Purple Binder

LOCATION: Chicago then national, United States

Purple Binder

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A software platform for social service providers and healthcare workers, built around a directory of agencies and their services.

Standings & Awards

422 out of 422 in North America
179 out of 179 in Poverty
573 out of 573 in Pilot
555 out of 555 in For-Profit
4003 out of 4003 Overall

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VOTES

Connecting low-income, high-risk populations to resources that improve overall health and well-being.

Purple Binder empowers social workers and healthcare providers to address their clients’ social determinants of health. It centralizes information about social programs and provides a community hub by engaging case workers, social service agencies, and other stakeholders in a software platform. The platform includes a directory of agencies and the services that they provide, with case management software and research tools built around this data.

Purple Binder’s directory will allow social workers to easily find up-to-date information when they need it. Currently, case workers rely on individually compiled lists of service agencies to make referrals, resulting in duplicated efforts to collect information and keep it up-to-date. The directory will provide case workers with a better way to manage referral information, leveraging individual efforts to provide a reliable information commons for an entire community.

All too often, service providers from food pantries to mental health clinics make referrals to other agencies, as do community leaders, police officers, and city workers. Purple Binder would work for them, too, and for anyone trying to navigate the social safety net.

Drawing social workers towards a central platform will make Purple Binder attractive to agencies looking to disseminate information about their services. Agencies frequently change their service offerings due to unstable funding, and Purple Binder would provide agencies with a means to seamlessly “push” updates regarding those changes to an engaged audience of case workers.

This platform will also allow social workers to share their knowledge of the local safety net, and to answer each other’s questions.

Many social service agencies pay high annual subscription fees for case management software that is buggy and difficult to use. By applying modern web development methods, Purple Binder will offer a better service, in the cloud and at lower cost. The potential customer base will already be using the platform.

Usage of Purple Binder will provide aggregate data to create a real-time picture of services and needs in an urban area, an invaluable tool for policymakers and researchers alike.

A proof-of-concept version of the product has been market tested and is currently operational. Purple Binder is poised to launch its public pilot in Chicago on March 15. We are in talks with multiple agencies to be early adopters of the platform.

FIVE PROJECT QUESTIONS Required (60 - 90 minutes)

1. What is your innovation?

To date there have been many attempts to compile accurate referral information for social services, but all have resulted in fragmented lists that rapidly go out of date. Purple Binder’s innovation is to effectively leverage users to maintain the directory, and to build a centralized platform that fosters communication between agencies and case workers.

2. Who gains the most?

Disadvantaged people who rely on the social safety net will be more efficiently connected with programs that address the social determinants of health and opportunity in their lives, such as housing, food, employment, and childcare. Overburdened institutions such as hospital emergency rooms will be able to refer patients to local organizations that better address their needs, lowering re-admission rates and decreasing the overall cost to the healthcare system.

3. Who pays?

Basic access to the directory will be free and open to everyone. Social workers will pay out of pocket for a tool that makes their job easier with additional features such as client referral sheets. Social worker organizations will pay for case management software that is simple to use, well-integrated with a directory of the resources around them, and gives them insight into their case managers’ work. Researchers will pay for access to comprehensive, real-time data on the social safety net.

4. What is your success?

Purple Binder will be the first stop for social workers, healthcare providers, and social service agencies to find services for their clients and patients. Many agencies and case managers will update information in the Purple Binder directory as part of normal operations. Agencies in the same area will become aware of each other and collaborate to help clients. Local governments will use our data to ensure that the safety net is meeting people’s basic needs.

5. How will you do it?

By launching in Chicago, where we have a broad base of connections and an excellent dataset, we can work out operational kinks while maintaining a very high degree of contact with agencies and customers. When launching in new cities we will face the problems of finding early adopters and collecting data, but we will have a solid, proven platform to back our efforts.