How Cisco, Computacenter Helped a City Tackle Housing Insecurity
El Paso has been leveraging technology from Cisco and Computacenter for years and has expanded in a big way.
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Leaders from El Paso, Cisco and Computacenter said the social services portal’s use of real human respondents sets it apart. Lanett Blum (pictured), senior director of south central for Computacenter, said speaking to a real human being can alleviate some of the anxiety and confusion a person in crisis experience.
“One of the key aspects of helping individuals is having somebody pick up on the other line quickly and see the person,” Blum told Channel Futures. “Seeing someone that they can help, and then being able to tell them exactly what they provide.”
Gary DePreta, Cisco’s vice president for state, local governments and education, said the agents can walk the distressed person through all of their options in an empathetic way.
“The human interaction is what makes this project so special, and we think it’s going to be a model that can be replicated across the U.S.,” DePreta said. “That trend of reimagining governance services is already underway.”
The vendor, partner and client have worked together in the past. Notably, El Paso used its partners’ help in setting up a temporary shelter in 2020 when unhoused individuals needed to shelter in place. Nicole Ferrini, El Paso’s climate and sustainability officer (pictured), said the city protected more than 3,000 individuals through its Delta Welcome Center.
She added that she needed Cisco to collaborate with her in a flexible, fast-paced manner.
“We had to find a way to connect and communicate, and we had literally 24 hours to figure that out,” she said. “So I picked up the phone, call my partners and friends at Cisco and said, ‘I have a problem,’ and I explained the problem.”
She said wasn’t, however, calling for a “piece of equipment.”
“I needed a thought partner, and they came through in spades and brought other partners to the table,” Ferrini said.
DePreta (pictured) said Cisco and El Paso had already established trust in the years leading up to COVID-19.
“What made this so special is that we were already on a journey together to reimagine government and city services. That was a trend across the U.S. prior to the pandemic. That journey had already started,” he said.
Now Ferrini says that fledgling idea of using technology to help house people has grown up. El Paso is now using funds from the 2021 stimulus bill to build longer-term solutions for those experiencing homelessness.
El Paso Helps is using Cisco’s Webex conferencing – rather than contact center – platform. Blum said Computacenter had used such a solution in the judicial sector, particularly in jails. Judges and lawyers would use Webex to convene with incarcerated people. She said Cisco has “built upon” that offering.
DePreta said the offering for El Paso Helps uses different security frameworks, including end-to-end encryption. It also includes close-captioning for residents of the multi-lingual city.
Ferrini called Webex a civic empowerment and social vulnerability tool.
“I was never looking for a technology solution. What was important is that we saw a challenge arising in our community, and we pulled together our nonprofit partners and our private sector partners. We pulled everybody to the table, and technology ultimately played a huge role in getting the solution deployed,” she said.
Ferrini said partnerships helped paved the way for creating El Paso Helps. On one hand, that meant strategizing with technology partners at the very outset.
“You do not want to develop out this whole thing and then try to add on technology afterward. We’re not trying to apply technology as a Band-Aid at the back. Rather we’re embedding it as part of the solution from the beginning,” she said.
On the other hand, the city faced the task of bringing together numerous nonprofits – including those working in medical assistance, transportation, shelter from violence, and veteran services. Blum said as a general rule, nonprofits don’t usually collaborate with one another. In this case, Ferrari said the city’s “power of the pen” and “power of the purse” made it easier to convene multiple agencies for a single goal.
“Nonprofits don’t typically sit down at a table and say, ‘How can we work together?'” Blum said. “And this project brought them together, and they worked so well together for common good.”
The various nonprofits meant that Cisco and Computencer were dealing with a diverse set of stakeholders. A technology company selling to a private sector company might worry about the CIO or someone from the IT department. That was also true in this case, but with the addition of many more layers. A software developer tied the various backends of the different nonprofits into the portal.
Blum said Cisco’s industry solutions manager, Daniel Stewart, played a big role in that coordination. She also tipped her cap to Computacenter principal architect Rudy Beltran, who worked weekends alongside Cisco to train the groups to use the platform.
Ferrini said the project differed from contemporary platforms that center around “organizational structures or bureaucracies.”
“This steals from the field of architecture, and it’s a human-centered design. This project didn’t begin with, ‘I need to deliver services.’ This project began with individuals living the experience of being homeless, and having them tell us what they need, and then we built it,” she said.
The parties involved said they are discussing what an expansion looks like.
“Our focus has been on unhoused community members given the challenges El Paso has faced, but this model is a launching pad to expand to more individuals in need,” Ferrini said.
One example would be incorporating more data and analytics. DePreta said the portal could generate numbers on the total number of people facing homelessness or requiring treatment.
“Those needs are different from city to city, but by leveraging data, Nicole and her team will be able to to deploy resources in a much more effective way over time,” he said.
In addition, the city may add kiosks so that those without devices can access services. Those without a device can currently access the portal through library computers.
Blum said the solution has produced “incredible results” after six months in the field.
“As we expand the solution and hopefully the number of nonprofit organizations, we can be there right along Cisco providing our services.”
Ferrini also said El Paso wants to share its formula with other cities.
“El Paso Helps can be Any City Helps,” she said. “We’re willing to share that.”
The parties involved said they are discussing what an expansion looks like.
“Our focus has been on unhoused community members given the challenges El Paso has faced, but this model is a launching pad to expand to more individuals in need,” Ferrini said.
One example would be incorporating more data and analytics. DePreta said the portal could generate numbers on the total number of people facing homelessness or requiring treatment.
“Those needs are different from city to city, but by leveraging data, Nicole and her team will be able to to deploy resources in a much more effective way over time,” he said.
In addition, the city may add kiosks so that those without devices can access services. Those without a device can currently access the portal through library computers.
Blum said the solution has produced “incredible results” after six months in the field.
“As we expand the solution and hopefully the number of nonprofit organizations, we can be there right along Cisco providing our services.”
Ferrini also said El Paso wants to share its formula with other cities.
“El Paso Helps can be Any City Helps,” she said. “We’re willing to share that.”
In the eyes of Cisco, Computacenter and El Paso, Texas, the recently launched social services portal for this West Texas city marks a growing trend of public sector organizations turning to technology partners for human outcomes.
The city last week unveiled ElPasoHelps.org, an online portal that connects residents to live representatives from different nonprofits across the city. People can access resources for emergency shelter, housing, food, addiction, VA support and other issues. It features around-the-clock street outreach resources, which users access through the portal’s “digital front door.” The portal leverages Cisco Webex conferencing, running on underlying Cisco infrastructure.
El Paso’s Nicole Ferrini
Nicole Ferrini, El Paso’s climate and sustainability officer, said people need simple, empathetic solutions to the housing insecurity. She said portal helps residents navigate the complexities related with finding oneself on the street.
“It’s not as simple as, ‘Well, I got evicted.’ It could be a number of different things,” she told Channel Futures. “So I find myself without a place to sleep tonight, and I have no idea of what to do. I am in a traumatized state.”
Connecting the Community
Ferrini said her data showed that 75% of individuals facing homelessness had access to a cellphone or mobile device. Those folks can go to ElPasoHelps.org and instantly connect with a live agent.
Cisco, Computacenter and El Paso have been working together for many years. For example, El Paso set up an emergency shelter during the pandemic with their help.
Channel Futures spoke to Ferrini about the portal. Gary DePreta, Cisco’s vice president for state, local governments, and education, also elaborated on the partnership. Computacenter senior director of south central Lanett Blum also spoke to Channel Futures. See our slideshow above for the conversation.
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