Ellis (EllisAI.org)

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  landing page

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  chat interface

Inspiration

Ellis was inspired by the urgent, often overlooked needs of people navigating poverty, homelessness, or bureaucratic systems alone. I named it after Ellis Street in San Francisco’s Tenderloin—an area known for both its challenges and its dense concentration of social services. As someone with a background in organizing and advocacy, I’ve seen how hard it can be to access resources at the moment you need them. With AI, we now have a chance to scale empathy—and create a 24/7, judgment-free assistant that actually helps.

What it does

Ellis is a VAPI-enabled AI caseworker (ElevenLabs integration in the works!) that supports people in need—whether they’re looking for food, housing, healthcare, or simply someone to talk to. Available by phone, web, or message, Ellis provides personalized guidance and connects users to nonprofit or public services in real time. It also offers active listening, emotional support, breathing exercises, and self-care advice—lightening the load for human caseworkers while expanding access for everyone else.

Try it here: ellisai.org

How we built it

Ellis is powered by VAPI for voice and web calls, chat messaging, and a mix of open data sources, GPT4o, and nonprofit directories to connect people with real-world services. I built the core prototype myself with low-code tools and voice AI integration, and I’ve since partnered with Sunny Jin and Leandro Vallejos to strengthen the backend, and add additional support channels. This version is a working MVP for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Challenges we ran into

Integrating different AI tools (voice, SMS, resource matching) into a single, seamless user experience was a challenge—especially as some platforms required business verification before I could even test SMS or voice features. I worked around this by finding sponsor tools, tapping into hackathon resources, and bringing in technical partners to help with more complex backend needs. We also had a tech hiccup with importing a twilio phone number to elevenlabs, preventing us from integrating by today. Here is a demo link of the "elevenlabs Ellis": https://elevenlabs.io/app/talk-to?agent_id=agent_01jyzqhb35er6r4gvjwprn6v6x

Accomplishments that we're proud of

-Launched a working MVP for Ellis -Enabled 24/7 resource access via voice and chat -Developed trauma-informed features like self-care tips and emotional check-ins -Began early conversations with nonprofit partners and potential fiscal sponsors (organizations like Project Homeless Connect SF, the Stanford Housing Equity Project, and the SF LGBT Center has expressed interest and scheduled follow-up!) -Featured on YouTube and shared live at community events for builders! I met Founder/CEO of Bolt Eric Simons at a Design Buddies Vibe Coding Meetup and he invited me to be on Bolt's Youtube channel! https://www.youtube.com/live/jVhL5eCMJtg

What we learned

-Real-time resource delivery is technically complex but massively impactful when it works -People crave compassion from digital tools—not just efficiency -Voice UX opens new accessibility paths, especially for people with low literacy or tech anxiety -Building something socially useful energizes people to collaborate and contribute (shout out to my partners and the Bolt team!!)

What's next for Ellis (EllisAI.org)

We’re pursuing fiscal sponsorship to accept donations and grant funding, with a goal of expanding Ellis to new regions beyond the Bay Area. Near-term plans include refining voice flow logic, improving resource matching with better geolocation filters, and piloting with local nonprofits. We also plan to launch the .org site at EllisAI.org to the SF community and create dashboards for human caseworkers to support hybrid models of care.

Built With

• bolt
• elevenlabs
• entri
• gpt4o
• ionos
• twilio
• vapi