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What Spokane is asking for

People come to the Spokane Community Assistant with a need. This page shows, in aggregate, what those needs are and how well the community's services answered them. It is meant for residents, service providers, funders, and the city: a live, anonymous needs assessment.

Last 90 days · updated hourly · 274 requests in 54 conversations

Requests
274
Weak or no match
9%
a service gap signal
Crisis responses
14
hotline script shown
Rated helpful

By kind of help

The dark part of each bar is requests that got a weak or no match.

Health & Wellness
76
Family & Youth Services
38
Utilities & Financial Assistance
31
Legal Aid & Clinics
25
Housing & Shelter
24
Food & Nutrition
21
Employment & Education
19
Immigrant, Refugee & Cultural Services
16

Specific needs

Finer labels; one request can carry several.

legal aid
26
senior services
15
mental health counseling
15
food pantry
15
utility assistance
14
other
14
disability services
12
health insurance
12
childcare
11
caregiver support
11

By area

Where people searched from, by ZIP code rolled up into ten regions. Shown only when a ZIP was entered.

Northeast Spokane
57
South Hill
57
West Spokane & West Plains
46
Spokane Valley
35
North County
22

Language

1% of requests were spoken rather than typed.

en
259

Urgency

How soon the help was needed, as far as the request made clear.

unknown
204
planning
31
this week
14

How this is made

The assistant never stores what a person typed or said. Each request is reduced to fixed labels (the kind of help, how urgent, which services were suggested and how well they matched, the ZIP code if one was entered, and the language) and the words are discarded. Nothing about who is asking is recorded. This page shows only groups of 10 or more requests.

The same numbers are available as open data at /api/needs (JSON, updated hourly). Read the privacy notice for the full rule. Service providers who see a gap in their area and want to be listed can write to vivek@plainwords.io.

A product of Plain Words LLC, built by Vivek Patil. In an emergency call 911. For crisis support, call or text 988.