CVM

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=125 BGCOLOR="#996699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="08e467d1erlcll.png"> <div> <B>Worker Center, AFL-CIO</B><B> </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Worker Center, AFLCIO"><U>Home Page</U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0ef6d730.png" border=0 width="109" height="115" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.cvm.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.cvm.org"><U><B>www.cvm.org</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Community Voice Mail Update</B></div> <bR> <div> For ten years, Community Voice Mail has empowered homeless people in Seattle to find job leads, training opportunities and other employment support free from the stigma of their homeless status. CVM provides a personal voice mail box and a connection to local service organizations.</div> <div>  </div> <div> CVM started in Seattle in 1991 as a project of the Worker Center. It was the first community-based use of telecommunications technology for homeless and phoneless people in the country. CVM won a <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><U>Ford Foundation - Harvard Kennedy School of Government Innovation Award</U></FONT> in 1993 and has been featured in numerous news media across the country, including Inc Magazine, the New York Times, and Voice+ Magazine. CVM is now an independent organization with sites in 40 cities.</div> <bR> <div> Community Voice Mail is a basic telecommunications system shared by an entire community of social services agencies to keep their phoneless and homeless clients connected to opportunity and support. Community Voice Mail systems are stand-alone voicemail computers linked to telephone lines and Direct Inward Dials (DIDs) that are purchased from the phone company. </div> <bR> <div> The hundreds or thousands of DIDs correspond to voicemail boxes. A CVM Director distributes the voicemail boxes to hundreds of agencies across a community; the agencies in turn provide clients with personalized, 7-digit phone numbers that can be accessed from any touch-tone phone, 24 hours a day.</div> <bR> <div> Read a recent article on CVM in the Seattle Times, <A HREF="http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=voicemail17m&date=20010317" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.co"><U>"</U></A><A HREF="http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=voicemail17m&date=20010317" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.co"><U>Messages of hope on voice mail"</U></A> .</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>