Arriving in a new country means rebuilding a life from scratch — often without knowing where to start. NewTo set out to change that for immigrants and refugees by putting every essential local resource in one place. 247 Labs designed and developed a React Native mobile app that maps educational programs, employment services, and housing support, complete with directions and contact information, so newcomers can navigate their new city with confidence from day one.
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Case Study
NewTo: A Resource Mapping App That Made Settlement 30% More Efficient for Newcomers
Client
NewTo
Industry
Humanity · Immigration
Services Provided
Tech Stack
- React Native
- Google Maps API
- Node.js
Overview
Putting Every Settlement Resource in a Newcomer's Pocket
The Challenge
Essential Services Existed — Finding Them Was the Problem
NewTo sought to create a platform that would make it easier for immigrants and refugees to find essential resources as they settled in new cities. The existing reality was a disorganized patchwork: services existed, but locating them meant word of mouth, scattered websites, and trial and error. That friction made integration into new communities slow and challenging — precisely when people could least afford delays in finding housing, work, and education.
The Solution
One Cross-Platform App That Maps Education, Employment, and Housing Support
247 Labs developed a mobile app designed to map local resources across the categories newcomers need most: educational programs, employment services, and housing support. Each resource comes with directions and contact information, so finding help and actually reaching it are part of the same experience. Built with React Native, the app delivers a smooth, native-feeling experience while keeping a single maintainable codebase — and the interface was designed to be immediately usable for people navigating an unfamiliar environment.
Areas of Impact
A Faster, Clearer Start for Immigrants and Refugees
The app changed what the first months in a new city look like for its users — giving new arrivals something the settlement process rarely provides: a clear, organized starting point.
- Settlement efficiency. The app improved the efficiency of the settlement process by 30%.
- Time to resources. Newcomers find educational, employment, and housing support dramatically faster than through scattered channels.
- Engagement and trust. User engagement grew steadily as newcomers found the platform reliable and easy to use — the kind of trust that matters most for people navigating an unfamiliar system.
- Discovery to action. Built-in directions and contact details turn finding help into reaching it in one step.
Results
A Faster Path to Feeling at Home
Faster settlement process efficiency
Explicitly stated in the case study as the app's measurable settlement-efficiency gain.
Essential service categories mapped in-app
Education, employment, and housing support were organized into three core discovery paths.
Built-in action details attached to each resource
Each listing includes both directions and contact information to move users from discovery to action.
247 Labs delivered a web platform that not only looked exceptional but performed exactly the way our data models required. They took the time to understand the analytical demands behind the front end and built something that genuinely supports how we work.
Malak Ahmad — Data Analyst, Deloitte
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