Point people to online resources, including some of my websites. Among other things, I blog about homelessness as a lightweight means to empower the powerless.
Pass out cards with URLs to homeless people and tell them where they can get internet access and electricity. When I was first homeless, it was news to me that you can get free Wi-Fi at the library.
Give away cheap wiped smart phones or tablets to homeless individuals.
Contribute to online resources that curate information, such as where to find Wi-Fi.
Give homeless people Starbucks gift cards so they can get a coffee and get online and plugged in.
"Give away cheap wiped smart phones or tablets to homeless individuals"
That seems easy enough. Challenge accepted. I'm seriously going to buy to a few cheap data capable burner android phones to hand out to people that are asking me for money. Giving them cash instead has the obvious downsides.
There could be a custom Android ROM specifically tailored to the challenges and specific processes of homelessness. Like an offline map of free hotspots, or offline maps pre-downloaded already. Settings tailored for maximum battery life. A contact book pre-loaded with important hotlines, resources, etc. Things like that. I’m sure the customizations could get very creative and useful.
This is actually an idea I’ve been toying with over the past year as I’ve made friends with some homeless people around my building and they tell me about their troubles.
I have fantasized about there being things like homeless maps since I took a class on homelessness, well before becoming homeless. I have also fantasized for years about there being something like what was called a Doreen phone in the comment above.
I have no idea what I am doing on GitHub. Apologies in advance for my lack of technical chops.
I will add that my lack of technical chops means custom Android ROM is a new concept for me and sounds like an excellent way to solve the additional support element that I commented on elsewhere. I never could think of a good way to do that because ideally I would like the phone itself to provide some of that information while also pointing to other resources. I just didn't know how that could be done.
Those appear to only be cell phones, not smart phones. They allow phone access, but they do not appear to provide internet access. You also need to have an address to qualify.
There is also an application process. While homeless, it was such a godsend whenever someone just gifted me something I needed, no hoop jumping required.
Answer questions in online forums.
Point people to online resources, including some of my websites. Among other things, I blog about homelessness as a lightweight means to empower the powerless.
Pass out cards with URLs to homeless people and tell them where they can get internet access and electricity. When I was first homeless, it was news to me that you can get free Wi-Fi at the library.
Give away cheap wiped smart phones or tablets to homeless individuals.
Contribute to online resources that curate information, such as where to find Wi-Fi.
Give homeless people Starbucks gift cards so they can get a coffee and get online and plugged in.