IN Now: an easy to use shelter finder and manager for homeless individuals and shelter offices
Devpost Link: https://devpost.com/software/globalhack
The project was centered around the problem of intake management. Currently, there is no system in place for organizing the distribution of homeless individuals across the many shelters in large cities. Additionally, there is no way for homeless individuals to know which shelter will best meet their needs without extensive planning or last-minute visitations. During a homelessness panel, our team discovered that most homeless individuals have access to the internet via smartphone or computer. Therefore, we also wanted to make our solution available to homeless individuals themselves.
First, the system implements Google Maps API to allow shelters to quickly redirect homeless individuals to nearby shelters. Second, it provides a way for homeless individuals to communicate with the shelters via online forms. Finally, it provides a dashboard interface for shelters so that they can manage the number of individuals staying in their beds.