Advocates at the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) receive more than 500 incoming phone calls a day from victims and their families, and the hotline needs donations to ensure they can answer each and every call and quickly provide connections to help.

"When you feel like you are alone or do not have a safe place to be when you are calling from a pay phone at the supermarket, you can imagine how devastating it is to not get an answer," said Sheryl Cates, executive director of the NDVH, based in Austin, Texas, and of the Texas Council on Family Violence. The hotline answers 16,000 calls a month, a volume its basic equipment can barely manage. Last year, more than 30,000 calls went unanswered when callers were either put on hold too long or got a busy signal.

According to Cates, the NDVH needs $900,000 in donations to help answer every call and update antiquated telecommunications, computer, and database systems. The funds complement pledged contributions from corporate sponsors that include ESRI, Tele Atlas, IBM, Microsoft, and others. The latter three are members of the ESRI Corporate Alliance group. All are cooperating in a public/private sector Connections Campaign Corporate Partner Consortium that teams telecommunications and technology companies with the federal government to generate a plan for solving the hotline's technical problems.

The consortium is the result of a bill sponsored in 2004 by U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden (D-DE), who is also an original sponsor of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act that led to creation of the NDVH. Consortium members have donated services, hardware, and software to support the plan.

ESRI ArcGIS software will provide the platform to support the variety of geographic datasets used to connect callers with assistance providers. ArcView coupled with ArcGIS Spatial Analyst will also be used to determine trends and/or patterns from historical calls. Such analysis will help the NDVH address agencywide needs as they grow and change over time. A Web-enabled portion will run on either ArcIMS or through ESRI ArcWeb Services. Along with the $500,000 in software, services, and support that ESRI is providing, Tele Atlas (http://www.teleatlas.com) is contributing digital map products. The overall application is slated for completion in October 2005.

Lindsay Hernstrom, ESRI technical marketing analyst and member of the technical team for the NDVH call center application, explained that they are designing an integrated on-screen system that automatically identifies the general geographic area of the incoming phone number, allows search and selection of appropriate services from the database of providers and shelters, and can map the street locations of the selections. The system will maintain caller anonymity.

"The call is not geocoded to the street but to a general geographic level because it is designed to pick up only the area code and three-number prefix," says Hernstrom, adding, "The advocate on the phone needs to be able to drive the application and say, for example, find me a shelter within five miles of the caller that accepts children and has Spanish speakers."

"Since they are often providing a life-saving service, it is important for them to quickly find the most accessible help for the caller. We are proud that our technical expertise and software will help make that possible," said ESRI President Jack Dangermond.

"We know this is going to make a huge difference in the way that we work. Our goal is to make sure that we can help more people," said Cates, adding, "The hotline is depending on donations to implement the final stages of the plan."

To donate or for more information on the NDVH and the Connections Campaign, visit the NDVH Web page at http://www.ndvh.org or call 512-794-1133. For assistance with domestic violence issues, the hotline's 24-hour number is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY for the deaf).

About ESRI

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