March 27, 2009
Community Voice Mail
Akron, OH - 3/24/09
It's difficult to find a place to live or get a job without a way to be contacted. That's why a local tool is available to aid the homeless and low-income famillies.
It's called Community Voice Mail and it provides 24 hour access to communication for people who are in a crisis. But in order to use it, you have to be involved with a partner agency, like Haven of Rest or the Battered Women's Shelter, among others.
It's an established client-based service where potential employers or landlords can hear your voice recorded in your voicemail, as if they'd called a home phone, and touch base with you. It can help put you in contact with family, friends, health services, housing and jobs.
Users pay nothing, but the partner agency is charged a $1 monthly fee per voicemail box.
To get started, you fill out an intake/outcome form, then you're provided a phone number the box is connected with, you create a password, record your greeting, then get a brief training course on how to access and use your voice mail box.
Once a client reaches their goal, whether it be finding a job or an apartment, the mailbox is reset and someone else can use it.
Community Voice Mail in Summit County launched Thursday. It's modeled after the initial program started in Seattle. On the Web: Community Voice Mail http://www.cvmsummit.net/ For current events directed to the homeless and those living in poverty: http://cvmsummit.blogspot.com/Tina Kaufmann Akronnewsnow.com