Reconnecting People in Transition: Cisco VoIP Technology Takes a Great Idea and Makes it Even Better
September 8, 2003
By Jenny Carless, News@Cisco
Amy felt trapped in a violent relationship and didn't feel able to leave, partly because she didn't have a safe way to communicate with others so she could get help. She says she would have left months earlier if she'd had access to Community Voice Mail (CVM) in the past.
Amy's situation is not unique. A victim of domestic violence often needs to plan in order to escape - especially when children are involved-- and she can't do it without being able to communicate with a legal advocate, church or family. Yet it's not safe to make or receive calls at home.
CVM provides a missing link for people like Amy - as well as those who are homeless or otherwise in crisis or transition - the power to stay connected with the world around them. And the program's ability to do this important work just got a critical boost, thanks to a grant from the Cisco Systems Foundation that is helping to extend the high tech revolution to people at all levels of the community.
Ten Years of Empowering People
Community Voice Mail is a non-profit organization that has been providing free, personalized 24-hour voicemail access to individuals without a telephone for 10 years. It's a simple concept, yet the power it brings to those in transition and crisis is enormous.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, there are more than 5 million households in the United States without telephone service, and that doesn't include the homeless, who are estimated at more than 3 million in any given year. In a society that depends so heavily on the telephone, people in transition become marginalized. Arranging job interviews or keeping medical appointments without having a consistent phone number is extremely difficult.
CVM helps reconnect people to opportunity. It currently serves approximately 24,000 people in 37 cities across the United States. Enrollment is free and takes less than three minutes to set up. Each client receives a personal voicemail box and activates it by recording a greeting in his or her own voice.
Typically, a client uses the service for about four months. In 2002, 50 percent of CVM users looking for jobs secured one and 65 percent of CVM homeless users found housing. "We've compared the success rates of job seekers without telephones who had CVM and those who didn't, and the difference in how quickly they found employment was phenomenal," says Jennifer Brandon, CVM's executive director.
It also helps people keep appointments with their health care providers. "It can keep you in touch with medical personnel, friends and family. It gives you a new start on life." says Ginny, a former CVM client and cancer survivor.
Making a Good Thing Even Better
The Cisco Systems Foundation recently gave CVM's national office the largest grant received in the project's 10-year history: $2.5 million over five years. Cisco Systems, Inc. also gave an additional $54,000 in equipment, as well as office space valued at $32,750 a year for the CVM project.. The money and resources will help CVM to move its telephone system to Cisco Unity Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology as a first step to extending their services to the top 50 most populated cities in the US.
Cisco Unity is a powerful unified communications tool that lets users listen to e-mail over the telephone, check voice messages from the Internet and forward faxes to other fax machines, among many other features.
CVM will use Cisco Unity to centralize its phone system. By eliminating independent voicemail systems at each of the 37 sites nationwide, the organization will cut administrative and technical expenses dramatically. "The start-up time for new sites has been as much as a year because of fundraising, staff training and technical installations," explains Brandon. "With the new Unity system, it'll take only a few months."
The new system is expected to reduce site overhead by 20 percent annually, shorten new site launch time by 75 percent and increase client enrollment by up to 50 percent. These improvements are critical in helping CVM reach its goal of serving approximately 65,000 individuals annually by 2007.
"CVM provides a critical tool to help end the cycle of poverty and homelessness in this country," says Peter Tavernise, executive director of the Cisco Systems Foundation. "This is a great example of how Cisco gives all that it has-money, people and other resources-to aid in this kind of important work."
Teamwork
The help CVM is receiving from Cisco doesn't stop with products, funding, and space. It also includes people: more than 40 Cisco employees from the company's office in Seattle (where CVM is headquartered) have volunteered time and expertise to help on projects as diverse as product development, technical publications and facilities. These employees are working directly with CVM personnel to customize the Unity product for the organization's specific needs and to implement the nationwide distribution model that will help CVM achieve greater efficiency and cost savings.
"I can't say enough about the Cisco team," Brandon enthuses. "They're excited by the technology as well as what it does for our audience."
Using technology to address basic human needs, encourage responsible citizenship and promote innovation in non-profits is a cornerstone of the Cisco Systems Foundation's philanthropic efforts, so this connection with CVM is an excellent match. By assisting CVM to upgrade its system to VoIP, the alliance between Cisco and CVM is making important strides towards helping people avoid long-term homelessness and unemployment, escape domestic violence and become more self-sufficient.
Jenny Carless is a freelance writer based in Santa Cruz, CA.
