Compass

Co-Create. Integrate. Innovate. 

Edmonton’s Opportunity to Design Leading-Edge Technology for Stronger Responses to Social Challenges 

It’s no secret that social issues are worsening, with the pandemic, discrimination, opioid, and climate crises exposing the fragility of our systems of care.

Nonetheless, throughout the few years we’ve seen incredible on-the-ground transformation, and a push towards integration and collaboration.

To accelerate this trajectory, the Compass project — a joint collaboration between HelpSeeker Technologies, Edmonton, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Digital Supercluster, Canadian Mortgage Housing Association, Microsoft, Corsac Technologies, and University of Toronto — will inspire the technology foundation required to increase access to supports, optimize and transform service delivery, and generate better data for decision-making and investment.

Compass Project Goals

To design a technology platform that:

1. Increases choice, access and autonomy of people looking for help by creating transparency in the social response while improving data ownership and control.
2. Redefines accountability for individual and community outcomes, by increasing transparency and enabling data-led decision making about community needs and measures performance.
3. Improves service provider wellbeing and the impact of social responses by enabling more effective and efficient service delivery, coordination and referral.
4. Disrupts current approaches that generate inequities in outcomes by championing people’s rights, choice, and data equity.

A Seat at the Table for Edmonton

Edmonton is recognized internationally for its housing outcomes, with 14,400+ people housed through Housing First since 2009 and a reduction of 43% in homelessness prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a leader in transforming social responses, Edmonton was selected as an Alpha community to support the development of the Compass project.

This is our opportunity to continue to push the bounds of systems transformation, while contributing to innovative and ethical digitization of the social sector.

Why Edmonton?  

Our selection as a Compass partner builds on our years of work, in laying the foundation for a more inclusive and sustainable system of care.

A Timeline:

In 2017, Homeward Trust further invested in Edmonton’s Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, a strategy that articulated the need for change and provided tangible strategies for the community to take. This is a product of over a decade of innovation and research from local leaders and hundreds of residents with lived and living experiences of social challenges.

Edmonton has always been a leader in the work to end homelessness and social innovation. Compass will create the next opportunity to build on our community’s successes.

How will Edmonton be involved?

In Spring and Summer of 2022, agencies in Edmonton will work with HelpSeeker to assess the current digital readiness in the social sector and build a step-by-step roadmap for implementing the data & technology needed to achieve community goals.

Components of the roadmap may include:

• A clearly articulated theory of change on how technology can enhance and accelerate Systems Transformation
• An in-depth understanding of the specific pain points faced by Edmonton’s social sector and residents, as well as identification and prioritization of the tools and technologies that will best address those pain points
• How to build the foundational infrastructure and processes for managing sensitive information
• Strategies on how to collect real-time feedback and proactively improve whole-system performance
• Capacity building needed to support digitization and innovation in the social sector

With the roadmap created, Edmonton will then have a step-by-step path to advance its efforts, and based on the assessment, the opportunity to decide how to best leverage data and technology to meet its local needs.

Through richer data, we can build a common language for collaboration, support continuous learning, and build a more effective and inclusive social response.

Who will Compass benefit? 

• Help-seekers – Those in need of social supports
  • Participate in the collaborative design of social technology, ensuring you maintain dignity, safety, and autonomy when accessing health, safety, and wellbeing supports
• Frontline Helpers – Those directly supporting residents
  • Shape the technology products to make frontline work easier and less stressful, while driving better outcomes for clients
• Service Organization Leaders – Executives in the human services sector  
  • Leverage technology to advance the social outcomes your community cares about, while building organizational capacity for data-driven decision making, privacy, and data security
• System Decision-Makers – Those involved in setting direction for policy and funding
  • Identify opportunities for better outcomes through cross-system coordination and the optimization of investments

Acknowledgements

Interested in taking part?

As the Compass project progresses, there will be several opportunities in which community input will be welcomed.

1.  Take our Social Sector Digital Strengths and Needs survey HERE.

2.  Register Your Interest (form below). Upon registration, the Compass team will reach out with opportunities for participation and further updates.

HelpSeeker’s team will also be in contact with different organizations through the course of the project on topics such as evaluating and assessing system performance, cultural storytelling through data, and researching how technology can be leveraged to create a more inclusive social response through surveys, interviews, and more.

Looking for help, but don’t know where to go?

Check out HelpSeeker today!

HelpSeeker.org  is a free network of services, resources, and support in your community.

HelpSeeker allows you to privately browse thousands of community, provincial and federal health and social services, programs, resources, helplines and benefits for mental health, counseling, parenting, education and training, addictions, domestic violence, affordable housing, shelters, food support services, recreation, and more.