Having no phone number means having no prospects.
It's virtually impossible to apply for a job, handle legal affairs, arrange appointments with doctors, or even keep in contact with family.
Community voicemail has now come to Prince George to defeat those communication hurdles for people in poverty.
"After seeing community voicemail working so successfully in the Lower Mainland, I could see clearly how important that service could be in Prince George, because we really are a hub for the north. If we establish it here, we would be helping a lot of people connected to communities all over the north," said Leo Hebert of the Metis Housing Society.
The group partnered with Lu'ma Native Housing Society in Vancouver, the first to offer the service in Canada after years of widespread use in the United States. It is a system built on a bank of phone numbers that are allocated one by one to people in need.
Prince George is the second Canadian community to use community voicemail and it is already in the works for cities across the country.
The way it works is simple. People in need are given their own phone number. There is no phone provided, and nobody answers if someone rings that number, but the owner can leave a personal greeting and the caller can leave a message. The holder of the phone number can check those messages when and where they get access to a phone.
"We have about 200 numbers out there already," said Kay Robinson, the program's co-ordinator. "We have allocated blocks of numbers to different agencies in Prince George that deal with people who could best use a service like this, so Active Support Against Poverty has some, the Association Advocating for Women and Children has some - places where people most in need of this are likely to come through the doors."
In addition to the open lines of communication with the amenities of life, the service also allows the Metis Housing Society to leave blanket messages for all number-holders letting them know about free services and events going on in the community.
It is also an opportunity for other agencies to do the same, including paid advertising. Cost recovery is a major initiative to ensure the service continues. The Metis Housing Society has contributed about $12,000 in cash and in-kind support to launch the communications service and Lu'ma has also been a contributing partner, but about $70,000 is still needed to keep the system operational.
"Kay is personal proof that this can work," said Hebert. "She was living in hard times, because of some health issues she suffered, but she got a job here as a receptionist and has climbed all the way up to the co-ordinator of the community voice mail project. Because she got connected. If you don't have a phone number, you have no real way of advancing yourself. It's hard to even try. It is such a fundamental obstacle, and we are working to remove that for a lot of people."
Anyone wishing to contribute funds to the initiative or receive a phone number of their own can contact Robinson by email at [email protected] or call 250-564-9794.
