Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/billxsheng/ryse

Networking application for ex-criminals. Built @PennApps 2018.
https://github.com/billxsheng/ryse

expressjs hackathon nodejs

Last synced: 1 day ago
JSON representation

Networking application for ex-criminals. Built @PennApps 2018.

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
# Ryse

Networking application for ex-criminals developed with Node.js. Built @PennApps 2018.



## Inspiration

One day I was walking down the street and there was a homeless person named Joe seeking food and employment. They looked like a really nice guy, so I bought him a burger and started talking to him. He told me that he was originally put into prison because he was caught selling marijuana. After a year in prison and going through many changes, he was out and actively seeking for a job. He got many interviews, but landed no jobs because of his criminal record. Instead, he had to resort to selling marijuana to survive and got 2 more years jail, eventually leading him to being on the streets right now.



After hearing his story, I was absolutely furious with the criminal system. I thought it was completely unfair as these people are trapped in a circle with no positive way out. Instead of complaining, my group members and I decided to create a solution to this problem. 



We created a web application called Ryse that encourages ex-criminals like Joe to seek employment, allows them to tell their stories, and while eliminating stigma for employers.



## What it does

Ryse is a web application that encourages ex-criminals to seek employment, allows them to tell their stories, and eliminates stigma for employers. Specifically, these ex-criminals are allowed to sign up profiles where they can list all of their stories, skills, and experiences. This way, employers will be able to see what benefits that these people can offer. Moreover, people who want to endorse these ex-criminals such as correctional officers, family, or friends can login and leave reviews for potential employers to see. Overall, this application shows employers the positive changes that these ex-criminals have gone through and hopefully decreases stigma behind hiring ex-criminals.



## How I built it

This web application was built on the front end from scratch with HTML, CSS, and node.js Moreover, mongodb and express were also used in this web application.



## Challenges I ran into

Some challenges that we ran into throughout this project was designing multiple interfaces for this website. Since there are three different types of users, we have to make sure that they are each directed to their correct pages and contain the right information.



## Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Some accomplishments that we were proud of was that our website is very functional. Many design elements on our website are very simple and easy-to-use. Moreover, we are proud that we are working towards a social cause. Not only are we creating an app, but we are creating an application that could benefit many people for years to come if successful. 



## What I learned

Our team learned that coding an entire website from scratch can be very time consuming. However, we also learned that the customizability options when you code from scratch are endless.



## What's next for Ryse

In the future, we hope to work with the United States government in order to allow soon-to-be ex-criminals to set-up their own profiles, to make the chances of them having a job once they prison much higher.