5. “You end up doing Google searches for half an
hour trying to find if something exists or not.”
-Jefferson Fellows
Program Manager, Larkin Street Youth Services
17. Beyond Year 5: Service +
Geographic Expansion
Projected Net Earnings
Initial Investment:
$250K + $100K
Year 3: Seattle +
Break Even
$(223,612)
$(2,777)
$262,277
$351,600
$602,839
$(300,000)
$(200,000)
$(100,000)
$-
$100,000
$200,000
$300,000
$400,000
$500,000
$600,000
$700,000
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Raise your hand if you noticed a homeless person today. … For those of you with your hands raise, you encountered one of the largest intractable problems facing American cities. <click>
San Francisco spends $165 million each year on homelessness. And yet, the city’s homeless population has grown. Today there are 7,300 homeless people in San Francisco. <click>
That means that nearly 1 in every 100 residents in the city is homeless. <click>
Raise your hand if you noticed a homeless person today. … For those of you with your hands raise, you encountered one of the largest intractable problems facing American cities. <click>
San Francisco spends $165 million each year on homelessness. And yet, the city’s homeless population has grown. Today there are 7,300 homeless people in San Francisco. <click>
That means that nearly 1 in every 100 residents in the city is homeless. <click>
A convergence of trends affecting the homeless and imminently homeless inspired and informed our venture. <click>
The number of people accessing outreach services is steadily rising. <click>
There is a severe housing shortage in San Francisco. 75,000 people moved to the city in the last decade, but only 1,500 housing units have been added each year. <click>
Many local tech companies have been linked to gentrification and displacement of low income and vulnerable populations. <click>
And then, there are the outreach providers who experience burnout and high turnover resulting from their high demand job and lack of control over their work. <click>
A convergence of trends affecting the homeless and imminently homeless inspired and informed our venture. <click>
The number of people accessing outreach services is steadily rising. <click>
There is a severe housing shortage in San Francisco. 75,000 people moved to the city in the last decade, but only 1,500 housing units have been added each year. <click>
Many local tech companies have been linked to gentrification and displacement of low income and vulnerable populations. <click>
And then, there are the outreach providers who experience burnout and high turnover resulting from their high demand job and lack of control over their work. <click>
Outreach providers like Jefferson Fellows at Larkin Street Youth Services are committed to serving the homeless. As valuable an employee as Jefferson is, it’s unlikely he’ll work at Larkin for his entire career. When Jefferson eventually leaves, his wealth of knowledge and connections will, unfortunately, leave with him. Because of this loss of institutional knowledge and lack of information gathering, when providers like need to find a service for a client, they end up doing Google searches for half an hour trying to find if something exists or not. <click>
We at comm.unity think that this current system is unacceptable. We are a tech startup with a mission to increase the effectiveness of homeless outreach organizations and help service providers have greater impact. Through an online portal of real time data, we offer real connection to homeless services. <click>
Hundreds of outreach organizations have caseworkers just like Jefferson working to bring help to those in need. While they have a common mission, they’re disconnected from one another. <click (animation set to delay)>
Our online portal connects and strengthens these organizations by resolving the siloed efforts and allowing the champions for the homeless to communicate with one another, share current offerings, and highlight support systems available. Our portal relieves pain points for the caseworkers and enables them to do their job better. When we’re connected, we can do more. <click>
Hundreds of outreach organizations have caseworkers just like Jefferson working to bring help to those in need. While they have a common mission, they’re disconnected from one another. <click (animation set to delay)>
Our online portal connects and strengthens these organizations by resolving the siloed efforts and allowing the champions for the homeless to communicate with one another, share current offerings, and highlight support systems available. Our portal relieves pain points for the caseworkers and enables them to do their job better. When we’re connected, we can do more. <click>
Others recognize this need for connection, increased efficiency, and information access. These online offerings service the Bay Area. The most basic aggregates homeless resources, but contains dead links and references organizations that no longer exist. Others have improved the model and provide reliable information and user feedback. comm.unity extends and enhances all of these features offered by our allies while also including real-time data and online reservations. In this way, we bridge the collective efforts of our allies and provide a more comprehensive solution. <click>
comm.unity does not end at the portal. we have created an ecosystem of products to serve the diverse needs of our users. <click>
An intuitive, public-facing site allows homeless individuals to locate needed resources and services. <click>
An outreach vehicle will mobilize street teams from participating organizations. Armed with tablets, these street teams bring resource access directly to homeless individuals, and to where it is needed most. <click>
Last, from the user information gathered from these offerings, comm.unity creates reliable, data-driven impact reports to inform the decision making and budget allocation of organizations, governments, and funders. <click>
comm.unity addresses the needs of 4 main stakeholders. <click>
When Jefferson is unable to fill a client’s need, <click>
he can turn to the portal to easily find someone who can. Our portal provides real time data on homeless services available around the city.
His organization purchases a monthly subscription to access enhanced portal capability, like statistics on usage of his agency’s services, or to make reservations with an OpenTable-type system to book shelter or medical appointments on behalf of his clients. <click>
But those who are most at-risk or don’t have a caseworker <click>
can still access our portal on their own free of charge to find services. For those with limited mobility or no access to the internet, our outreach vehicle brings the portal to where they are. <click>
Next, for city governments or agencies like Jefferson’s, the biggest challenges are scarce resources. <click>
They purchase impact reports generated from a detailed analysis of aggregate data captured from our portal to help them identify trends, gaps, and redundancies in services so funding can be better allocated. <click>
Finally, technology companies have been associated with the gentrification of San Francisco neighborhoods and rise in housing costs. <click>
Our corporate sponsorship product is an opportunity for these companies to demonstrate their commitment to improving the surrounding community, as well as connect the value of data-driven resources to social good. Sponsorships pay for the mobile part of our operation, so Jefferson and his outreach team can extend their reach. <click>
Our four revenue streams are, in order of projected share of total revenue: Data Subscriptions that provide information back to care providers. Tech Sponsorships fund operation of our outreach vehicle, providing PR/Marketing opportunities for our sponsor. Impact Reports that help city governments better allocate their funds. And last, donations that allow our users and supporters to have a stake in our business and community. <click>
We acknowledge that most players in this space are non-profits, however as a data & tech company we foresee the need to be agile, innovative and self sustaining. Therefore, we plan to launch as a benefit corporation.
Our initial investment of $250K consists of personal investment and funds raised from family and friends. We’re offering the opportunity for an angel investor to take part in our venture for an additional $100K to bring us to the $350K projected amount needed for launch.
After two years of operation in SF, revenue will be reinvested to finance our year 3 expansion into Seattle. Beyond year 5 we see opportunity to apply our model to other social services such as education and youth advocacy. <click>
comm.unity founders are a team of 4 Sustainable MBAs from Presidio Graduate School: Nicole Busto, Devon Bertram and Spike Lomibao and I am Trey Graham. We feel strongly that our professional and life experiences, partnered with our MBA education sets our team up for success in this project. We are seeking assistance in areas of sophisticated, intricate software design and development, and financial oversight. <click>
We are supported by a team of advisors, including Ryan Cabinte (legal counsel), along with three key players in San Francisco’s homelessness advocacy movement: Bevan Dufty from the mayoral office of HOPE, Doniece Sandoval from LavaMae (technical advisor), and Sammie Rayner from HandUp (technology and biz dev). <click>
comm.unity turns data into action by optimizing the efforts of care providers, like Jefferson, so they can impact real change in the lives of San Francisco’s homeless population. Your $100K in supplemental funding will help us create the crucial infrastructure necessary to unlock the true potential of service delivery for outreach providers. Join us in our mission to provide a simple solution to this, and eventually other, complex social problems.
We are comm.unity. <click>
Real data. <click>
Real people. <click>
Real connection to homeless services.
