The economic recession has created a surge in unemployment and foreclosures in Chicago.  Mercy Housing Lakefront and The CARA Program have partnered to launch the Cleanslate Property Services social enterprise to create jobs for hard-to-employ individuals working to clean-up, board-up, and maintain vacant homes.  We would use the proceeds from the N2Y4 Mobile Challenge to research, identify, and pilot the use of mobile devices to upload property inspection data to an online database.  Ultimately, this technology will enable us to monitor and protect thousands of homes.

Housing seekers, and the professionals that support them, will interact with three distinct data sets (and eventually four in later iterations of the site). Single point amenities will expose the convenience a neighborhood offers - financial institutions, schools, libraries, public transportation options, healthcare, government services, etc. Affordable housing opportunities, culled from the government agencies that fund them, will offer opportunities for housing seekers of limited means to take advantage of neighborhoods previously closed to them. Finally, a database of "neighborhood opportunities" - the programs and activities of community based organizations uploaded by said organizations, will connect new residents with new communities and put them on a path to true integration. Mapping faetures will be complemented by guides, worksheets, calendars and calculators.