I’m using Glide for Nonprofits to build a platform that I hope will literally help save lives this winter. I was homeless 13 years ago. I’ve come a long way since then, & am committed to doing what I can to give back. In 2014 I envisioned using GPS technology in mobile devices to direct citizens & outreach patrol teams to work more closely together, with citizens being able to both use a resource map to direct those in need to where they can get services & necessities for free, & to crowdsource where needs are; & volunteers able to both respond in real time, & to use historical data to plan their patrol routes more strategically & effectively (with user-submitted maps & other sensitive data only available to responding organizations). I always expected I would need to hire a developer or upgrade my programming language repertoire, but this past January I discovered Glide & learned I could build the platform myself with Glide using my existing knowledge of programming. This past winter, a number of people in my city froze to death while sleeping on the street. I decided I needed to act immediately to realize my dream & prevent that from happening again. Due to the sensitive nature of the data (which I had already begun gathering since 2015 using other GPS logging platforms), I’m not quite ready to release the app URL beyond a few Beta testers, but my website is at http://mbnownet.ca if you’d like you know more about my vision for empowering community development. Eventually I’d like to take this international, & have discussed the potential of deploying it in other communities, including internationally, such as in Ukraine.
Here’s my story: The RespondNOW story + Beta v. 0.71 demo (12 minutes) | mbnownet.ca - YouTube