#COVID19 is a global crisis requiring large-scale local responses. Over the last 2 weeks, I’ve been using my spare time to build VolunteerAtlas, a centralized repository to help facilitate volunteer delivery services across Canada and around the world. 1/ volunteeratlas.com
We know that #COVID19 leads to more severe complications among the elderly, immuno-compromised and those with pre-existing health conditions. Furthermore, as testing capacity increases, the number of people with moderate symptoms under self-quarantine will also rise. 2/
Self quarantine for those living alone will require essential goods like food/medicine to be delivered to their doorsteps. Many community organizations like @InvisHandsHQ have sprung up to coordinate volunteer deliveries at a local level 3/ washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
But there are some issues:
1. Last mile logistics are hard (just ask @amazon). As a result, mutual aid groups are increasingly localized. Here in Montreal, there are at least 15 large neighbourhood mutual aid groups. There’s even momentum to build smaller, block-level “pods” 4/
1. Last mile logistics are hard (just ask @amazon). As a result, mutual aid groups are increasingly localized. Here in Montreal, there are at least 15 large neighbourhood mutual aid groups. There’s even momentum to build smaller, block-level “pods” 4/
2. Localized groups help solve last mile logistics but makes the process of seeking and offering help very fragmented. Groups can be hard to find, have different or overlapping geographic coverage, and different sets of rules/signup procedures. 5/
3. Most existing delivery services are trying to fulfil on-demand deliveries. Even for companies like @uber, this is a difficult problem. Volunteer organizations that are doing this well have employed dispatchers to help coordinate, but many groups don’t have these resources 6/
VolunteerAtlas offers a different approach. Our goal is to build a dense, global network of volunteers. We tackle the last mile problem by placing volunteer locations on an interactive map and promoting recurring weekly deliveries pairing volunteers with those in need. 7/
A global approach creates its own set of challenges, safety and privacy chief among them. For safety, we ask for the full name, Facebook/Linkedin profiles of our users. However with no ability to check gov’t records, ultimately safety needs to be handled by the participants. 8/
For privacy, we only reveal the First Name and Email Address for volunteers and no PII for those needing help. Location information is protected by only asking for a participant’s postal code and is obfuscated by adding an additional ~500m of noise to that geocoded result. 9/
I'll be the first to admit these are not perfect solutions (e.g. I’d love to implement email forwarding to better protect privacy but haven't had the time). That said, I've tried to strike a balance between usability, security and privacy that I’m hoping will prove useful. 10/
VolunteerAtlas is designed to allow easy integration of workflows for existing #MutualAid and #Caremongering groups. The signup process is simple with separate forms for volunteers and those seeking help. Definitely reach out if you're interested in partnering 11/
On the Dev side, I’m using @plotlygraphs’ Dash framework for the Flask/React app and Folium for interactive mapping. I feel like I’m standing on the shoulder of giants when I use these tools and there is no way this project could have come together without them. 12/
I’ve been building VolunteerAtlas in my spare time and I could certainly use a hand on development. If you’d like to help, the project is open-sourced here: 13/ github.com/yuorme/volunte…
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