---
title: Speaking Notes - Chalmers Project Civic Tech Talk on Jan 12 2021
tags: Talk, Civic Tech, Chalmers Project, Chalmers Cards, Chalmers Signal
description: Chalmers Project Civic Tech Talk on Jan 12 2021
---

## chalmers project intro

The Chalmers Project is a guerilla project working to improve homelessness in Toronto, Ontario

We try to identify small and discrete areas in Toronto's social support network that could use our help. Then we work with the shelter management to build something for them. We have two active projects:

[https://chalmerscards.com/chalmerscards](https://chalmerscards.com/chalmerscards)
[https://chalmerscards.com/chalmerssignal](https://chalmerscards.com/chalmerssignal)

**homelessness didn't always exist in Toronto the way it does today. We believe the fight against homelessness is a winnable one. And part of that fight is identifying small and discrete problems that build something for to try and fix.**

## chalmers cards
> The Chalmers cards provide information about access to social services. They're laser cut information booklets that are rugged, snap onto your backpack, and smell nice! They document and categorize social services that can be accessed 24/7 over a toll free phone number.

## chalmers cards research
- we spent time trying to learn how to get enrolled in ontario works (social assistance) from their official instructions on their website
- it was hugely complicated
- spent time talking to folks sleeping rough on the street
- what we learned:
- how folks found out about social services
- word of mouth
- shelter staff
- counsellors
- pamphlets from shelters and community centres
- folks were happy to be heard out and have a good conversation
- getting access to social services, especially getting ID reissued and stipends) was frustrating and slow
- we spent time talking to service admins at OW
- Safiah Chowdhury
- OW revised it's intake process just a year prior (Summer 2016) and were in the process of implementing their changes (Fall 2017)
- same case worker from phone call to first stipend
- less handoffs of client between OW staff
- average client registration time was reduced from 8 weeks to 48 hours
- we started making pamphlets about social services offered in an area
- nobody likes getting paper pamphlets
- frequently lost or tossed out
- folks were appreciative of the info
- folks appreciated getting heard and decent conversation

## lessons learned from chalmers cards
- people will hold onto something when it feels quality
- nobody is going to walk around all the time with something that's ugly or doesn't feel nice in the hand.
- folks enjoy good conversation
- getting on the internet is a chore when you don't own a computer
- hackerspaces offer an interesting possibility for hardware based open source projects
- most offer free access on the volunteer days
- kind of an implicit donation of print time

## extra notes
- resources weren't easy to find out about
- resources are poorly documented on the internet
- getting on internet is a chore if you don't own a computer
- chalmers cards improve on pamphlets
- they smell nice and are wood and snap on your backpack
- people think they're kinda neat and tend to keep them
- they give you toll-free 24 hour numbers
- Ontario Works' intake is designed to be handled by a case worker
- first phone call to first stipend and onward
- but the website tells you grab all kinds of stuff first
- they're sorted into categories
- for production and distrobution we tried this strategy
- wood donations from [Mel Hordyk at Exotic Woods Burlington](https://exotic-woods.com/about-us)
- laser cut at makerspaces across toronto by volunteers
- distributed to reception desks of respite sites nearby
- distributed to folks pan handling and sleeping rough across toronto
- 200 were produced by Hot Pop Factory and payed for by Ample Labs
- chalmers bot spot on the back
- over 1000 distributed

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## chalmers signal
> The Chalmers signal is about improving shelter referral turnaround times. Chalmers Signals allow shelter reception staff to broadcast how much space they have left by simply turning a knob. Data from the signals are displayed on a map so staff can see, at glance, which nearby shelters have space. The map also cleanly organizes contact info for each shelter and lets staff filter by shelter types (female only, LGBTQ only, etc).

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## Background

- 2017 shelter shortage
- Early Jan 2018 ombudsman report about shelter referral ineffeciency
- https://www.ombudsmantoronto.ca/OmbudsmanToronto/media/Documents/Enquiry%20Reports/Enquiry-into-City-Winter-Respite-Services-2017-18.pdf?ext=.pdf
- jan 2018 as many as 250 beds every day, even as temperatures hit as low as -20degrees C
- talked to shelter staff about how shelter referrals happened
- we did a bunch of user interviews and documented it in a public google drive that we're in the process of moving to our wiki hosted on Notion
- basecount -> mobile webapp for managing shelter space and making shelter referrals
- project died after poor communcation from the shelter administration
- project pivoted to electronics because skillset in members who stayed couldn't complete the webapp
- but this came with an advantage
- shelter staff are busy, pressing a button or turning a knob is much faster than opening an app and *then* pressing some buttons

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- Spring 2020 we got a minimum viable product working that looks like this:
- live demo of existing signal and map
- we're currently reaching out to shelter staff for demo's like the one we just gave you

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- In fall of 2020 we started rebuilding the backend and map from scratch
- live demo

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- tech stack
- graphql/rust/postgres backend
- react admin interface for adding new shelters and editing shelters on the map
- react/mapbox map
- coming soon!
- What we're working on now:
- rebuild of map with more modern frameworks
- reaching out to shelters again. collecting contacts and scheduling demos of the Chalmers Signal over zoom

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## thanks very much!