Blog

Like many Southern Californians, I am horrified and saddened by the burgeoning number of individuals who are homeless in our community. According to the Los Angeles Times, the number has grown to 60,000 a 23% increase over last year.

Why?

Lisa Gaeta, is the founder and chief executive officer of IMPACT Personal Safety-SoCal, a nonprofit whose classes offer assertiveness and awareness skills, boundary-setting, verbal strategies, and full-force physical assailant defense to people of all ages.

But Lisa was considering early retirement from a job—really a cause—about which she is passionate--due to excruciating pain, compromised mobiliy, and the fact that she had no medical insurance to pay for the necessary surgery.

There are apps to order a ride and food and apps to find dates and dog walkers. But what about an app to help the 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps, otherwise known as the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) to feed their families? Calling an 800 number to check one’s balance or maintaining an ongoing tally of purchases are cumbersome and time consuming.

Brooklyn-based Propel, a social enterprise that builds first-class software products for low-income Americans, is addressing this need.