Sojourner honored with Milwaukee Business Journal Tech Award

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Sojourner was awarded the Milwaukee Business Journal 2021 Tech Award in the Social Impact category for developing the Centralized Data System (CDS) for use among Family Peace Center agencies.

The Milwaukee Business Journal received nearly 50 applications. Winner profiles will be included in the Milwaukee Business Journal's April 16 issue. 

Other Milwaukee Business Journal 2021 Tech Award winners include GE Healthcare, Advocate Aurora Health, WaterStone Mortgage, Exacta Corp., Fiveable and Children’s Wisconsin. Read the full list here.

CDS history, key benefits

In 2016, Sojourner staff led an FPC project team, with guidance from a volunteer technology advisory group, to begin searching for an off-the-shelf technology solution to improve coordination of services, the client experience and to better measure outcomes across the FPC.

Finding none, the team set out to develop their own solution and engaged Ledgeview to design a system for FPC agencies using the cloud-based Salesforce platform. FPC partners were instrumental in the development and testing stages. Four years later, Sojourner launched the new Centralized Data System at the Family Peace Center (FPC) in January 2021. Funding for the CDS came from two sources; the OVW Polyvictimization grant and HWPP Breaking the Cycle collective impact initiative.

The CDS system is user-friendly, intuitive, mobile-device friendly, includes FPC-wide chat functionality and is highly customizable. FPC’s CDS users report feeling comfortable with and confident in the technology and view the change as extremely positive for staff and clients alike.

Key benefits of the CDS include:

  • Consistent, automated screening and referral functionality

  • Complies with regulations regarding client safety, confidentiality and consent

  • Automates and standardizes methods to identify children in need of support and manage their care

Why the CDS is truly groundbreaking

The CDS’s ability to guide FPC users to systematically ask about children, assess their needs and make referrals to service is a critical step toward breaking the cycle of generational violence. FPC users report the CDS helps them feel more knowledgeable and supportive of asking about and identifying services for children impacted by family violence.

Development of the CDS is a major step forward to support individuals and families in their journey of safety, advocacy and healing – and a step toward preventing domestic violence in future generations. We would like to offer the CDS technology to other co-located service providers throughout the U.S., helping them also improve coordination of care, the client experience and outcomes for domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking survivors and their families. We hope that the technology we pioneered will help heal trauma and end generational violence nationwide.

Sojourner