IFSSA's Preparations

1. 1.Identifying meaningful indicators & articulating clearly the impact we want to have through a six-month cohort with Dialogues in Action.
2. 2.Working with the University of Alberta, MacEwan University, and Roundhouse to examine current processes from a Public Health lens and conduct a literature review.
3. 3.Working with the Edmonton Social Planning Council, University of Calgary, and NorQuest College to do deep-research on long-term clients and the roots of dependency on our services.
4. 4.Working with Communities United, an umbrella group of North East Edmonton social service organizations to identify approaches for shared referrals and scalable solutions.

What IFSSA can bring

1. 1.5+ years of client data
   ​IFSSA has 5 years of data on clients, their usage patterns, demographics, and services accessed, as well as practical experience on data gathering habits, challenges & routines.
2. 2.Sector experience & partnerships
   ​IFSSA has 25+ years of social services experience & strong partnerships across the sector that would support adoption and rollout of a robust referral network. IFSSA has been championing common intake within several umbrella groups.
3. 3.Support building the market
   ​We believe the creation of an ML based intake system would lead to marketable products with strong revenue potential that can deliver value to non-profits and insights to policy makers, planners and others.
4. 4.Charitable status
   ​IFSSA's charitable status allows us to issue in-kind tax receipts and apply for grant funding.
5. 5.Positive press, employee engagement, employee attraction/ retention
   ​We believe this project will have numerous positive aspects for our partners, including good press, stronger employee engagement, fresh leads, and new revenue streams.
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The Future

Our new intake system needs to…

1. 1.Move from interrogation→ conversation.
2. 2.Prioritize mental health and holistic assessment. We need to recognize the assets clients come with, not just deficiencies and demographics. We need to identify tailored referrals based on the client's specific circumstances. eg. skills, primary language, neighbourhood, number of kids, socialization, etc.
3. 3.Use a systematic line of questioning to identify the goals that will have the highest impact. The LifeWorks Self-Sufficiency Matrix is something we want to build upon.
4. 4.Facilitate more disciplined practice of ongoing conversations with clients, including follow-ups on goals, referrals, etc.
   ​eg. Every visit to the food bank should be an opportunity to discuss progress, work on roadblocks, and move towards accomplishing goals. Goals may be as small as increasing positive socialization, a simple budget, getting employment ready, or finding affordable housing.
5. 5.Automate referrals to clients, and push new opportunities to clients when appropriate.
   ​eg. Pre-register a client for when a new language skills class is starting for women who speak Arabic and English at level ≤ 5 with 3+ dependents, and no prior EI claims.
   ​eg. Automatically inform clients when an application for HeadStart opens
6. 6.Build solutions based on the proliferation of smartphones — the new system should allow an intake to happen anywhere someone can use their smartphone.
7. 7.Securely transmit client data between organizations and reduce the need for clients to repeat their story again and again.
8. 8.Incrementally improve, and adapt to changing circumstances nimbly.

Next Steps

We're interested in co-creating tools that harness machine learning to positively change peoples lives. We're open to a variety of approaches and options. We'd like to discuss what co-creation could like.

Omar Yaqub MBA BSc
​[email protected]
​Servant of Servants (ED), IFSSA
​780 695 7477