Many people living in the US are entitled to citizenship but have not taken the steps to become a citizen. Often they need help to complete their citizenship application. A number of organisations across the US provide this assistance. A common way to do this is by holding events, in multiple languages. At these events volunteers and lawyers help individuals understand their eligibility and complete the necessary paperwork. Demand for this service is growing and technology can help meet the increased demand. The organisations offering this service need a way to manage the registration process. They need to track the progress and results of events and use the information to become more efficient.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) supports community based organisations. Among these is a group of immigration legal service providers who help people understand their rights and immigration options. These charities work with people who have been living and working in the US for years, but may be at risk of deportation. They have fewer rights than US citizens, including, for example, the right to vote.

We worked with SVCF and CET to understand their problems and plans for the future, and to see how a digital solution might help. We helped simplify and automate their processes with a custom digital system.

The e-immigrate booking system helps organisations manage higher numbers of event registrations and attendees. The automated multilingual phone line saves staff time. It gives a more accurate idea of the number of people that will come to each event and which languages those people speak. When someone registers they receive a confirmation by text or email. The organisations can also send them information and reminders about the event.

The complementary Measurement, Evaluation, Referral System (MERS) is a data collection tool. It records important information at events, in real time. The organisations can manage the flow of people through events, report on outcomes for participants, and record demographic data. The events are busy and take time to organise so the data collection tool had to be simple and easy to slot into their current process. By testing and iterating we worked out a great, non-intrusive way to collect data at events. We were able to get it right by understanding the process and creating systems with simple features. We then tested these at events and listened to user feedback to understand how we could improve those systems.