From Chasers_wiki

Looking for the software?

Go to the SourceForge Site

Looking for the CHASERS Donor Database?

See CHASERS-Donor

Looking for support?

DESC makes no promises of support for CHASERS. But we'll try to answer questions where we can. So if you have a question or problem, Sign up for the Mailing List, and send an email to the list.

(Be sure to check the Known Problems and Fixes page first).

General Information

CHASERS is a software package developed by the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC). It keeps track of many things about the clients DESC serves, and the staff that work there. Communication among staff, coordination of care, contract compliance and reporting, and general recordkeeping are all key features of the system.

The CHASERS Donor Database is an offshoot of CHASERS that serves as DESC's fundraising software. It helps to demonstrate the adaptability of CHASERS to more general record-keeping functions.

CHASERS is mostly written in PHP, with some ancillary shell scripts and batch files. It is designed to run on top of an entirely free stack of software, namely Linux, Apache and Postgresql.

CHASERS is an acronym for Client Housing And Service Entry and Reporting System.

CHASERS was released as Free Software in September 2008, under version 3 of the GPL.

You can try the online CHASERS demonstration version.

The CHASERS Home Page can be found at http://chasers.desc.org.

Many people have contributed to CHASERS. See the Credits page for more detail.

Upcoming changes to CHASERS can be found here.

About Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC)

DESC is the most comprehensive provider of services and housing for chronically homeless adults in Seattle and King County, and has received numerous national and local awards. DESC's services include shelter, housing, mental healthcare, addiction treatment, and employment services. Last year, DESC served over 6,700 individuals and moved 605 men and women off the streets into permanent supportive housing. DESC currently provides 650 units of housing, with another 130 units in development. Increasingly, housing development is at the center of DESC's mission "to end the homelessness of vulnerable adults."