Underheard in New York
We innovate by changing perceptions of disenfranchised populations by helping them develop online identities.
About You
About You
First Name
Willy
Last Name
Wang
Twitter URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Underheard in New York
Organization Website
Organization Country
United States, NY
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, NY
Is your organization a
Not registered
How long has your organization been operating?
Less than a year
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Innovation
Entry Form title
Underheard in New York
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Scaling (the next step will be growing impact on a regional or even global scale)
How long have you been in operation?
Operating for less than a year
THE NEED: Describe the need for your solution and the size/dynamic of the community (ies) you will engage
We generally try our best to avoid the homeless, to pretend them away, or worse, ridicule them. We both witnessed and experienced first-hand the mysterious feeling of shame and pity attached to most New Yorkers' interactions with the homeless.
Armed with the understanding that the homeless population is highly visible but also highly neglected, we set out to change the conversation. We recognized the negative public perception of the homeless as a principal cause of the negative interactions with the homeless we observed throughout New York City.
Notably, the homeless community's public perception problem extends beyond New York to all major cities worldwide. While Underheard in New York targets a local community, its relevance extends far beyond the five boroughs.
THE SOLUTION: Please explain what your solution offers and how it is innovative. How will you put your solution into the hands of users or beneficiaries? Be specific!
We realized that if we could change the perception of the homeless, then we could potentially change people's behaviors toward them.
We decided to give homeless New Yorkers voices, so they could represent themselves, and broadcast them on-line through Twitter where their words could live on permanently.
This would make them real and accessible to others and make them more like the rest of us who maintain active digital lifestyles. By simply positioning homeless New Yorkers in a different context we could increase the likelihood that others would interact with them.
Underheard in New York innovates by creating conversations that shouldn't exist–by giving an online presence to those we assume we won't meet online and convincing people to interact digitally when they would usually avoid in physical space.
Underheard in New York redefines our understanding of human-to-human interaction by short-circuiting our expectations of online and offline relationships and then leveraging that redefinition to achieve good for a community and for discrete individuals.
THE MODEL: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference through use of information technology and media
Underheard in New York launched by setting up four homeless New Yorkers with SMS-enabled cell phones and Twitter accounts.
By connecting Danny, Derrick, Albert and Carlos to a worldwide community of supporters on Twitter, we were able to positively impact their lives by giving connecting them to a supportive community which reached out to help them solve basic needs.
Not only did this community use Twitter to interact with them, providing emotional support in their time of need, but the community also helped them fulfill basic needs to better their circumstances.
For example, Danny hadn't seen his daughter in over ten years. When we told our community of Twitter followers that we wanted to help Danny find her, someone helped us find Danny's daughter Sara within twentyfour hours. They reunited and Danny met his grandchildren for the first time shortly thereafter.
THE MARKETPLACE: Who are your peers and competitors? What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
Underheard in New York is not the first organization to attempt helping members of the homeless community by giving them an online presence. Others like Mark Horvath of invisiblepeople.tv innovated in the space before we did.
But Underheard in New York establishes a new model by leveraging Twitter's unparalleled accessibility. With nothing more than inexpensive cellular phones, SMS service and Twitter accounts, Underheard in New York redefined the model for giving an online presence to traditionally underheard populations.
Underheard in New York also proves that community management and personal attention can help achieve tangible outcomes for underheard individuals everywhere.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
FOUNDING STORY: We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.
We experienced our "Aha!" moment when one of Albert's Twitter followers, Chris from Australia, offered to pay for two transit tickets Albert received. Chris's generosity helped us realize that we had succeeded in building a supportive and altruistic community. They wanted to help in ways we hadn't imagined. That's when we realized that we had to re-design Underheard to allow others to help in ways we had didn't expect.
Specify both the depth and scale of your solution’s social impact to date
In addition to achieving tangible and emotional outcomes for the four Underheard tweeters we've also inspired an international community to think about the homeless in a new light. Now, we have an opportunity to leverage that changed perception to achieve more hard outcomes for more people.
What is your projected impact within the next 1-5 years? Is your idea replicable? If so, how?
Within the next 1-5 years we'd like to use Underheard as a vehicle for perception change and social good not just for the homeless but for all misunderstood populations worldwide. The idea is replicable because it requires only simple technology, a free worldwide platform and a few people willing to share their stories and a few more people willing to help them tell those stories.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and mark growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Our six-month milestone is successfully concluding another Underheard project that others manage on a day-to-day basis.
Six-Month Tasks
Task 1
create template for launching local Underheard projects in other cities
Task 2
launch, oversee and publicize local Underheard projects
Task 3
evaluate results of local Underheard projects
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Our twelve-month milestone is successfully concluding another Underheard project with a different underheard population.
12-Month Tasks
Task 1
identify the next Underheard population
Task 2
launch next Underheard population pilot project
Task 3
repeat six month plan with new population, develop better community management web tools/apps as needed
How many people have been impacted by your project?
Fewer than 100
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
More than 10,000
Sustainability
Explain how your company, program, service or product is structured
Undefined
What barriers have hindered the success of your project to date? How do you plan to overcome these and other challenges as you grow your solution?
So far the barriers have been largely financial. Without our original source of funding, we have not been able to continue Underheard. Our plan is to form partnerships with local non-profit and pro-social institutions in order to subsidize the price of the cell phones and SMS cards for the Underheard storytellers.
How do you see the information-technology and media sectors shifting over the next decade? How will your solution adapt to and/or drive that changing environment?
As online identity becomes equally important as physical identity and the world continues transitioning to an information economy, Underheard will arm the disenfranchised – those without online identities – with online identities that will help them succeed. These online identities will allow them to network and achieve in the digital future.
Failure is not always an option. If your solution fails to gain traction in the next two years, what other applications of the idea could you explore?
If Underheard doesn't gain traction for local groups nationally or internationally, the original founders will continue to execute local Underheard projects themselves to help the Underheard one or two at a time, if necessary.
Expand on your selections, explaining how you will sustain funding
Underheard will seek to partner with local NGO's, Foundations and other pro-social institutions in order to scale the Underheard brand and project.
Tell us about your partnerships
We do not currently have any funding partnerships.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section?
Underheard will need volunteers worldwide in order to achieve our six-month and twelve-month milestones.
Changemakers is a collaborative and supportive space. Please specify any community resources you would need to grow and sustain your initiative. Select all that apply
Investment, Human resources or talent, Marketing or media, Research or information, Collaboration or networking, Pro-bono help (legal, financial, etc.), Innovation or ideas, Mentorship.
Specify any resources you might offer to support other initiatives. Select all that apply
Human resources or talent, Marketing or media, Research or information, Collaboration or networking, Pro-bono help (legal, financial, etc.), Innovation or ideas, Mentorship.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren’t specified within the list
Summary
Define your company, program, service or product in 1-2 short sentences
An initiative to give a voice to those that are underheard (homeless, victims of a disaster, etc) through mobile phones+twitter.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences
We innovate by changing perceptions of disenfranchised populations by helping them develop online identities.
 | 88 weeks ago Willy Wang updated this Competition Entry. |
| 88 weeks ago Willy Wang updated this Competition Entry. |
| 88 weeks ago Willy Wang updated this Competition Entry. |
| 94 weeks ago Willy Wang updated this Competition Entry. |
| 94 weeks ago Willy Wang submitted this idea. |
