By building a Twitter for the homeless
Another usage could be status updates on comfortable benches, bridges and rooftops.
Of course usage will be free and include a free iPhone (since most homeless are not very well connected to the cloud).
I can not provide any more details at this point since we are about to close a major round of funding, up in the 1* million range. Expect to see us featured on TechCrunch during the next few days.
I tried to keep the dialogue respectful to both the poster and the homeless, it is unfortunate that others have not. In my experience most people want to help in some way when confronted with homelessness, but they don' know what to do. Rarely do they wish to hand over cash. Rarely do they wish to have a conversation and understand the situation. Many are interested in aiding programs which empower homeless people to dig out of their situation. There is low-hanging fruit in connecting those who wish to help with those who are already organized to do so.