Balance Interactive Seaside Oregon Project Selected for Round 2 of Knight News Challenge 2010

A proposal submitted by Balance Interactive for the City of Seaside, Oregon has been selected for Round 2 of the Knight News Challenge 2010.

The proposal, “City of Seaside, Oregon Homebound Resident Communication Tool,” would create a set of modules based on the Drupal content management system.  Small communities throughout the world would be able to use this module set to:

• Collect data on a continuous basis from residents and local community agencies to determine who is home bound and where they are located.
• Provide a communication tool for emergency warnings and information to be disseminated to homebound residents and the local community agencies that support them via SMS text, mobile access and the Internet. 
• Access an interactive map that pinpoints homebound residents, their locations, and their special needs (oxygen, wheelchair, etc); and the ability to manipulate the map to create an evacuation plan for homebound residents.

“Studies show that the most effective ways to reach homebound populations include internet and communication with and through local government and nonprofit agencies.  This solution would create a system to collect information on homebound residents from nonprofit agencies, caregivers and homebound residents themselves within a local community and for communities to better serve these vulnerable residents in cases of emergency,” said Tracy Betts, Balance CEO and proposal author.

Knight News Challenge was developed to seek innovations that use new or available technology to distribute content in local communities. The annual challenge looks for projects that help distribute the news and information needed to improve communities. The Challenge has multiple rounds of screening with winners to be announced in June.  More information is available at http://www.newschallenge.org/