Background

In a previous post, we discussed an article from Harvard Business Review, which identified four essential elements of a successful social movement. In this post, we will focus on the third of these elements as it relates to Johego: planning.

It’s not especially insightful to observe that the rapid proliferation of smartphone technology has dramatically changed the way many people find information, seek out entertainment, and obtain goods and services. To cite just two examples, with the tap of a few buttons, smartphone owners can order and pick up take-out in a matter of minutes, and they can just as easily catch a ride with a private chauffeur, day or night.

In the United States, where more than 45 million people are living in poverty, we believe that revolutionizing community engagement is every bit as important as the previously mentioned conveniences. Fortunately, millions of people also want to become more engaged in their communities. Unfortunately, many don’t know how, or where, or when to do so. Johego exists to make that problem go away.

Currently, we are putting the finishing touches on the beta version of our application, which we are hoping to make available for your use during the next few weeks. As an initial proof-of-concept, the beta app will enable smartphone owners in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area to quickly and easily refer members of their community to nearby social services that address their needs, and to provide them directions to such services. More details will be provided when we the beta app goes live. In the meantime, here is how this milestone fits in the bigger picture:

In order to finish the full version of the application and to expand toward a nationwide directory of social service providers, we will need to put together a larger and more sustainable team than our current group of scrappy volunteers. Right now, we are working with a variety of technical experts to carefully estimate the time and materials required to bring the project to scale. We will let you know as soon as we are able to put together precise figures. In the meantime, please stay tuned for regular updates on our work. Thank you for reading.

– Michael

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In a previous post, we discussed an article from Harvard Business Review, which identified four essential elements of a successful social movement. In this post, we will focus on the second of these elements as it relates to Johego: shared values.

In the United States, more than 45 million people live in poverty, including one in five children. In addition, approximately 600 thousand people are homeless, around ten percent of whom are military veterans.

If you believe that more must be done in order to address such profound destitution, you are not alone. In the United States, there are more than one million charities, 300 thousand congregations, and two thousand federal assistance programs working to alleviate poverty. However, only one quarter of US residents participated in volunteer opportunities last year.

What can be done to get more people involved? Based on our research, people are more likely to engage in community development when one or both of the following are true:

• They feel like their contribution is likely to make a meaningful impact.
• They have a personal connection to a particular cause or to those supporting the cause.

With that in mind, here’s one more statistic: in the United States, there are more than 180 million smartphone users. We see this as a tremendous opportunity to address both significant motivators for community development:

• Our app will provide users with a directory of nearby social services — food banks, job training centers, etc. — so that, with the tap of a few buttons, users become able to direct members of their community to resources that address their needs in a very meaningful way.
• In addition, our app will leverage social media to make it easier for users to find, organize, and engage in volunteer opportunities with friends and with organizations that match their interests.

We’re convinced that we can build stronger communities together. We hope you are too.

– Michael

Want to support Johego or learn more? Follow us on social media & let us know what you think:

In a previous post, we discussed an article from Harvard Business Review, which identified four essential elements of a successful social movement. In this post, we will focus on the first of these elements as it relates to Johego: clarity of purpose.

In the most general sense, the purpose of Johego is to make it easier for people to become more constructively engaged in their communities, so that more people participate in activities that strengthen their communities. We believe that our smartphone application will do just that. Here’s how:

First, our app will make it easier to directly help people in need. By leveraging publicly available databases, we will provide users with a directory of social service providers — from food banks to job training centers — so that, with the tap of a few buttons, users will be able to find nearby services, review testimonials about their quality and availability, then refer members of their community to those providers that meet their needs.

Second, by leveraging social media and other platforms, our app will make it easier to find formal volunteer opportunities that match users’ interests. It will also enable users to rate the quality of their various volunteer experiences, and it will even allow them to schedule their own events with friends or with the general public.

Finally, our app will make it easier for researchers and advocacy groups to study the nature of poverty in their communities. The app will confidentially record the time, location, and nature of social service referrals and volunteer events created with the app. Such data will enable service providers to target their efforts with an unprecedented level of precision.

It is our hope that, taken together, these innovations will empower and inspire greater participation in activities that help build stronger communities. Be sure to stay tuned for discussions on why this is so important, and how we plan to accomplish our goals.

– Michael

Want to support Johego or learn more? Follow us on social media & let us know what you think:

Last week, on Facebook and on other social media platforms, I shared an article from Harvard Business Review regarding the elements required for a successful social movement. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, I highly recommend that you do.

Comparing a variety of social movements, from Occupy Wall Street to the Arab Spring, the article identifies four elements that are required for these endeavors to be successful: clearly defined goals and objectives, shared values with key constituents, an effective plan of action, and a nurtured connection to the mainstream.

In many respects, although Johego has been spending a lot of time developing a smartphone application, it is also engaged in building a kind of social movement. After all, our success is dependent on how much our application is used. To that end, in the next couple of blog posts, we will be sharing some of our intentions for addressing the four elements identified above. As we do, we will want to hear from you: connect with us on social media, or send us a message directly on our Contact page to let us know what you think. Your feedback is extremely valuable. We look forward to hearing from you!

– Michael

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It’s a question I’ve been asked more frequently than I’d like to admit, so I thought I would share our reasons.

I first seriously considered founding a nonprofit while I was living in Seattle. During my deliberations, I chanced across the Iroquois story of The Three Sisters, which relates to the ancient practice of companion planting squash, corn, and beans in order to increase their yields.

Companion planting involves carefully controlling the spacing of seeds and the timing of their planting, so as to maximize their various physical and chemical compatibilities. Physically, the corn provides a vertical structure for the beans to climb, while the squash prevents sunlight from reaching the soil, thereby making it harder for weeds to compete. Chemically, the beans pull nitrogen from the air and store it in the soil, where the corn and the squash are able to utilize it.

As interesting as these biological insights may be, their philosophical implications were, for me, even more profound: with a little careful planning, these plants grow considerably better together than they do separately. After all, that is the function of human community as well: we organize ourselves into groups, in large part, because we believe we can build a better life together than on our own.

Inspired by this story, I reached out to a scholar of Iroquois languages, and he indicated that the Seneca people, who are one of the six Iroquois nations, refer to The Three Sisters in ceremonial speeches as Jöhéhgöh, which literally translates to “what we live on.” In order to make our name easier to spell, but still wanting to honor the story of The Three Sisters, we decided to name our organization Johego.

We hope that, with careful planning and hard work, our smartphone application will help us build stronger communities together.

– Michael

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Although it’s impossible to identify everyone and everything that inspired us to start Johego, it definitely involved free coffee and donuts.

After church one Sunday morning, I decided to stick around for free coffee and donuts. Little did I know that I would witness a conversation that would change my life:

Over the course of a few minutes, an elderly man introduced himself to a haggard stranger, patiently inquired about his needs, and effortlessly directed him to various facilities where he could get a hot shower, a warm meal, and other assistance. It was clear that the elderly man had been active in his community for a long time, and that the knowledge he shared was able to improve his neighbor’s life in a very meaningful way. It was also clear that I wanted to possess such knowledge myself.

Unfortunately, such valuable information can be incredibly hard to obtain and even harder to keep up-to-date. Johego was created to make this process easier, so that everyone with a smartphone can be empowered to become agents for positive change in their communities.

– Michael

Want to support Johego or learn more? Follow us on social media & let us know what you think: