In Time of Need
This is the source of The Path to a better future.
In Time of Need is a nonprofit Oregon public benefit corporation, formed in January, 2024.
We are creating a service on top of a product
Our service is providing immediate, helpful information to anyone in desperate need, or who just wants to improve their station in life.
Our product is an application that queries our large database of provider contact information, along with Google's data warehouse of geographic direction and institutional details.
This is already an immense undertaking currently being built by volunteers.
Our plan is to employ a staff to populate and update our extensive database of service providers. Our product is an application that queries our large database of provider contact information, along with Google's data warehouse of geographic direction and institutional details.
Eventually this website will be the public access portal to the application we are creating, called The Path, which will be a free resource for everyone either needing services or serving those in need.
This sketch explains the scope of the project.
As of July 2024, the state of the effort is...
- Technical: We intend to have a fully working prototype by September, asking people with real needs
to test it for effectiveness and ease of use.
The Path's query engine, including its content management system (CMS) consisting mostly of Portland-area providers to start, all works beautifully.
Next step: design a friendly, satisfying user experience (UX) and easily navigable user interface (UI) for the front end of the application (possibly incorporating artificial intelligence).
- Staffing: We'll require people—volunteers for now but eventually employees and contractors—to refine the app's code and to populate and maintain the service provider database.
- Legal: In Time of Need is an Oregon public benefit corporation [2209845-95] with a federal EIN [99-0535831]. For the record, here are our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, and once again the 501(c)(3) qualification letter from the IRS.
- Financial: I'm covering all fees and other expenses out-of-pocket for now. I'm working up a presentation that will tell our story to stakeholders and potential funders. Since we are a 501(c)(3), all donations will be tax-deductible.
The original HTML version of The Path, a proof-of-concept that is temporarily located on my personal website, has two principal resources...
- The Directory—a long list of organizations, mostly in the greater Portland area.
- The Library—a place to explore ways to manage challenges and opportunities.
A 2021 vision of the evolution of The Path into an intelligent application, employing GPS technology and Google's immense data warehouse, continues to guide the current effort.