Notifica is the product of a partnership with United We Dream, the country’s largest youth-led immigrant network. Notifica re-imagines the preparation process for the eleven million people facing a cruel immigration system.The first step to being prepared is coming up with a plan, but often families are in the dark about how to navigate a complicated legal system and an immigration police force that acts unpredictably. Notifica helps by explaining your legal rights. Notifica’s interface prompts you to add all people you want to message in the event you are detained. These are activated with the simple push of a button. Notifica also connected users directly to the immigrant advocacy group United We Dream helping them to prepare a legal defense, and connecting them with a larger community of support.

Upon downloading Notifica, users can access United We Dream’s resource materials outlining what to do in the event of an immigration enforcement raid. Upon creating an account and pin number, the user can load emergency contact information adding custom messages. The guiding principle of Notifica’s design is simplicity and ease of use to help safeguard one’s privacy. It requires very little personal information to be effective. Once a contact is added with a message, the name and messages are saved but not stored locally, protecting the information if the phone ends up in the wrong hands. Once deployed with the Notifica button, the app proactively deletes the data, messages, and contact information from your phone so it can’t be used against you or loved ones. Notifica can also be activated via landline in the absence of a smartphone using the same pin as the user has on the app.

Notifica was covered by almost every major news outlet across the world leading to hundreds of millions of PR impressions. United We Dream, the not-for-profit behind the initiative, also saw a 79% increase in engagement with their website and resources to the immigrant community. But the results that matter to us are that immigrants in need finally have access to a tool that puts power back in their hands.

There is no issue looming larger in society today than governments taking away our civil rights. The rights to pursue our lives free of the fear of authorities separating us from our loved ones without due process. But what if that becomes a looming threat? We have the right to seek legal assistance and to prepare a support network of our families and friends. This is the inspiration behind Notifica, and the reason we created the first app dedicated to helping millions of hard-working, law-abiding immigrants ensure they have a recourse regardless of their citizenship status.

Notifica is the result of findings by United We Dream, the country’s largest youth-led immigrant network, that investing in technology is crucial to connecting a community in crisis to the support they need. In just a few months, it has become clear that using social media like Facebook to share news about raids often leads to more confusion, since there’s no direct list of instructions or contacts and leaves a person’s network unclear on how to help. On the analog side, an emergency call list is already a tool in most family’s preparation strategy, but if a detention happens during a raid at a traffic stop, there’s a broken link and often families find out when they realize there’s someone missing. Created for a limited number of scenarios in mind, Notifica uses technology and a frictionless interface to add certainty to a fragile situation.

Since the 2016 United States Presidential Election, there has been a dramatic escalation of immigration raids that immediately place millions of hard-working, law-abiding people into a deportation pipeline.When someone faces the potential of an immigration raid, they often feel powerless and alone. If they are caught in an immigration raid, they don’t have time to seek out legal representation. They don't have time to contact their employer or even their friends and family. In fact, many just seem to disappear. Since many of these immigrants live on the fringes of society, they do not have access to many of the basic protections we often take for granted. The idea behind Notifica is to put some power back into the hands of the powerless.