In an effort to help those who find themselves out of touch in an interlinked world, community organizations are rolling out voicemail systems so homeless and low-income Canadians can access low-cost messaging services.

According to recent Statistics Canada figures, more than 156,000 households, or 1.2 per cent of Canadian residents, don't have any telephone service at all.

Add homeless Canadians - estimated to be about 150,000 nationwide - into the mix, and there's an even larger segment that finds it virtually impossible to connect with others for work, health or family reasons.

And while some U.S. companies are stepping up to offer free voicemail access to the needy, Canadian businesses appear to still be at the starting gate.

"Community voicemail is a very interesting concept, though not one I've encountered before," says Mark Langton, vice-president at Telus Consumer Solutions. "We'd certainly look at an opportunity like this, if it's driven by a grassroots organization with a presence in the communities in which we operate."

In the U.S., however, the dollars are already flowing.

Community Voice Mail (CVM), headquartered in Seattle, is gearing up to expand to 65 sites in the top 50 U.S. cities by population with a goal of serving 65,000 people by 2008. It has received a $2.5-million grant from the Cisco Systems Foundation and lists a number of other foundations and businesses as contributors over the years.

However, officials at Cisco's Canadian operation, when contacted for this story, were intrigued but unfamiliar by the idea of a community voicemail program, although they say they plan to look into it.

One prominent Canadian businessman who agrees there is a need for accessible voicemail is Frank O'Dea, co-founder of the coffee chain Second Cup.

"You can't look for a job if you have no place for employers to leave a message," says O'Dea.

O'Dea talks from firsthand experience, having himself experienced life down and out on the streets as a young man. "It was easier for me to panhandle on Skid Row to get enough money to sleep at a flophouse than to get a cheque (from a family member), as I had no place to cash it," O'Dea recalls. "Worse than that, if I applied for a job, how could I leave a message? There was no way for them to call me back.

"The mountains became enormous over the silliest things most of us in society don't even think about."

O'Dea, who has since sold his stake in the coffee chain, says if community voicemail had existed when he was drinking wine in alleys, getting off the streets would have been easier.

However, he's not surprised that Canadian businesses haven't emerged as leaders in offering voicemail as a community service.

"Most of us running a business are concerned about the bottom line and the return to our shareholders," says O'Dea.

So community agencies are stepping in to fill the gap. The Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre Society, which usually serves about 1,100 people per night, is in the midst of trying to start up its own version of a community voicemail system.

"Most of the homeless people don't have a way to be contacted," says Bruno Gagne, IT manager at the centre. Even though a person can give the Centre's number as a contact point, Gagne notes, "when somebody answers and says this is the Calgary Drop-In Centre, it's not really a good image to present to an employer (if you're looking for work.)" A business plan is in place and the centre has budgeted to cover 20 per cent of the $160,000 required to run a system of 1,000 voicemail boxes for three years. It will also provide the space to house the equipment necessary to operate the system, and is looking at eventually rolling out the project citywide by working with other similar agencies.

Ultimately Gagne foresees 25,000 voicemail boxes active in Calgary. But while the response to its fund-raising drive has been well received, the dollars aren't coming in, he says.

Toronto has had more success in introducing a community voicemail system.

Barry Presement, president of Toronto-based company Voice~Link, is one of the few in the corporate sector who is fully knowledgeable about community voicemail systems in Canada. He also believes in giving back to the community.

"I was told a long time ago, there are three things you do with money: You save some, you spend some and you give some away," says Presement.

He decided to do the last after coming across a small newspaper article about community voicemail about 16 years ago. That led him to Tom Allen, who was working as outreach worker at Toronto's Central Neighbourhood House (CNH), an inner-city community centre that offers family and senior support programs.

Allen had met a rooming-house resident who told him how difficult it was to secure an apartment or a job without a phone. Potential landlords and employers "simply had no way to return the man's calls," recalls Presement.

Allen initially set up a PC-based voicemail system, but it had limited capacity and the voice quality wasn't great. With excess capacity in his own company's system, Presement offered to help out and see how it would work.

The system has since gone through three upgrades and now serves 33 different agencies, including CNH, which has 750 voicemail boxes and is being used at 100 per cent capacity.

CNH charges $10 for three months of access to the voicemail system. CNH community co-ordinator Kelly O'Sullivan says she would like to reduce costs to the user, especially for the initial three-month period, but is hampered by a lack of funds.

Voice~Link, which supplies the voicemail system to CNH and others at below-market rates, was initially limited to providing the service to the Greater Toronto region. But that has changed.

"We're very amendable to expanding this. I've seen people with good results and it makes us feel good," says Presement. "Now we can pretty well do it in major centres across the country."

Corporate involvement also helped launch a voicemail program in Manitoba.

IBM Canada and the Royal Bank partnered with Manitoba's Department of Family Services and Housing in 2000 for a program to provide 1,500 voicemail boxes to community agencies to distribute to individuals at no cost to the user.

Since then, most of the players have changed and community agencies are playing a larger role, including taking over the administration of what is now called Connect 2.

"There are currently 37 community-based agencies that participate in the voicemail service," says Louis Leclerc, acting executive director for employment income assistance programs for the Manitoba, Family Services and Housing Department.

As of Jan. 31, 2006, there were 2,165 voicemail boxes within the Connect 2 system, says Leclerc.

Of these, 1,091 voicemail boxes were being used by individuals, representing an increase of 191 active voicemail boxes from 2005 to 2006.

Started to assist low-income individuals in Winnipeg to maintain contact with potential employers and various agencies, the service was designed to reduce barriers to employment.

"From our perspective, it's been a positive project. It has served to connect our client group to employers. It has had a positive impact on job seeking, training, education and employers trying to get hold of prospective employees," says Leclerc.

Making Contact

* Community voicemail is a system where low-income individuals and the homeless can have access to telephone messaging services.

* In the Toronto area it goes under the name Metro Voice Mail. In Vancouver, it's Call'n'Post Voicemail, but the service is generally the same. In Winnipeg, it's Connect 2.

* Offered primarily by community-based organizations, users get access to a voicemail box, where prospective employers, service agencies or family and friends can reach them.

* Costs are minimal to the user. In Ontario, one program charges $10 for three months. In Vancouver, monthly rates start at $3 and discounts are offered on purchases of four or 12 months. In Winnipeg, the service is offered for free. In Calgary, a system is being looked at that would also be free to the user.

* Operational costs are covered by the community groups and any sponsors they may find.

* Officials say the demand is there and that users have found it makes a difference in their lives.

* Former NDP MP Nelson Riis and current NDP House Leader Libby Davies have championed the cause. However, a private member's bill put forward in the House of Commons failed to pass. It would have mandated the CRTC to establish regulations requiring telephone companies to provide support to community agencies for affordable voicemail service to the phoneless or homeless.

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)