iFindit plans to add more resources to the app on a state-wide basis and needs community partners to check the data on the application to ensure its correct.  This goes for both Chicago and state-wide non-profits. Since winning first place in the Apps for Metro Chicago contest, the creator and founder, Elizabeth Park received an influx of interest from community members both locally and nationally.

When 40% of people making less than $30,000 a year use smart phones to find information – this platform is key to reaching a demographic once ignored.   Mobile apps are becoming a critical way for low-income residents to have access to data.  Our ask to our Illinois NPOs:

1.) Send us your data

2.) Check up on your data.

iFindit is a small shop right now and very few people are doing some very good work.  We’d like for everyone to be able to use this tool.  But for now, it starts with self-made motivations from community partners.  From the city of Big Shoulders to the Land of Lincoln, we’re starting something Illinoisans.

Contact elizabeth@ifinditchicago.com

Photo by Elizabeth Park

EITC Awareness Day is an annual grassroots anti-poverty effort to help raise awareness for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax benefit most low-income individuals and families are eligible for. On January 27, charity organizations, elected officials, state and government employers and other interested parties will band together to generate as much mainstream coverage on the EITC as possible.

This year especially is a momentous year for EITC Awareness Day. The House recently passed a bill that would increase the tax credit from 5%to 7.5% next year, then ultimately to 10% the following year, doubling the size of credit. Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign this bill.

Although having been around for more than 37 years, according to the EITC website, one out of every five eligible resident is still unaware of the EITC and their eligibility. Only four out of five people actually file and claim their tax credit. “We want to raise that number to five out of five,” the website states. “They earned it, but must file and claim it to get it….meaning awareness is critical.”

With the good news of an increased tax credit, it is absolutely crucial that everyone is made well aware of the EITC benefits.

You never know if you or a friend could be eligible, as it could mean up to $5,751 in pocketed credit.

Our family at iFindit Chicago believe in empowering people with impacting resources, so IF YOU would like to help increase EITC awareness, please contact your IRS relationship manager, email partner@irs.gov, or follow @IRSEITCDay on Twitter. Or, simply, spread the word.

FOR MORE INFORMATION on the EITC and whether you are eligible, visit http://www.eitc.irs.gov/ptoolkit/basicmaterials/ff/

TO LEARN MORE about the bill recently passed in Illinois to expand credit, visit http://www.taxcreditsforworkingfamilies.org/2011/12/illinois-doubles-state-eitc

As demand escalates, the state is facing its own economic hardships. Illinois is currently swimming in a $500 million budget deficit alongside billions of dollars in unpaid bills. In a recent story by the Huffington Post, it suggests governor Pat Quinn plans to cut the budgets of “nearly all state operations” including “human service programs” like homeless shelters and facilities (most of which are already struggling to stay financially afloat). 

 Although the realities may be discouraging, we believe 2012 could be a pivotal year. If this story resonates with you, we encourage you to take action.

**WE WANT YOU to share your support- spread the news, voice your opinion, and let our state officials realize that we need to preserve these vital programs!** 

SOURCES: 

http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/youth-homelessness-on-the-rise-in-chicago/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/illinois-budget-problems-_n_1183300.html?ref=chicago

So before you contract yourself to that yearlong gym membership, perhaps you should consider a resolution that can reap more, well, lasting results.

Our team at iFindit Chicago is passionate about volunteering and the value of giving, as most services we list depend on the generous contributions from everyday folk like you and me. Whether or not it made it on your list this time around, we hope volunteering is a goal you continue to resolve without the reminder of turning a new year.

Here are some sites and services in the local Chicago area where you can offer your time and/or resources (most of which are linked through our iFindit mobile app!):

Cornerstone Community Outreach –this center affords a variety of services to neighboring residents or individuals/families in the area without a home. From free clothing and meal plans to assistance with resume-writing, CCO aims “to raise the quality of life for low-income residents.” To inquire how you may help at CCO, visit www.ccolife.org

Greater Chicago Food Depository –a nonprofit food bank that prides itself in distributing to 678,000 adults each year, Greater Chicago Food Depository looks to continue their fight against hunger. To volunteer in their soup kitchen, visit http://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/

Christopher House –having five sites on Chicago’s north and west ends, Christopher House feeds, educates, and supports over 4,000 children and family members each year.

“Everyday, Christopher House volunteers make a tremendous impact on the lives of the children and families that we serve,” their website writes. If this interests you, visit christopherhouse.org for more information.

Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago –the Comer Children’s Hospital is one of the leading medical centers in the Chicago area. Volunteers at the site help to deliver mail or books to a child’s bedside, comfort families going through difficult times, and assist in games and activities organized for hospitalized children. To participate in their volunteering program, visit http://www.uchicagokidshospital.org/contribute/volunteer

**WE WANT TO KNOW: Would you be interested in downloading a mobile application that would match you with volunteering opportunities in your area? Let us know by commenting below!**

If only I could wrap puppy stories around ifinditchicago, I think we’d be able to help more people.   We are smart easy to use apps built to help enable anyone in need of vital services in Chicago find food pantries, homeless shelters and medical clinics for the uninsured.   This is not an app ‘just’ for the homeless, it’s for everyone.  According to Heartland Alliance 1 in 3 chicagoans is below the poverty line.   This not may be the case if you are walking down Michigan avenue but clearly the numbers have increased over so the 1 in 3 is increasingly your family member, coworker, friend who even might be struggling to feed his or her puppy!

With over 2500 listings including new resources like  single room occupancy hotels, ifinditchicago continuing to grow. In 2012, we’ll  will be rolling out a web based solution in address one of chicago’s biggest challenges, affordable housing.  

Ask us about it and if you’re involved in the housing debate, are a landlord, on a waiting list, endlessly searching for affordable housing, or involved with CHA, HUD or any other the usual suspects.

elizabeth@ifinditchicago.com

While many Chicagoans are camping out at their local Target, Walmart or Best Buy stores this December to buy loved ones everything on their holiday wish lists and stringing garland, mistletoe and fake wreaths around their homes while drinking eggnog and watching A Christmas Story and Home Alone over and over until they know all the lines, thousands others are in desperate need of shelter, clothing, and even their next meal.

What? People are standing outside hungry and freezing while I just purchased the “Chocolate Tasting for Two” Groupon and am in the process of putting a Michael Kors Christmas sweater on my pug?

Yes.

Oh no! How can I help?

You can start by voting for iFinditChicago in the Grand Challenge of MCIC’s Apps for Metro Chicago Competition!

Just Visit www.appsformetrochicago.com December 6 – 12, 2011 and vote for iFinditChicago as your favorite app!

What is iFinditChicago?

OK, we know you were last to read the Twilight series, you still don’t know who Harry Potter is, and it wasn’t until last month that you decided to figure out what all this Facebook stuff was about, but get with it! iFinditChicago is an Android app designed to help low income and homeless residents connect with critical resources such as medical clinics, food pantries, and shelters. And it’s changing lives!

The iFinditChicago app sounds awesome, but how do I know homelessness and hunger in Chicago is really a problem?

Chew on this: Last year, the Emergency and Transitional Housing (E&TH) program—a program that gives immediate and comprehensive shelter services to the homeless and provides funding for meals, shelter and support services to not-for-profit organizations and local governments—provided overnight shelter and transitional housing to 40,542 people, one-third of who were under 18. Still, people in need were turned away 45,673 times!

This year, the Illinois state budget for the E&TH program was cut by 52%, from $9.1 million to $4.4 million! The new budget cuts could force an additional 6,746 people onto Chicago’s streets in 2012!

Shelters and soup kitchens are responding to these cuts by:

• Reducing number of beds available
• Reducing number of people served
• Laying off staff who provide case management and other services

Some agencies are even at risk of closing unless cuts are restored.

So how does iFinditChicago help?

Research has shown that people in low-income communities and on the streets have increasing access to smartphones. iFinditChicago can help these people in need find places to eat, sleep and receive medical care, quickly and discreetly with the press of a button! And we’re not the only ones who think our app is genius! iFinditChicago recently won the Community round of The Apps for Metro Chicago competition!

So what is this competition?

The Apps for Metro Chicago Competition is an unprecedented #opengov software challenge facilitated by Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC) that invites software developers, community groups, businesses and individuals to build innovative apps that solve longstanding social problems and improve services in Metro Chicago. The goal of the competition is to increase government transparency by facilitating the building of software applications that are creative, useful, and designed for long-term impact. The competition is hosted by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition, the Motorola Mobility Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust, with $50,000 in awards up for grabs.

When are the winners announced?

iFinditChicago already won 1^st place in the Community round of the Apps for Metro Chicago competition, so our app will automatically be one of the 20 finalists in the Grand Challenge Round of the competition. The winners will be selected by a panel of Grand Challenge judges and announced on December 16, 2011!

What else can I do to help those in need?

Go to www.HousingMatters.net and log in to contact your state legislators and ask them to restore funding cuts to the Emergency and Transitional Housing Program!

Together, we can fight homelessness and help low-income Chicagoans enjoy the season too!

Happy Holidays!

Finding more food options including farmers markets in Chicago

The twitter and online universe is abuzz today  about Michelle Obama and Mayor Ram hosting a food summit here in Chicago to tackle the longstanding issues of food deserts in neighborhoods.

 How can over 600,000  Chicagoans not have access to healthy food options? (source David Heinzmann , Chicago Tribune October 25).

Think that’s unacceptable? Well, we do too and now it seems,  people are mobilizing around this endemic problem and with the help of high profile Chicagoans, like First Lady Obama and Ram Emanuel the problem is starting to be addressed. According to a recent article by  Grocers are being incentivized to move in ‘food deserts’ and corporations like Kraft and WalMart are going to build or retrofit buildings to allow for more healthy options.   It’s a start, it doesn’t necessarily change behavior overnight, but access is a first step.

At iFinditChicago, available in the Android store for free, we’re all about access, and can say we’re doing our part to share information about vital resources.   Although we wish the city had more farmers markets in places considered food deserts, we do list the ones that many people probably don’t know exist and include hours of operation.   Seems like a small move, but more Farmers markets  accepting  SNAP/Food stamps could translate to heathier eating habits and better health outcomes.

In Chicago, there’s no desert of ideas…we just need to implement practical solutions faster and more effectively.

Listener: Wow that sounds really cool.

iFinditFolks: It is!  You can sort by…. and it brings up ALL….. and it’s so easy to use…. and we’re really excited about it.

(Eyebrows raise and then, a pause and a hesitancy to speak)

Listener:  I… uh…. don’t want to sound insensitive… but how can someone who needs food assistance, afford a smartphone?

Listen, listener, you aren’t insensitive.  It’s a question we come across A LOT.  That’s why we did our research.  That’s why we wrote this blog post. 

Basically, mobile phones are becoming a population’s primary access to the internet.  And what does the internet provide?  A: EVERYTHING.  (Except for hugs, but I’m sure there will be an app for that.)  Without having to buy the hardware of a computer, the software that makes it worth owning and the internet provider, you could get all of that in a hand-held mobile device.  Especially with no-contract providers making it more affordable, people have access to information that they may not have had before.

For Example: Popular-in-growth companies like Virgin Mobile, BoostMobile and Cricket, known for their pre-paid and contract-free services, have an average charge of $35-$50 a month compared to more expensive plans with AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon that charge anywhere from $120-$350 a month for mobile data and text plans (www.phonestatistics.com).  In fact, mobile services like M-PESA have been helping people in low-income populations as far as Kenya, find a way to empower their lives through hand-held devices.  If you’re going by the odds alone, according to Mobiledia, “the number of cell phones in U.S. now outnumbers its population.”  Therefore, how could this medium be anything other than the perfect portal to reach people in need?

Even for someone who has the luxury of time and unlimited access to information, searching through mounds of data can be frustrating.  That’s why we are excited to do what we are doing — to take the struggle out of searching and put the power back into finding.  The tools of empowerment are out there, we are just putting up the road signs to give people better direction.

Stuff You Need Up Ahead

Winner!

We here at iFinditChicago are so incredibly excited and honored to have received first place in the Community Round of the Apps for Metro Chicago contest!  iFinditChicago also won the the State Prize; an addendum award given to the app that best-used state data.  Thank YOU for voting for us and for giving us your support!  It is an honor to share the accomplishments among so many other talented people who developed apps that will continue to reshape our society for the better.

Good News in the News:

• Chicago Tribune
• WBEZ
• Fox
• Techli
• AppsforChicago

Elizabeth Park talks about why she started this project and the partners that really helped us in our development:

Call To Action!

In addition to winning first place, we also received $5,000 which we will be reinvesting into the community.

We’re looking for organizations to partner with us to increase the use of this tool.  If you are part of an organizations and/or an individual who feels compelled to help us foster changes in our community, please contact, elizabeth@ifinditchicago.com.

Thank you!