VOICE MAIL PROJECT PROVIDES COMMUNITY CONTACT
So you've left your job application with a local company and feel you have a good chance at being hired. What do you do if you don't have a phone so you can be contacted? What if a landlord wants to tell you that they will rent to you? If you don't have a place to leave a message, or if you receive messages at a service program which obviously identifies you with the ongoing stigma of homelessness, no matter how capable or responsible you may be, you could lose out.
The Sonoma County Task Force on the Homeless is working with the Rohnert Park Baha’i Fellowship and APEX Voice Communications, Inc. to provide free voice mailboxes to people who cannot afford their own phone. Homeless people can have their own, private voice mailbox with their own message on it. They may check for messages any place within Sonoma County, and use the mailbox for any legal purpose except to conduct a business, such as for a housing or job search.
Through its Sonoma County Fund for the Homeless, the Task Force is paying for the phone lines and usage charges. The Project is sponsored by the Rohnert Park Baha'i Community and Apex Voicemail Communications, which provide the system hardware, software, and technical support. There are 100,000 free voice mailboxes available to clients through direct service provider organizations. Clients must sign up through those provider agencies.
Service providers currently participating include the Committee on the Shelterless (COTS), Petaluma Peoples' Services Center, Catholic Charities (including their Brookwood Shelter and the Family Support Center), Goodwill Industries, West County Community Services, The Living Room, California Human Development Corporation and Community Resources for Independence.
Additional agencies may receive the necessary training if they wish to take part in the project. Training for participating agencies includes two sessions that last about 60-90 minutes. The first entails a review of the letter of agreement, which must be executed to participate further. The second provides the information necessary to initiate service for clients and to maintain the function of the system.
In 2003 The Voicemail Project served 330 households. Case managers in the participating agencies reported that 54 received job assistance, 87 received housing assistance, and 233 received other help that involved the use of the voicemail system. The Fund for the Homeless expends approximately $2,000 per year for the telephone service to The Voicemail Project — the equivalent of about $6 per household.
If you are a homeless person you may sign up for this free program at any of the agencies listed above. If you would like to contribute to this program or other direct service activities supported by the Task Force you may do so through a contribution to the Sonoma County Fund for the Homeless. If your organization has clients who could benefit from having a free personal voice mailbox and you would like to participate in the program, please contact the Task Force at 575-4494 or Melissa Schmidt, the person who conducts the trainings, at 573-6448.