Hope you're enjoying the spring. We have been super busy this spring and I'm sorry for the delay in producing a new blog. Two weeks ago we attended the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals conference in Denver. It was really fun to connect with professionals across the U.S. We tend to be somewhat insular here in California. I have been on the prowl for tech innovations that are helping to advance social services and workforce development in particular. I wanted to share a few of my findings as well as some cool ideas I picked up at the conference.
Simple Solutions Using SMS Texting
Many of the most interesting innovations in this category are in the developing world.
- Grass Roots Soccer-Skillz Street: Reinforces messages from HIV awareness and health education curriculum for teen girls in rural South Africa. Although South Africa has spotty internet connectivity almost all secondary students have cell phones.
- JobMatch: Developed by Souktel, helps job seekers who have little to no internet access in the developing world find much needed information about job openings. Develop a mini-CV using short SMS questions and receive job matches automatically via SMS text.
- Promptly: Promptly text messages San Francisco Human Services Agency clients with important information to keep them enrolled in services.
- gMaarifa is revolutionizing job training and job readiness for youth in the Middle East and North Africa. They offer two SMS text based training platforms accessible to young people in rural and remote locations. Training options include is a customizable platform called Orion and a ready made job readiness curriculum called Sophia.
- Txt2Wrk helps parolees, homeless, and other job seekers compete on a more level playing field by providing text-to-speech delivery of job postings on any mobile phone. Txt2wrk also placed third and won the Best Use of SMS award in the national Apps for Communities competition sponsored by the Knight Foundation and the FCC
Rural Areas Leading the Way with Virtual Services
- MyAlamoCareer.org: WorkforceSolutions Alamo and Alamo Colleges Partnered to build a true virtual career center. Far from being a virtual tour, it uses an interactive gaming environment to encourage people to learn about and access career services and college options virtually.
- CareerEDGE: Although not rural, this blended online learning/classroom based training supports career exploration and job readiness anywhere. In communities where transportation is a barrier to participation, this program increases access.
Developers Turned Social Entrepreneurs
- Code for America builds partnerships between entrepreneurs, citizens and city government to create tech solutions for social challenges. Contact them with a request.
- HACKtivation in San Francisco connects nonprofits and social impact projects with skilled tech volunteers. The two day hackithons pair nonprofits and their tech idea with software developers who can offer matching skills. Check out some of the projects developed at the hackithon in April.
If you have other suggestions of exemplary models utilizing tech to increase access to education and social services, share them here!
Pathways Consultants
510-325-6959
No comments:
Post a Comment