RefreshSF

RefreshSF was a project aimed at helping people access fresh water, a critical need for homeless people. This project sought to reopen the City of San Francisco public restrooms and get funding to open public stations for bathing, washing clothes, laundry, etc. The idea is to use unused or underused urban spaces. This project used crowdsourcing with a public awareness campaign and a mobile system for citizens to donate small amounts of money to the project.

Our team did three pilots of our idea in San Francisco, setting up temporary wash basins with a water hose to attract attention and get feedback. .The feedback was positive, we discovered that many people who used the service were not homeless, and the general public would find the service proposed to be desirable, and they would use it as well. We also found department stores, the Ferry Building, hotels, and local churches willing to support the program.

This project won the Creative Currency hackathon and was presented at the Social Capital Markets Conference.