 From the CUBE Studios in Palo Alto in Boston, connecting with thought leaders all around the world, this is a CUBE Conversation. Hello everyone, welcome to this special CUBE Conversation here in the CUBE's Palo Alto Studios. I'm John Furrier, your host with a great story here to tell and a great story with Bob Russell, the CEO of the CTA Group, also known as the Community Technology Alliance. Great story, very relevant in this time and it has to involve data and technologies for good. So, Bob, thanks for spending the time to join me today. Thanks for remote dialing in or internetting in, thank you. Oh, my pleasure, great to be with you. You guys have a really great mission with the Community Technology Alliance, also known as the CTA Group, which is you guys go by. Tell, take a minute to explain the firm and what you guys do, because I think this is a high impact story for this community, just in general, but now more than ever, it's a great story. Can you take a minute to explain? Thank you. We're a San Jose based nonprofit and we were founded in 1991 to provide the technology needed to support the work to end homelessness in a number of California communities and counties, primarily by providing data collection and reporting tools for agencies that were receiving federal funding to house the homeless. Several years ago, as we were looking at the data, we realized that we needed to expand our focus to not only include the homeless, but to include what's called homeless prevention. And homeless prevention is providing services to those who are not homeless, but who are at risk of becoming homeless, or those that are living in poverty and do not have enough money to pay the mortgage or pay their rent. And so they too are at risk of becoming homeless. Because what the data was showing is that once you become homeless, it can be difficult, it can be time consuming and it can take a long time for you to secure new housing. So if you can help people who are on the cusp of becoming homeless, that's a wonderful thing. Keeping people from becoming homeless in the first place is one of the most effective tools in fighting homelessness in the Bay Area and throughout the United States. That expanded focus meant we needed to rethink how best to leverage technology in order to help agencies' communities both in homelessness and homeless prevention. And so we focused on three different components or three tools. The first one was creating data integration pool. So that agencies that are using multiple systems and integrate their data into a single source of truth, they can quickly communicate and exchange data with one another in order to identify how best to help people in need in their communities. The second thing that we did was we created a mobile app so that you could collect data out of your closed or your proprietary system, upload that data later to your system or to a central data warehouse. And then also you could use this data that once we pulled your data in from multiple data systems and created a single source of truth, you could actually view that unified data. And the third tool we developed was a reporting and analytics tool so that you could quickly visualize your data, look at overall trends and determine what measures are most effective in helping people to remain housed or to help people who are homeless to secure housing as quickly as possible. So that's our story in a nutshell, John. Yeah, you know, one of the famous Q-alumnis, Jehan Rebecca founder of Cloudera once said in theCUBE, this is 10 years ago, and he only came from Facebook and then he said our brightest minds in the industry are working on data science so people click on an ad. And that really kind of became a rallying point in the computer science industry because this is really a data-driven strategy you guys are taking that's proactive. It's not reactive, which it's still got its own challenges. So using data for good is some reality there. It's like collective intelligence or predictive analytics or a recommendation engine for services to be delivered. So love it, love this story. I think it's super important. It's not going to go away. It's only going to get stronger and better. But I got to ask you with that, what are some of the challenges with the current environment for social services? Because you mentioned legacy, legacy systems. Well, there's legacy in process too. I can only imagine the challenges. What are some of those challenges in the current environment? Yes, yeah, there are many challenges, but I'd like to focus in on two. The first is agencies aren't networked. Their systems are not networked. And so agency A cannot exchange and communicate with agency B. And so what happens in most communities is that if someone is in need, whether it's an individual or a family, odds are they're going to multiple agencies to secure all the different services that they need. And because agencies are not networked, it can be very difficult to secure services. If you're in need, you can end up spending a lot of time going from agency to agency, asking what's available and seeing if you're eligible for services. So one of the challenges that we were asked to overcome by talking to various agencies and communities is can you allow us to continue to use our current systems? But can you figure out a way for our systems to communicate and exchange critical data with one another? And the second reason or challenge is tied to the first. Most agencies have multiple funding sources in order to provide the services that they provide. And many of those funding sources will say to an agency, in exchange for us giving you funding, you must use this system to collect data and to report out. And so what happens is a single agency can have multiple data systems that either that just simply cannot communicate with one another. And so this creates inefficiencies and this means that resources that would be going to a client, a family and an individual has to be redirected to doing multiple data entry and administering multiple systems. And so before we built any of our tools, we spent a good chunk of time talking to these various stakeholders in the homeless and poverty arena going, what are your primary pain points? These were the two that stood out for us in how we could use technology to help these agencies get a more unified view of what's going on in their community and what works. How has any of the systematic changes affected you? Because the networking piece is huge. When we see this play out in data-driven businesses, obvious ones are cybersecurity, the more data the better, because you know machine learning is a lot of things there. The other problem I want to get your thoughts on is this idea of not just not being networked but the data silos. So the data silos are out there and sometimes they're not talking to each other, even if they are connected. So if you're homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, odds are you're going to need multiple services to help you. It's very rare that an agency has all the services that you need so that you end up being helped by multiple services. Each one of those services, each one of those agencies ends up being a data silo. And so you do not get a complete picture of in your community of what are the various services that you are providing this client and which services are most rapidly helping that client move either into housing or into self-sufficiency. So agencies are very much aware that they have data silos out there, but they simply do not have the expertise or the time or the resources to manually take all of that data and try to come up with a single spreadsheet that tells them everything. On the role of data, obviously you mentioned the users, you mentioned an app. Can you just share some anecdotal examples of kind of where it's working and challenges and opportunities you guys are doubling down on? Because I mean, this is a really important point because if you look at our society at large today, the ability to deliver services, whether it's education, homeless, this poverty, it's all kind of interconnected. Help has the same almost systematic kind of functional role. You got to identify services, needs, match them to funding and or people and move as in real time or as contextually relevant as possible. If you do that right, you're on the front end, not the back end of reacting to it. Can you give some examples? Yeah, I'm thinking of a young woman. I mean, for me, this has been a powerful story for our organization in helping us to understand the human impact that data silos can have. So this is, in one of our communities, there was a young woman with them who was recently divorced with a young son who became sick. And so she went to the hospital to secure treatment for her child. The hospital, the clinic was able to help her. But when she asked about are there agencies out there, are there services out there that can help me with financial assistance and help me with getting food and finding stable housing? They told her, no, we can't help you, we're a clinic, but we can point you to a shelter. Well, by the time she got to that shelter, they were full for the night. And so she had no place for her and her son to stay. And so what happened is she ended up spending the night out on the street. And then she spent the next week looking for food banks. So she'd get food going to various agencies to find out, do you have any available housing? Do you have any financial assistance? And she was coming up against one obstacle over another. So if you're homeless and you don't have a car, and think about anyone in the Bay Area, how difficult it is to get around if you don't have a vehicle or someone who can provide you with a transportation? Her life changed. And yeah, her life changed when she ended up at a homeless encampment. And what's called an outreach worker went to that outreach, that encampment with our tools, with our mobile app. And this outreach worker met up with this young woman and said, how can I help you? And she, this woman explained, look, I need a place to stay for the night. I need food for my child. Can you help me? So what she did was she took her tablet, opened up our mobile app, and found, yes, there is a nearby shelter that has space available. Let me get you into that shelter as soon as possible. She also alerted the case managers at that shelter that this is what the woman needs. Can you provide that assistance to her as soon as we get her to the shelter? And so what happened was instead of wandering around the community trying to find help, because of this timely encounter between this young woman and this outreach worker, this outreach worker was able to get this woman and her child into a temporary shelter, an emergency shelter for the night. And then over time helped her secure her own apartment with financial assistance and also the other services that she needed. And for me, that is the essence of what we're trying to do here is simply remove the barriers for you to... In essence, what happened here was this woman was able to quickly determine through the help of an agency what's currently available and then connect her to those appropriate agencies to get the services that she needed. And so I have told this story many times. It still gets me that this is the beauty of technology. This is how you can leverage technology and help someone in need. For me, it's just amazing what you can do with the right, yes, with the right technology. It's such a powerful story because it also not only illustrates the personal needs that they were met, but it also illustrates the scale of how data and the contextually relevant need at that time, having the right thing happen at the right time when it needs to happen can scale. So it's not a one-off. This is how technology can work. So I think this is a great indicator of things to come. And I think this is going to be playing out more. And that is the role of data and people. This has been a fundamental dynamic. It's not just about machines anymore. It's the human and the data interaction. This is becoming a huge thing. Can you share your thoughts on the role of people because audiences want to get involved. You're seeing a much more mission-driven culture evolving quickly. People want to have an impact. Right. Oh yeah, data plays a fundamental role. The best way, what helps me to understand just how fundamental that role is, is that what data does is it creates a narrative on the past and current experiences of people in need. In other words, data tells a story. And whether that person is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless or living in poverty, that narrative becomes a powerful tool for agencies. And when you take that narrative, because you've been able to harness technology to create that narrative, what you can do with that narrative is you can coordinate available services to those in need. And as in the story of this young woman, you can also greatly reduce the wait times and the time that someone says, I have this need until you connect them with that available service. That narrative also helps you to improve your programs and services. You can look at what's working, what's not working and make the necessary changes so that you can end up helping more people. It improves access to programs and services. Instead of someone growing by bus or however, trying to go from one end of town to the other, imagine if you could go to a public library, for example. And as a person in need, you could log in and go, you could tell your story, enter some data and say, help me to find the services that I need. The other thing is that it reduces inefficiencies. Many agencies are spending an considerable amount of time in duplicate data entry in order to make sure that they're collecting the data and all the different systems that they need. And then I think another key thing that data plays a fundamental role is that you can take your data as an agency, as a community and you can tell your story to policy leaders and to funders and say, look, if you notice how you can support us in order to provide effective homeless and poverty alleviation solutions. So again, the idea- That's the key point right there. That's, I mean, the key point is, when you look at people process technology, which is like the, you know, overused cliche of digital transformation, very relevant, by the way. The process piece is kind of taking that same track as you saw the internet technologies change marketing and advertising performance based, show me the clicks. If you think about what you just said, that's really what's going on here. You can actually have performance based programs with specific deliverables to say, if I can do this, would you do more? And the answer is you can measure it with data. This is really the magic of this. It's a new way of doing things. And again, this is not going to go away. And I think stakeholders can hold people's feet to the fire for performance based results because the data is there. If you strive to do a good mission, if the systems are in place, you can measure it. Thanks for that question, John. Three possibilities come to mind. First, many organizations now financially match the donations made by their employees that they make to nonprofits. So I would say that check with your HR department to see if they have a matching program. And if they do, what happens then is that for every dollar that you give to that agency, your organization, the company that you work for will match that. And so your money will go farther. These same corporate social responsibility programs not only will match your donations, but the other thing that they will do is they will sometimes work out opportunities to volunteer at various nonprofits. And so you can also check with your organization to see if they do that. A second possibility is that you connect with groups such as the Full Circle Fund. There are other groups out there, but I'm most familiar with the Full Circle Fund. And it is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that leverages your time and your resources and intellectual capital to help out with nonprofits throughout the Bay Area. So whether it is that you're looking to volunteer coding or development skills or you're looking for some way to find out what's going on in the Bay community and how can I help? Full Circle Fund would be a great resource. And again, there are other nonprofits like them out there as well. The third thing is if you know of an agency in your area, a goodwill, a united way, a habitat for humanity, give them a call or check on their website to see what volunteer positions they have available or what they're looking for. And if it looks like a good match, give them a call and have that conversation. Those are three things that immediately came to mind for me, John, about if you wanted to help out, how could you? Well, certainly it's important, Mission. I really appreciate, Bob, what you're doing and your team. Bob Russell, the CEO of CTA Group, also known as the Community Technology Alliance, really putting technology into practice to help the services get to the folks that matter, that homelessness and the folks in poverty, on the edge of poverty, and it really is an example of how you can solve some of these systematic problems with performance-based, if you follow the data, follow the money, follow the services, it all can work in real time. And that's a good example. So thank you so much for what you do and great mission. Thank you for your time. Oh, thank you, and thank you for having me. Hey, I'm theCUBE. I'm John Furrier covering all the stories here while we're still programming here in theCUBE Studios with our quarantine crew. Bob Russell, the CEO of CTA Group with a great story. Check it out and get involved. I'm John Furrier of theCUBE. Thanks for watching.