Introducing Johnnie: mRelief’s CRM
“There is no dignity in starvation. Nobody denies, least of all poor women, that there is dignity and satisfaction in being able to support your kids through honest labor. We wish we could do it. The problem is that our country's economic policies deny the dignity and satisfaction of self-sufficiency to millions of people - the millions who suffer everyday in underpaid dirty jobs - and still don't have enough to survive.” - Johnnie Tillmon, Welfare is a Women’s Issue, 1972
As we see the need for food balloon, stretching the capacity of our heroic food banks, SNAP enrollment has never felt more dire. Knowing that SNAP can provide nine meals for every one meal provided by a food bank, we are working to put this resource at the forefront of our fight. Enrollment case work that is traditionally done in the field has turned remote. However, our work is about ensuring that human connection can remain even when clients and caseworkers aren’t in the same room.
To meet this demand while we shelter-in-place, we are building an accessible platform for outreach workers to reliably connect with clients. Our new platform Johnnie, named after the visionary welfare activist Johnnie Tillmon, will enable client management from anywhere and is built with client dignity at the center. This past week, we released a very basic feature, in partnership with Catholic Charities, to help CBOs call users who have screened eligible with our screener. We aim to build with our partners, not just for our partners.
In coming iterations, features of Johnnie will include:
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Texting, calling, or emailing a client based on their preferred communication
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Helping a client submit documents for their application
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Viewing documents a client has submitted to verify their application information
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Keeping track of a client’s progress through the enrollment process (Eligible, Applied, Outstanding Documents, Needs to Interview, etc.)
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Tracking your outreach metrics like the number of calls made, number of people enrolled, and time spent on outreach
Empowering this tireless essential workforce with this technology ensures that they can be at the fingertips of clients, when they are needed the most.
