My Story & The Tech Stack
Who built this, why it exists, and how it was put together — from scratch, with lived experience and a laptop.
The Person Behind This Site
My name is William. I built HomelessBoulder.com because I needed it to exist — and it didn't.
I've navigated homelessness firsthand in Boulder, Colorado. I know what it's like to sit with a yellow ticket and not know which court it belongs to. I know the difference between showing up at All Roads at 1:45 PM versus 2:15 PM. I know that the second floor of the library is quieter. I know that Food Not Bombs doesn't ask your name before they hand you a bowl.
That knowledge lives in people — passed mouth to mouth, camp to camp. Most of it never makes it online. The resources that do exist are scattered across outdated PDFs, buried in nonprofit navigation menus, or written for case managers rather than the people who actually need them.
This site is an attempt to change that. One page at a time, built from the ground up, with the specific goal of being useful to someone on a phone with a cracked screen trying to figure out where to be tomorrow morning.
Background & Experience
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1998First WebsiteBuilt a Bob Marley bootleg music site using RealAudio streaming — before most people knew what a URL was. The first spark of "I can build things on the internet."
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2000s – 2010sBroadcast & Enterprise Systems — Cox Enterprises12 years in broadcast production management at Cox Enterprises in Atlanta. Built systems thinking, team leadership, and large-scale technical operations across AV and enterprise infrastructure.
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2010sFreelance Web Development & SEOTransitioned into independent web development and SEO consulting under the Digital Boulder brand. Built sites across WordPress, custom HTML/CSS/JS, and VPS server management with DirectAdmin.
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2020sAI-Augmented Development + HomelessBoulder.comEmbraced AI tools as force multipliers — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini — to deliver enterprise-level web solutions independently. Built HomelessBoulder.com from lived experience, expanding the network to HomelessDenver.com and HomelessColorado.com.
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NowDigital Boulder — Boulder, COFreelance web development, SEO, and Python automation. Community-focused projects including HomelessBoulder.com, the Connected Minds nonprofit initiative (AI for adults 55+), and continuing to expand the resource network across Colorado.
The Mission
HomelessBoulder.com exists because good information saves lives — and the people who need it most are often the least able to navigate the systems designed to help them.
This isn't a nonprofit project. There's no board of directors, no grant-funded mission statement, no "client outcomes" to report. It's a person with lived experience and a technical skillset deciding to build the resource they wish had existed.
Everything here is free. No ads. No tracking. No intake forms. Just information, as useful and as current as I can keep it.
Who I Built This For
| Person | What This Site Gives Them |
|---|---|
| Someone sleeping outside tonight | Where to be tomorrow morning — meals, showers, services — without calling five numbers first |
| Someone with a yellow ticket | A clear explanation of Community Court and how to get it dismissed |
| A veteran who doesn't know what they qualify for | Boulder County VSO, VCP Longmont, and the priority access they've earned |
| A parent who just got an eviction notice | EFAA, Bridge to Justice, McKinney-Vento school rights — all in one place |
| Someone who just got to Boulder | The real lay of the land — not a brochure version |
| A case manager or outreach worker | A shareable, mobile-friendly resource they can send to clients |
How HomelessBoulder.com Was Built
No WordPress. No page builder. No template. Every page is hand-coded HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript — intentionally lightweight so it loads fast on a cracked phone with a bad signal.
Why a PWA?
A Progressive Web App means you can install HomelessBoulder.com directly to your phone's home screen — no App Store, no download, no account. Once installed, key pages are cached offline so the site works even when you don't have signal.
- Installable to home screenOne tap — works like an app, no store required
- Offline cachingCore resource pages load even without internet access
- Fast on slow connectionsLightweight code, no tracking scripts, no ad networks
- Dark mode nativeEasy on the eyes at night — no white glare
- Mobile-first layoutDesigned for a phone screen, not a desktop
How AI Was Used to Build This
I use AI tools — primarily Claude and ChatGPT — as development partners, not replacements for expertise. The knowledge of what resources exist, which ones are real, and what the experience of using them actually feels like? That comes from lived experience. The AI doesn't know that.
What AI does well is act as a force multiplier — helping one person with 20+ years of technical experience ship a project that would otherwise take a team. Every page on this site was architected, written, and verified by a human. AI helped build it faster.
HomelessBoulder is Part of a Larger Network
| Site | Focus | Status |
|---|---|---|
| HomelessBoulder.com | Boulder County resources, community, lived experience | Live |
| HomelessDenver.com | Denver metro resources and navigation | In Progress |
| HomelessColorado.com | Statewide resource hub and county-level index | In Progress |
Know Something We Don't?
Resources change. Organizations move. Hours shift. New programs launch and old ones disappear. If you know about a resource that isn't on this site, or if something here is outdated, I want to hear from you.
This site is only as good as the information in it — and that information comes from people on the ground.