There’s a movement across many different human services field toward providing services via web conferencing, texting, video, interactive websites and even Skype. How can organizations make the most of these technologies to provide services to geographically distributed constituents? We'll host a discussion of best practices and case studies, including an overview of Montana Legal Services' extensive online legal aid resources, Idealware's recent research in this area, and a number of other innovative but practical examples from health services, family support nonprofits, and more.

1. Service Beyond
Geography: Using
Technology to Serve
People Remotely
#13NTCserve
Laura Quinn, Idealware

2. Evaluate This Session!
Each entry is a chance to win an NTEN engraved iPad!
or Online using #13NTCserve at www.nten.org/ntc/eval

3. Service Beyond Geography: Using
Technology to Serve People Remotely
April 2014

4. Introductions…

6. We Often Cover Large Geographic Areas
Many organizations have large
service areas, and only a few
actual offices.

7. What Works to Provide Long-Distance Services?

8. We Did Some Substantial Research to Find Out
In partnership with the Legal
Services National Technology
Assistance Project, we worked
with both legal aid orgs and
others to find answers.

9. Research Methodology
We spoke to twelve organizations:
• Four consultants or experts
• Three legal aid organizations
• Five organizations in the human
services sector
We gathered case studies, advice,
and lessons learned.

10. We Found Three Core Possibilities
Taking Services On the Road
Helping People From Afar
Providing Compelling On-Demand Resources

11. Taking Services On
the Road

12. Technology Offers Interesting Options

13. MLSA Kiosks for Free Legal Help
Montana Legal
Services Association
provides kiosks in
courtrooms with
access to free online
legal help and forms
for those who choose
to self-represent

14. Kiosks for Free Legal Help
• Kiosks located in three
points in Montana
• In addition to online
resources, litigants can
also use the computer to
link to a “live chat” with a
staff member of Montana
Legal Services Association

15. Kiosks for Free Legal Help
Entry page

16. Barriers and Key Success Factors
Barriers:
• Courthouses are not open all the time
• Building relationships with partners like
libraries and town offices
Keys to Success:
• Inexpensive to roll-out more
• They don’t require a lot of upkeep

17. Maine Sea Coast Mission
Founded in 1905 to
provide religious
services to remote
Maine islands.
In 2002, started
providing Island
Health Services via
a boat-based clinic.

18. Maine Sea Coast Mission Telemed Unit

19. Maine Sea Coast Mission Telemed Unit
Google Calendar
shows boat schedule

20. Barriers and Key Success Factors
Barriers:
• Availability of health providers
• Reluctance of population to seek health care
• Intrusiveness of technology
Keys to Success:
• Choosing providers with ties to the area
• Publicizing schedule
• Repeat exposure to technological
assistance
• Integration into the community

21. NYLAG’s Mobile Legal Help Center
• 41-foot custom vehicle donated
by the David Berg Foundation
• Video link with NYC court
system for emergency
hearings
• 4 separate private consultation
areas for clients to meet with
attorneys and law student
volunteers
• Travels to the 5 boroughs and
Long Island

22. NYLAG’s Mobile Legal Help Center
• A designated attorney and driver
travels on the bus
• Other staff and volunteers rotate

23. Barriers and Key Success Factors
Barriers:
• Physically navigating vehicle around the city
• Finding areas of need and setting up
appointments
• Unreliable data signals
Keys to Success:
• Traveling familiar routes
• Connecting with representatives and
community centers to schedule visits
• Internet technologies are improving

24. Providing Live Help
At a Distance

25. Many of the Core Technologies Aren’t New

26. Video Conferencing Is Becoming Easier
But is it available to your community?

27. Our Kids: Video Conferencing
Private foster care and
adoption agency partnered
with ATT&T to provide
broadband internet to foster
care families – and uses it for
informal check-ins with
children.
Video conferencing does not
fill official visitation
requirements, but they use it
to check-in in between visits.

28. TXT4LIFE: A Text for Help
• Teens can text or call
to talk to someone for
help if considering
suicide
• They get 20x as many
text sessions (3,842 in
2012) as phone calls.
• Emergency workers
can locate teens by
GPS in crises.
*Attribution: Nicole Wallace http://philanthropy.com/article/Depressed-Teens-Can-Get-Text/137783/

29. TXT4LIFE: A Call or Text for Help
“We think the reason they • Counselors ask
direct questions
don’t call the crisis line is early in the
that it’s a little too intimate conversation to
determine the
for them to hear severity
somebody’s voice on the • They generally sit
in a group and
other end.” consult as they
-Mark Kuppe, CEO Canvas Health text.
*Attribution: Nicole Wallace http://philanthropy.com/article/Depressed-Teens-Can-Get-Text/137783/

30. Live Chat Can Also Be an Interesting Option

31. Providing Compelling On-
Demand Online Resources

32. Can You Let People Serve Themselves?
If you can’t be there
with them, can you let
your clients get the
information they need
themselves?

33. Illinois Legal Aid Videos

34. Idealware eLearning
• On-demand trainings that
bring together powerpoint,
screencasts, audio, video,
and interactive elements,
likes polls and quizzes.
• Requires, at a minimum,
multimedia software (like
Camtasia or Adobe
Premier). Interactive
elements require eLearning
software, like Articulate or
Adobe Captivate.

35. We Own the Dream / Únete al Sueño
Joint Venture of Immigration
Advocates Network (IAN) and Pro
Bono Net to provide a screening
tool and information for the
Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA)

36. We Own the Dream / Únete al Sueño
Eligibility Screening Tool
• Walks through a DACA
screening interview
• Provides a printable pdf
• Soon will link to e-file
• More than 13,000
individuals have already
accessed the tool.
• Tool is currently in
English only

37. We Own the Dream / Únete al Sueño
Mobile Text Alerts

38. Barriers and Key Success Factors
Barriers:
• Tenuous situation of the DACA law
• The A2J technology they use is limited on
Apple phones; better on Android
Keys to Success:
• Strong publicity campaign and pre-existing
lists
• Leveraging mobile platform to outreach to
younger generation

39. Circle of Six: An App That Protects Women
• App allows women to select six
of their most trusted, reliable
friends from their contact list
• Sends a preprogrammed text to
those friends that includes a
map of their location
• Designed for college-age
women with smartphones
*Attribution: Nicole Wallace http://philanthropy.com/article/App-Seeks-to-Protect-Women/13778

40. CitizenshipWorks.org Mobile App
• The app provides information, calculators, and
checklists about the naturalization process.
• Q&A to test user’s familiarity with civics
questions
• Not just flashcards; incorporating audio for the
reading and writing sections
• Closer approximation to actual test
• English and Spanish versions

41. iCivics (http://www.icivics.org/)
• Founded in 2009 by
Supreme Court Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor “to
educate young people about
civic rights and
responsibilities and
understand how the
government works.”
• 7 million game plays and
over an estimated 1 million
kids reached.

42. iCivics
• Originally planned to
reach young people
directly by releasing the
game for free online.
• But kids were not
finding and playing the
game.
• Now, iCivics targets its
games to teachers, in
order to reach kids
through school.
• Each cost an estimated
low six-figures

43. Barriers and Key Success Factors
Barriers:
• Creating a game that kids will want to play.
• Does the gameplay make sense for your
message?
Keys to Success:
• Striking the balance between mission and
fun.
• Delivery – seeing far greater success
distributing the game through schools than
targeting the kids directly.

44. Mindblown Life
• Combating financial illiteracy
by creating an iPhone game
that teaches personal
finance.
• Geared around a “Sims” like
experience that kids will
really want to play, with
content that matches the
game play
• Budget in the low six figures.

45. What Have We Learned?

46. Some Key Themes Emerged
Through all of our interviews, some
recurring themes became apparent

47. Remote Options Aren’t Cheap
It generally costs more to
support people outside the
office… at least in terms of
start-up costs.
But remote options can
sometimes scale better
than office visits.

48. Outreach is a Key Step
It’s not enough to just
show up in a new
community with services.
You need to figure out
how you’ll spread the
word and build trust.
Consider partnering with
those who already have
the relationship

49. Scheduling Is Still An Issue
Any live interaction will
require scheduling, and
bring with it scheduling
woes. These can be
worse when it’s hard to
just reschedule (i.e. the
Justice Bus is moving on).

50. Weigh Quality vs. Reach
It’s harder to ensure remote
services are always top quality and
exactly what’s needed.
When is quality paramount? When
is some help better than no help?

51. Define Your Technology Plan B
If you’re going to rely on technology, you always need a Plan B, in
case things don’t work as you thought they were going to.

52. What’s Most Compelling To You?

53. Evaluate This Session!
Each entry is a chance to win an NTEN engraved iPad!
or Online using #13NTCserve at www.nten.org/ntc/eval