Initiative connects homeless to voice mail.

• Author: Brown, Corinne
• Position: TELECOMMUNICATIONS - Brief article

Telecommunications and humanity have hooked up in an initiative to help the homeless find jobs and get off the streets. Colorado Community Voicemail, founded in 2004, is a critical element of Mayor John Hickenlooper's Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.

Spearheaded by Multi-Link and Liberty Bell Telecom, small-business telecom and computing specialists headed by Nigel Alexander, the Colorado Community Voicemail program provides a reliable communication system between human-services agencies and their clients. Other sponsors of the program include Sunguard and Faegre & Benson LLP.

Although the program has been around four years, its efforts on behalf of the homeless has been a quiet quest, with little fanfare. And that's OK with Alexander.

"You know, apart from the launch in 2004 when the city of Denver did a fair amount of PR, we have never really sought to publicize the program, except to the participants and agencies," he says.

The program allows the homeless and other disadvantaged individuals to maintain contact with family and loved ones...