Imagine searching for a job or a place to live without a telephone when the first question you hear is "How can I reach you?"

Community Voice Mail provides a simple solution to a complex problem.  We help people in crisis and transition stay connected to the very tool they need most: a reliable way to stay connect to opportunities for jobs, housing, medical and social service providers, family and support.

When a client was recently handed a card with her Voice Mail phone number on it, her demeanor completely changed - she beamed - and she said, "Is this really mine?  I haven't had anything that was really mine in a long time. Now I can go find a place to live and get a phone."  Clients often report that their Community Voice Mail number is the only reliable, consistent possession.

We provide the technical infrastructure shared by over thirty public and nonprofit organizations that serve the homeless and those at risk, including school districts, shelters, veterans job training programs, medical service providers and domestic violence shelters, so that staff at these agencies are better able to concentrate on helping clients become self sufficient -- without duplication of effort or technology.  We work very closely with case managers at partnering agencies and provide, along with the necessary technology, ongoing training on how to best identify appropriate clients and to assist those clients in using the technology to achieve their personal goal -- usually to find housing and/or employment.  We report to case managers each month on each client's Voice Mail activity, as an indication that clients are working towards their goal.  Once their new phone number is active, users can check messages from anywhere that works for them: pay phones, social service agencies, or the homes of friends and family.  A Community Voice Mail number looks like any other local telephone number and therefore does not signal the client's status as homeless or phoneless.  Once goals are achieved, the phone number is recycled to another client in need.  In this way, a single voice mailbox number can be used two or three times per calendar year.

Community Voice Mail is more than just a message phone.  A broadcast messaging application allows case managers at partnering agencies to send one message to inform all their Community Voice Mail clients about information valuable to the unique community they serve.  As system administrators, Community Technology Alliance can send a single message to reach all active Community Voice Mail users with information about events and opportunities available to all low-income community members including public health announcements, Project Homeless Connect events, updates on public benefit regulations and availability of new services. 

Clients with email addresses can receive an email message informing them of a new Voice Mail message.

Last year, 555 homeless and at-risk clients were assigned Community Voice Mail numbers.  Of the 376 clients who completed use of the service, forty-four percent reached their personal goal of finding housing, increasing income through employment or benefits or both.

Agencies throughout Santa Clara County provide Community Voice Mail to their case managed clients.  If you are a public or nonprofit agency that would like to partner with us in providing Community Voice Mail, or if you are a low income individual, email us at info@CTAgroup.org .  While clients are never charged a fee, partnering agencies are charged a nominal annual fee.

With a state-of-the-art technology donated and supported by Cisco Systems and a dedicated technical assistance team at the Community Voice Mail National Office, we share technology and best practices with over thirty agencies across the country that provide Community Voice Mail in their communities. To learn more about the National Office – and how to establish a Community Voice Mail program in your community – visit www.CVM.org.