Vollar for Community Safety

Police violence is a leading cause of death for young men in the United States. A recent study published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) found that this is disproportionately skewed towards people of color. Black men in particular have been found to have a 1 in 1000 chance of having a fatal encounter with police. Additionally black men have an incarceration rate of nearly 5 times of the their white counterparts, while Hispanic men face an incarceration of 1.3 times. This has resulted in a strained relationship between police departments and communities that are comprised predominantly of POC; who are often left in the difficult position of relying on the police for safety more than affluent predominantly white communities while being over-policed. The Black Lives Matter protests, which began in 2012 following the murder of Trayvon Marten and gained widespread international traction following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery; has highlighted the need for drastic police reform and community-based solutions to public safety.    

The Vollar digital token was primarily designed to be used as digital system that could make an incentivized volunteer-based economy a possibility. Vollar, the “Volunteer dollar”, can be used to incentivize the self-empowerment of economically excluded members of society through engagement with and participation in local social development initiatives. In the case of this specific challenge, it would incentivize broad participation in community safety structures such as neighborhood watch groups and safety shelters for victims of domestic or public violence. In this way community members would band together to become the first responders to crimes that may take occur in their communities, with their presence and operation serving as a deterrent for would-be criminals. This would also give community members the agency to determine if police intervention is necessary, thereby lowering the risk of violent encounters with local police. 

Vollar is currently being used in the South African community of Langa, Cape Town. The innovation has received considerable interest from corporates operating in the country, as well as local and national government. Additionally, Vollar has also received a handful of notable awards and recognition as a social innovation that can drive socio-economic development. Vollar is currently aiming to completely penetrate the community of Langa within the next 6 months to promote widespread volunteering efforts, predominantly focusing on initiatives that would make the community greener, cleaner and safer. In addition to this the technology which hosts the Vollar digital token is already at production level.