How Can a Wiki Help the Homeless?

How Can a Wiki Help the Homeless?
Last year I had the privilege of working with the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County (HCHC) where I learned about the need for a ‘one-stop-shop’ – a central location where citizens in need could go and get direction on how and where to get help. Hillsborough County has the largest homeless population in the state of Florida. That translates to approximately 10,000 men, women and children in search of finding shelter, food, clothing, a hot shower, education, job assistance and more on a daily basis. With the huge obstacles like funding making it impossible to realize a physical location, I started wondering what a digital solution might look like.

That’s when I met Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia and Co-Founder of Wikia, who confirmed that a wiki platform could work to collect, organize and disseminate information about homeless services and that it was already being successfully done in San Francisco.

Rayme Nuckles, CEO of the HCHC, supported the idea saying, ““We are thrilled to be able to offer this new resource to the community, specifically for our homeless neighbors and those working to improve the quality of their lives. This wiki will provide up to date information that printed publications cannot.” The result is the Tampa Bay Homeless Resource Wiki.

Why use a wiki?

“The great thing about a wiki is that it provides a tool for quality organization without central planning or top down control. Anyone in the community who wants to help out, can help out. Every service provider can check and update their own entry to make sure the information is timely and accurate. Ordinary community members who are Internet savvy can help improve the wiki as a way to get involved.” – Jimmy Wales

How does the homeless resource wiki work?

The goal of the wiki is to provide a central point of collaboration and a channel to disseminate all types of information and tools to use in helping homeless citizens. Anyone can contribute to the wiki – it is a volunteer-driven resource that can be edited by any user. If you want to help, we invite you to view our training videos, learn some basic wiki-editing skills and jump in!

My vision for the Tampa Bay Homeless Resource Wiki

Jimmy and I caught up this week and he told me a story about sitting on a panel with Bill Clinton about Technology and Education in the Developing World at the World Economic Forum. Bill Clinton was talking about the Clinton Global Initiative and how his staff is working to coordinate relief efforts in Haiti. Clinton pointed and said, “When my staff needs information, they can easily find it, Thanks to you Jimmy!”

That’s pretty awesome.

It made me start thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if someday soon we get to hear that same sentiment on a micro-level as the wiki grows more robust with resources and people say, “When we need information about homeless services, we can easily find it, Thanks to the Tampa Bay Homeless Resource Wiki!”

Julia Gorzka Creative Marketing and Communications Strategies