Home Page
Analytics Dashboard for admin
Admin's View
Participant's View
Volunteer's View
Cerebras context for RAG

Inspiration

Our journey with CareConnect began when we learned about NAMI Yolo's challenge of coordinating mental health volunteers through spreadsheets and Google Drive. We were moved by their mission to provide essential mental health support in Yolo County and recognized how a dedicated platform could amplify their impact.

Mental health support organizations like NAMI Yolo do incredible work with limited resources. We saw an opportunity to create technology that could eliminate administrative burdens and help them focus on what matters most: supporting community members affected by mental illness.

What We Built

CareConnect is a comprehensive volunteer management system with three distinct user experiences:

Administrators can oversee volunteer programs, manage trainings, and measure impact with intuitive dashboards.
Volunteers can discover opportunities, track their training progress, and log their contributions.
Participants can find support resources and register for events.

We integrated Auth0 for secure, role-based access control, ensuring that each user sees exactly what they need. Our platform also incorporates data visualization through regional heatmaps powered by the DataHack track's requirements, helping NAMI Yolo identify underserved areas.

Aditionally, we integrated Cerebral API to provide AI-powered insights, helping participants with appropriate information based on their queries and problem.

How We Built It

We built CareConnect using a modern tech stack:

React with Tailwind CSS for clean, responsive interfaces.
Node.js and Express for our backend API.
PostgreSQL database for structured data.
Auth0 for secure authentication and user management.
Cerebral API for enhanced volunteer matching.
Data visualization tools to create actionable insights.

Challenges We Faced

Building CareConnect wasn't without its obstacles:

Integrating Auth0 properly - Implementing role-based access control with proper security protocols took significant effort.
Creating meaningful data visualizations - Transforming volunteer data into actionable insights required thoughtful dashboard design.
Cerebral API integration - Using Cerebral required adapting our approach to still deliver smart volunteer matching.

What We Learned

This project taught us valuable lessons about building technology for social good:

Designed a user interface that integrates advanced functionality while remaining clear, simple, and accessible for end users.
How to effectively manage role-based access control with Auth0.
The impact thoughtfully designed technology can have on mental health support systems.

What's Next for CareConnect

We're excited to continue developing CareConnect with features like:

Mobile applications for on-the-go volunteer management.
Advanced analytics to measure community impact.
Enhanced AI capabilities for more precise volunteer matching.
Expanded integrations with other mental health resources.

Our vision is to expand this platform to support more mental health organizations beyond NAMI Yolo, creating a network of connected community support systems nationwide.