Create Web-Trackers to Pinpoint Community Resources

When Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston, in 2017, Amina Qutub helped create a website to aid people in finding resources like housing and groceries. So when the coronavirus pandemic shut down businesses and schools, Qutub, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio, took action again. Along with a group of faculty, staff, and students, she developed a website to help people find food and personal protective equipment.

The Covid-19 Resources & Recovery Site also offers maps of the disease’s spread in Texas and real-time information on business closures and testing. The site allows users to upload information about where to find products, including those in short supply, such as hand sanitizer. While the Hurricane Harvey site was live only briefly, the coronavirus website is now a go-to resource for the community.

“It became something much bigger than just something that was up for a few days,” she told The Chronicle. “It’s turned into something much bigger. There’s a need for it.”

Other colleges have also set up web-tracking tools for their communities. At Stanford University, students in a data class made an interactive map of where free meals were being offered across California’s Bay Area — a crucial resource for families who rely on free or reduced-cost school lunches for their children. When the coronavirus led to the closure of schools, many families were left wondering about their student’s next meal.

The map, devised in coordination with local school districts, details 441 grab-and-go meal sites across 10 counties. “We felt frustrated about the amount of disruption this was causing to many people’s lives in the Bay Area,” Joyce Tagal, a graduate student who worked on the project, said in a news release. “So we jumped on a call to see what we could do to help.”

How is your institution contributing to the “war effort” against the coronavirus? Tell us here.