Voice-Mail Service For Homeless Will Expand

By Julia Sommerfeld

Seattle Times staff reporter

A Seattle-based nonprofit that provides homeless people with free voice-mail accounts will be able to nearly triple the number of phone numbers it doles out, thanks to a $2.5 million grant from Cisco Systems Foundation.

Community Voice Mail provides voice-messaging systems to about 24,000 people without phones nationwide, including about 5,000 in Washington state.

Being able to put a consistent phone number on a résumé or apartment application "helps remove the stigma of the homeless status," said Jennifer Brandon, executive director of Community Voice Mail.

The grant, to be announced today, will be delivered over five years and will allow the program to expand from 37 to 65 cities. Washington, which is served in 11 regions, including Bellingham, Pasco, Spokane and Vancouver, won't likely add new service areas but will gain more phone numbers to distribute, Brandon said.

Michael Yutrzenka, senior manager of Cisco corporate philanthropy, said the networking corporation got behind the program after Cisco employees who had been volunteering for Community Voice Mail brought the nonprofit to the attention of the company's philanthropy department.

Yutrzenka added that Cisco also has donated office space and a new voice-mail delivery system that eventually will allow users to check e-mail messages over voice mail.

Last fall, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' proposed budget would have cut the city's $19,000 contribution to the program, but an outpouring of public support led the City Council to restore funds.

Fifty percent of Community Voice Mail's clients looking for jobs found employment and 65 percent of homeless users found housing, according to statistics the program collected last year.

For more information on how to get a Community Voice Mail account, visit www.cvm.org or call 206-441-7872.

Julia Sommerfeld: 206-464-2708 or jsommerfeld@seattletimes.com

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