A West Midlands residents association has adopted Text-connect™ to aid communication with its young residents.

The association was formed by of residents of a major midlands housing association, which in turn is a major provider of affordable homes in the Midlands, currently managing over 5,000 homes and planning to develop 300 more annually.

The residents are using the innovative Text-connect™ service to facilitate communication between their association and local teenagers to create a 'youth forum'.

Text-connect™ links mobile phones and computers seamlessly for two-way text message communication. Teenage representatives of the 'youth forum' use the associations 'text-number' to send concerns, requests and feedback to the residents association. Inbound Text messages are forward via email to the associations members where they can read and actioned.

Members take advantage of the 'send text' facility to keep the 'youth forum' up to date using SMS texts, and report the system is ideal for interacting with the younger members of the community.

As a 'not for profit' organisation a low cost of set-up was critical. Text-connect™'s web based implementation minimises set-up time and cost, as it requires no new IT hardware or software. Ongoing costs are also controllable as message credits are purchased as needed and there are no monthly contract fees to pay.