Pangea Foundation Blog

Last week, I attended the 5^th Annual 211 San Diego Luncheon Event at the Hilton LaJolla Torrey Pines.

This inspiring event brought together leaders from throughout San Diego County to honor Dr. Paul Jacobs, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Qualcomm® for his dedicated support to 211 San Diego. It was inspiring because I was surrounded by over 400 amazing people. All leaders. Doers. Difference makers.

But here’s what was most inspiring: this group of leaders came together to mobilize around an important mission—one that can affect everyone; particularly when disaster strikes. The event brought to the forefront the important role played by 211 San Diego and 211s across America to serve our communities.

At Pangea Foundation, we are proud to be playing an important role in the advancement of the mission of disaster services organizations nationwide—nonprofits like 211 San Diego—through an innovative disaster relief software solution, called ReliefPoint™.

ReliefPoint was developed by Pangea Foundation in collaboration with 211 San Diego, and supported with funding from Qualcomm, Pangea Foundation, and the County of San Diego. Tapping the power of donated Microsoft® technologies, ReliefPoint was custom-designed to meet the unique needs of America’s disaster services organizations.

What started out as a volunteer effort has been transformed into a powerful impact multiplier that can ultimately affect everyone in America in life-changing ways. Today, when disaster strikes, ReliefPoint serves as a single, unified communications point for nationwide disaster relief coordination.

Here’s the story of how it all began:

2007 California wildfires: Beauty from ashes

The idea behind ReliefPoint stems back to October, 2007 when wildfires consumed Southern California and more than a million people were evacuated from their homes. Major highways were closed as fires spread ferociously. Information about evacuation routes, shelters, and road closures changed by the minute.

Recognizing the need, the men and women of Pangea Foundation voluntarily created a custom-fit software solution to empower 211 San Diego and its 1,200 volunteers to communicate real-time relief information to the public. Upon launch, the software empowered 211 San Diego to link people with vital resources. It also tracked services delivered to more than 120,000 households. 

The old way: Paper-based processes that didn’t scale

Previously, the 211 call center operations were paper-based. Every two hours, volunteer call operators at five locations received an updated paper binder from authorized resource specialists. The binder included information provided by authorities, which was then communicated to the public when they called 211 for help. Not only did this approach not scale, the information was up to two hours old.

The new way: Less time buried in paper—more time serving people

After 96 hours of round-the-clock software development using Microsoft technologies, Pangea Foundation helped to transform the 211 call center from a stilted paper-based operation to a vibrant, scalable, intelligence hub. With accurate emergency information now instantly accessible via a live connection to the database, 211 call operators no longer had to waste valuable time sifting through paper binders.

Since resource specialists were able to input information received from local authorities directly into the software, call operators could instantly access that same information in real-time and communicate it to the public.

Finally, 211 could track the origin and nature of the calls to provide up-to-the-minute trend insight to relief agencies and public officials.

A commitment to building the technological foundation for impact-enablement

Following the fires, Pangea Foundation and 211 San Diego made a commitment to work together to make the software even more robust, with an ultimate goal of equipping disaster services organizations nationwide with the software, to ensure they were prepared to meet the demands of future disasters—before they happened. Incorporating lessons learned from the fires, ReliefPoint was born.

2008 Midwest floods, Hurricane Gustav, and Hurricane Ike

During 2008, ReliefPoint helped to accelerate relief during the Midwest floods, Hurricane Gustav, and Hurricane Ike. Because ReliefPoint is web-based, relief workers can access and communicate updated information to the public in real-time—whether they are working inside the disaster zone or 3,000 miles away.

This was particularly important during Hurricane Gustav when 211 call centers based in the Gulf Coast region were immobilized. Because ReliefPoint is securely accessible via the web, distributed 211s from across the United States were able to receive forwarded calls from concerned callers inside the disaster zone and backfill critical gaps.

With ReliefPoint, call operators were empowered to provide real-time relief information to these concerned callers and answer a variety of questions. From questions about road closures to evacuation routes to locating the nearest shelter. From finding out if it was safe to return home to identifying power outage updates to pinpointing boil water alerts. Without ReliefPoint, callers in the disaster zone would not have had access to the vital information they needed to remain safe.

2009 Santa Barbara fires and the H1N1 influenza (swine flu)

Most recently, ReliefPoint was used to facilitate relief coordination during the Santa Barbara fires. It was also used to deliver services and provide trend insight to stakeholders and policymakers relative to the swine flu.

A smarter approach to disaster relief

ReliefPoint is making a broad, positive impact all across America. By expanding the organizational capacity of America’s disaster services organizations—nonprofits like 211 San Diego—ReliefPoint has been leveraged to serve over 330,000 households nationwide, in only a short time.

With additional support, we can continue to build upon these efforts and ensure that our communities are even better equipped to withstand the demands of the next disaster—before it happens. 

To learn more about ReliefPoint, please visit http://www.reliefpoint.org. And to find out more about the wide range of opportunities for involvement in the funding consortium that will continue to support ReliefPoint, contact us using this short form.