Roadmap

The five phases toward the launch of our Rapid Response Pilod

We have planned the launch of our Rapid Response Pilot along five phases:

Phase 1 (Dec): Finalizing internal processes and infrastructure

In December 2020, we are focusing finalizing the internal processes and conducting background research we've been working on for the past few months. First, our internal processes: we developed a mission statement, values, and community agreements to guide our work together. On the tech side, we’re setting up structures to support our internal communication and documents as well as the hotline, using secure, non-corporate platforms whenever possible.

Phase 2 (Jan-Feb): Researching community needs and goals

Building on already existing information from research conducted during Phase 1, in January and February 2021, we will conduct outreach to understand what local communities’ want out of a resource like this and to begin recruiting volunteers. This will include surveys and focus groups of Koreatown residents, community organizers, businesses, unhoused communities, and social service providers, and other groups to understand what kinds of emergencies people have encountered, why they do (or don’t) call the police, what kind of alternatives they would like to have access to, and what would inspire their trust in a rapid response line. Through this outreach, we will also encourage people who are interested in the project to join us as volunteers.

Phase 3 (Feb-Mar): Mapping types of crises and responses

Based on our data analysis of 911 calls in 2019, we will determine the types of calls, time of day for calls, and the geographic areas that our responders will cover. We will create processes that hotline dispatchers follow to assess the situation and decide how to respond. At this point, we will create an onboarding process and training curriculum for dispatchers and responders with the guidance and support of experts in the field. When it’s possible, we will partner with other organizations to offer a wider range of trainings.

Phase 4 (Apr-May): Recruiting and training volunteers

We will focus on recruiting and training volunteers by coordinating with other local organizations and rapid response hotlines to recruit volunteers. Once we have enough trained volunteers and have created enough awareness, we will prepare to launch the hotline.

Phase 5 (June): Launch

We will launch the hotline on June 1st with the expectation to run the pilot for a minimum of three months, between June 1st and August 31st. Starting on August 1st, we will engage in an internal assessment to determine whether and how to extend the pilot into a permanent hotline, what lessons we have learnt, and what changes to make moving forward.

Throughout the pilot’s period, we will continue to do outreach in the form of presentations to other organizations, tabling at events, social media, and other channels to get the word out about the hotline and the services we provide. We will establish assessment measures to ensure that we are continually learning and improving. To ensure that our assessments are responsive to community needs, we may establish a steering committee that includes groups we want to be responsive to (unhoused people, businesses, youth, etc).