By Alex Fitzpatrick2013-05-13 19:52:09 UTCAsk the average American what comes to mind when they think of Silicon Valley, and you'll often hear answers about the area's booming technology sector. Less discussed even among the technology community is the skyrocketing number of poor and homeless people who live just miles from the doorsteps of such business behemoths as Google and Amazon.
Silicon Valley's technologists are beginning to pay close attention to the problem, which is evidenced by a 20% rise in homelessness over the last two years, a dramatic increase in food stamp participation and a drop in average income for minority groups.
Online crowdfunding platform Benevolent may present one possible solution as it moves into San Jose, Calif., thanks to a $200,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Benevolent applies a Kiva-style model to aiding people's escape from poverty: Those in critical need of a one-time purchase to continue making money, such as a new set of tools or a work uniform, can apply for a crowdfunded donation from Benevolent's users through a local non-profit. Benevolent sends donations as grants to the non-profit to help ensure the money is used for its intended purpose by approved recipients.
Like Kiva, recipients have profile pages that list their needs and their goals, personalizing the giving experience. Unlike Kiva, the money is a donation rather than a microloan — recipients of Benevolent's benevolence aren't expected to repay the site's users.
While Benevolent founder Megan Kashner is a 20-year social worker rather than a Silicon Valley insider, she told Mashable the Knight Foundation "introduced" Benevolent to "the challenges faced by the Silicon Valley area."
"The Knight Foundation has a specific focus on certain communities around the country and Sillicon Valley is one of them," said Kashner.
Kashner acknowledges small donations are rarely "the singular thing that moves a family from poverty to sustainability." Rather, she views Benevolent's role as complimenting hard work and whatever government assistance a Benevolent funds recipient receives.
"There is often one thing that none of us in any of the social service agencies, workforce development programs or schools have at our disposal which is that liquid cash, if you will, to say, 'oh, we can help you get your car fixed to help you continue to work at this job we helped you get,' or 'oh yes, we can help you with this security deposit now that you have left domestic violence and you're ready to move forward,'" said Kashner.
"So it's that this particular hurdle is often the stumbling block, it's never the single thing that helps somebody escape poverty, but it is often this little thing that stops them from being able to complete their goals or their dreams," she said.
Kashner added that Silicon Valley as a whole is in the "early stages of figuring out how they want to be a part of the solution" to the area's poverty problem. She agues that the biggest technology companies' isolation from their surrounding communities explains why they've been sluggish to address the issue.
"What's interesting about Silicon Valley is that many of the biggest tech firms, people come into work during the day, they come in by train, they come in by bus, they are provided with the opportunity to do everything they need to do throughout the day at work right there on the corporate campus," said Kashner. "So they can eat, they can exercise, they can get their dry cleaning done, they can do so many things right there on the campus, that because of that positive work environment it actually means that people are less likely to step out off the campus and into the community and interact with and experience what's going on around them."
"And there's no blame to that, there's nothing negative about that, until you start to look at these divergences and it means you need particularly creative solutions rather than the way that companies usually exist within the community, this is going to require some different and more creative solutions," she added.
Should technologists be more involved with helping Silicon Valley's working poor? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Image via David McNew/Getty Images
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