Introducing Our Projects for 2018–19
This year, we’re partnering with 5 promising nonprofits and we’ll be working closely with them to help accomplish their incredible missions. Read on to learn more about our new partners’ stories and the technology we’re building to maximize their impact.
1. The Arctic Institute
Arctic Institute came into place when the founders saw coastal communities in the American Arctic struggling to recover from climate change disasters. These communities needed a way to quickly recruit skilled volunteers to guide them through adaptation and cultural preservation.
How We’re Helping
Blueprint’s solution is to create a skills-based matchmaking platform, so volunteers and coastal communities can connect. This will help align volunteer capabilities with community needs, so projects can be completed more efficiently and Arctic Institute can create a more substantial impact.
2. Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation is an organization dedicated to promoting the universal freedom of computer software and championing the rights of digital technology users. Topics like Net Neutrality and digital privacy infringement have been important, impactful issues in 2017 and 2018, and we as technology citizens must fight for our right to use our devices and browse the web freely.
How We’re Helping
We’re building a free software phone app that brings digital rights activism to people’s fingertips. Users will be able to keep up with the latest in digital rights news, sign petitions and organize demonstrations, and donate to causes they care about.
3. HomePointr CIC
Many homeless individuals don’t have the technical literacy or the resources to connect with housing providers to gain accessible housing that can best cater to their specific needs or disabilities. Furthermore, each individual application for every available piece of housing takes an immense amount of paperwork, but the information across them is generally the same in nature.
How We’re Helping
We are partnering with HomePointr CIC to build an easy-to-use platform that stores this data and matches them with their ideal housing providers, both removing the time involved in sifting through paperwork and finding underprivileged individuals the best environment to support their disadvantages.
4. The San Francisco Art Institute
The San Francisco Art Institute is a renowned contemporary arts college. However, student artwork is inaccessible — buyers may only view artwork in gallery exhibits. Furthermore, purchases are conducted via phone calls, causing the purchasing process to be very tedious.
How We’re Helping
Blueprint will develop an web-based online gallery with transaction management capabilities. The bidding capabilities, as well as buying and renting functionality, will give the San Francisco Art Institute a robust and accessible platform to share students’ work.
5. Jara
JARA provides emergency education to disaster stricken areas through a device called the JARA Unit, primarily in Nepal after 2015 earthquake. There are a lot of educational tools out there, but it can’t reach areas where there is low connectivity, so this device will reach school children who can still access material when there is no internet.
How We’re Helping
The JARA Unit is a low cost education device that has pre-installed educational content. It is both solar-powered and crank-powered for durability and efficiency. They’re hoping to build this unit from scratch and use our software development to integrate the educational media types, with an IoT side which can update software and pull data for analysis.
All of Blueprint’s work is open-source because we believe in building technology that makes us more open and connected.
