HelpAroundTown.com

We solve the first job problem by providing an on-ramp to the workforce. By facilitating local job connections with earned ratings and recommendations, youth build their professional reputation in their community, progressively increasing their professional range, while earning money, experience and expertise.

After the Great Recession, HelpAroundTown was started to create entry-level jobs for youth. Employers only hired people with experience. Young people unable to work and save for college were unable to pursue their education. How could we create entry-level jobs?

By monetizing people's To-Do lists in a trusted community marketplace, we create jobs where there were none. These jobs are a source of income and experience, allowing young people to establish their professional character: they get rated and recommended after a job. HelpAroundTown is LinkedIn for the LinkedOut. It solves the first job problem, while providing youth experience and income.

Since 2011, HelpAroundTown has provided income and experience to thousands of youth, earning $300, $3,000, $7,000 and $10,000 in summer or part-time work.

The City of Somerville partnered with HelpAroundTown to be its job-connecting platform for youth, after receiving a $100,000 Working Cities grant from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to provide work for long-term unemployed Opportunity Youth (<= 24).

The biggest impediment to hire is not knowing whether someone is trustworthy, reliable, punctual, and has good judgment. Through ratings and recommendations earned from jobs done to a growing community, HelpAroundTown solves youths’ first job problem

HelpAroundTown's goal is to create entry-level jobs for youth by connecting them with neighbors who need help.

Youth gain experience, income, and build their professional reputation. Our job tracker has been live on our home page since Day 1. We have facilitated over 5,000 jobs since starting. We cannot track follow on jobs, but are told they are happening.

Entrepreneurial students start, launch and promote their first business on our platform. 

Seniors, busy parents, nonprofits and small businesses benefit from the local flexible help they find. 

Most of our usage so far is in MA, but access is global.

The number of jobs created is already counted and shown live on the HelpAroundTown website. - 5,000 jobs created so far

Our map shows our registered users and jobs posted: HelpAroundTown.com/map

Once we have an app, we'll introduce in app payments to track income generated. - Geographical spread and income earned

When someone gets rated and recommended for a job done on HelpAroundTown, we show on their profile each rating earned, the number of ratings earned, their average, and every comment. We will keep doing that. We are exploring a leaderboard and badging. - Reputation-building and career launching through ratings and recommendations earned from jobs done

To become today’s trusted community marketplace, HelpAroundTown innovates in its combination of features. We combine an open marketplace (Craigslist), with user profiles and endorsements (LinkedIn), geographic-centered information (Yelp) and transaction-based ratings and recommendations. Ratings are mutual, to protect and reward both parties.

A technical HelpAroundTown innovation is the focus on user location, vs. town, which most sites use as a proxy. By making jobs searchable within a mile of one's home, we enable youth who don't drive to find jobs nearby, and seniors to find someone who can walk over to shovel snow, which has been very helpful.

We innovate in the way we integrate parents; so we can create jobs for youth by connecting them with neighbors, making sure the youth are safe.   

Parents have to approve registration of teens 14-15 years old.

They get notified when 16-17 years old apply.

Parents of all minors get an email when their teenager applies to a job. We link to the job and ask them to check it out with their teen and advise them on its appropriateness.

Parents know best what is right for their teen and what is not. We give them the tools.

HelpAroundTown's website is accessible around the world. It is deployed and operational. People have signed up in 40 US States and in 12 countries, including in Spain and in Lebanon. It is free to use, except for commercial advertisers.

HelpAroundTown  launched in Lexington, MA, where a quarter of households use the site.

It has spread organically to users registered in half the towns in MA.

As an online marketplace, HelpAroundTown is usable everywhere. It is useful once there is a critical mass of buyers and providers of services. Solve.mit can help us scale and get the word out.

We have several avenues for funding. Partnerships, seed funding, crowdfunding, and revenue from operations.

Our partnership with the City of Somerville on a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston grant generated funding, as will our partnership with Zemcar. We are exploring a game-changing partnership with a national community news company.

We raised a Friends & Family round at founding, which enabled us to build a robust website, launch, and, on a shoestring budget, run and grow the company for six years.

We are planning a crowdfunding campaign to our 5,000 users and supporters Fall 2017.

We have been selling ads on our website since day 1. Ad prices have gone up steadily as our numbers grow. Having proven our longevity and our effectiveness, we are now a solid advertising partner.

A new freemium model will generate revenue from operations, while maintaining free posting and applying to jobs.

As a community marketplace for help, we intersect with many competitors. Craigslist, TaskRabbit and Care have been there since Day 1. Yet, we have grown, with no monetary incentives and no marketing spend. Our users come because they need our solution.

NextDoor’s community messaging platform continues to grow and spread. A partial substitute, it competes more with listserves and Facebook, and has been very useful as a way of spreading HelpAroundTown.

New competitors are always launching and closing. Coming up with the idea and app is easy. Growing and scaling is hard, but we knew and planned for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lWHei3a9Dw&feature=youtu.be

https://www.boston.com/jobs/jobs-news/2015/05/05/website-born-in-lexington-tries-to-save-summer-work-for-teenagers

http://www.somervillema.gov/news/city-jobs-program-young-adults-has-new-partner-site

Solve can help us

• Develop partnerships with organizations dedicated to creating jobs for youth in the US and worldwide.
• Find partners that deliver skills and knowledge-based workforce training and education to issue badges recognizing achievement and mastery, Badges displayed on HelpAroundTown profiles will help launch youths' careers.

We can offer our platform as a connector of jobs and youth to organizations worldwide.

Solve could help us find a technical development partner for an app

Solve can connect us with advisors who have successfully scaled consumer organizations, from local to global.

Current partners with Zemcar.

Past partnership with the City of Somerville on a Federal Reserve grant.

We are discussing a partnership with a national community news company.

We give presentations on getting your first job and get referrals from high school counselors and youth librarians in the Greater Boston area.

TaskRabbit, Craigslist, Care, NextDoor, Gladlydo

Rover, Thumbtack, Pepperlane, wyzant, skillist