Agency Participating Agency Participating Agency Participating Agency Client Client Client Client

8. CVM Working for Veterans CVM numbers are distributed through existing social services. More than 118 CVM agencies in 45 cities provide services to Veterans. (national office) VA VA Medical Center VA Social Worker County Veterans Pgm HVRP, etc. Client Client Client Client

11. Current CVM Agencies + VA Medical Centers

13. Multi-Purposing Information Broadcast Voice Broadcast Email Blog One piece of information used in 3 ways High-tech tools: V oice, fingers (for dialing / typing), and cut-and-paste! + +

14. Value 20% Dignity , Ownership, Independence, Privacy 30 % A Number to give to others 50% Information broadcasted, and responses

15. Client Sources of Information Information overload, uncategorized, access Accessible, updated, everything visible Agency “Info Wall” Accuracy, scalability, effectiveness Informal, “oral culture,” trusted sources Word of mouth / Friends Expertise “silos”, non-scalable resource, access Professional, resource-focused, trusted, local Case Mgr. / VA Access, tech literacy, no filter Vast information, email, blogs, agency sites Internet Access, availability Lots of options, inexpensive Radio Access, availability, mostly entertainment No literacy problems, fun, entertaining Television Fewer papers, less “news” Local, cheap/free, paper Newspaper Cons Pros Source

17. “ Phoneless” Veterans 88% male / 11% female 79% homeless or at-risk 54% unemployed 27% 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. income 52% with no income 10% with children (avg=2) 6% with dep. adults (avg=1) ~4,400 (Veterans) 880 (kids) 264 (adults) + + = ~5,544 people per year dependent on CVM#

28. Jennifer Brandon / Steve Albertson Community Voice Mail National Office (206) 441-7872 jbrandon@cvm.org / salbertson@cvm.org www.cvm.org communityvoicemail.blogspot.com (blog) @cvmnational (Twitter) Thank You!