Project: Homeless Smartphone

While homeless, the internet was incredibly important to me. I have long fantasized about there being programs for providing smart phones or tablets to homeless individuals to help them use the internet to problem solve, potentially develop an online income and so forth, just like I did. Ideally, I would like the phones to be supported by information resources.

I have been developing such information resources, including:
This project is intended to develop some means to pre-install the supporting information onto phones or tablets. Possible solutions include a custom ROM or an app.

Ideally, whatever is put onto the phone will make it possible to simply give the phones away with little to no instructions and thereby start hooking up homeless people with vital information relevant to their needs and enhanced ability to access the internet by having their own internet capable device.

Hacker News discussion that inspired the project.

Project: Phone resources:
github.com/DoreenMichele/PocketPuter
Show HN: DoreenMichele/Phone
Potential resources:
Link-SF

Articles:
The best custom ROMs for Android This one was helpful to me.
11+ Best Custom ROMs for Your Android in 2017 (on BigLittleGeek)

Smartphones are a lifeline for homeless people "The real challenge for homeless people, Baez and FitzGibbon say, lies in the maintenance of a phone — finding a place to charge it, maintaining a contract, affording a top up or having enough space for necessary apps."
Also from the article: "Allan Baez, project manager for Mobile4All, says that through his work he consistently sees how mobile phones play a role in stabilising homeless people’s lives." However, the link to Mobile4All is a dead link. The project appears to be defunct.

Fighting Homelessness, One Smartphone at a Time "for people who live on the streets, smartphones are the most efficient way to connect to the Internet"

Related Forum Discussions
Ideas to get the homeless the help needed

Homelessness and the Information Age "When I worked in a small rural town, we dealt with the issue that all state services are only accessed online now, you can't call anyone, they just send you to the website so for all vulnerable populations, including the homeless, this is a real problem."

This is not a static page. It is a place for me to collect resources related to the project. Project start date: April 1, 2018. No, that does not mean this is a joke. At this time, it is mostly an idea. I welcome collaborators.

See update.