#challengecup San Francisco

1776, a startup incubator based in Washington DC is hosting a global startup event called ChallengeCup.

They've toured the regional competitions in Washington DC, Chicago, Moscow, Berlin, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, London, Austin, Denver, Sao Paulo, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Beijing, New Delhi and San Francsico. SF is the last stop of the tour and was hosted today. The winners from all of the venues will be invited to the global tournament held in Washington DC in May.

The format of this challenge cup is that the local startups apply, 1776 pre-screens them (in case of SF, they had over 100 applications and narrowed to 22) and on the day of the challenge the startups will have 1 minute each to pitch, judges will select 2 nominees from each category (education, energy, health and smart cities) and those nominees will each have 5 minutes to present, judges have 3 minutes to ask questions and finalists are determined.



Education:

Winner: Uclass is a venture-backed, Common-Core-lesson marketplace that aims to disrupt the curriculum industry. On UClass, both teachers and textbook companies sell their vetted resources in bite-sized formats.

Runner up: K-12Nest is a service to ask questions and collaborate

Energy:

Winner: Enact Systems is a home-energy marketplace that allows you to plan money-saving projects, view live bids from local service providers and financiers in an area, schedule appointments with them and more. enACT partners with major utilities and is now available throughout major cities in California, soon to be expanded in other states.

Runner up: Geli is energy storage and microgrids company

Health:

Winner: ReferralMD is a web application that offers a comprehensive, business-management solution designed to track and monetize health care referrals.

Runner up: Stroll is a tool for doctors to give transparency on care options and procedures for their patients

Smart Cities:

Winner: Handup is a direct donation system for homeless people and others in need in a given neighborhood. With HandUp, users can donate to a specific person via their web profile or SMS, learn about their story and needs and hear updates on their progress.

Runner up: ScootNetworks is shared, electric, smartphone-activated motorscooters


Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employer. -Fumi Yamazaki

HackSF presentations

Presentations from HackSF:

Eviction Defense Collaborative

Winner: Team 3 "We will help you stay" text message campaign 

Reaching vulnerable segment who are fearful and intimidated via text message on cell phone, which everyone has. They will run a highly targeted and culturally sensitive campaign.

Key Message "It's Your Home and we want you to stay"



They will run language specific creative on ethnic media.



The winning team.



Team1: Pyramid scheme

Create objects that conveys the following 2 messages:

"Don't Move" and "Know your Rights"

Physical campaign- send 50 pyramids to churches, community centers, etc.
Digital campaign - website with quiz to direct you to the right resource.



This was the team I joined- creating physical Pyramids would have been fun ;)

Team 2 "I am San Francisco" campaign 

Displaying people's faces on bus stops and websites.
Key Message: "I am San Francisco"

Website to ask simple questions and direct to the website with resources.

SF Goodwill

Winner is Team 3: Alarm clock app 

A mobile app that makes money donated to GoodWill if you don't wake up on time. Simple buy clever!

The winning team.

Team 1. Goodwill pop-up store + mobile app





Team 2. Goodloop

They had 2 Goals: 1. Show that we are more than thrift stores 2. Raise money. They target people under 40 to donate to GoodWill. They will create a mobile app called "Goodloop" which is similar to Taskrabbit, which has "get good" and "give good" options, and if you donate, you will get some kind of task or training.

La Casa de las Madres

Winner is Team4: Know the number campaign

There are women suffering from domestic violence who can't reach out for help by themselves, so they will create allies for them - group of people who doesn't need help themselves but are willing to help, people who you can turn to.

This team will create the "Take the pledge" website, so that they can get the phone number.

They submit pledge, and stickers are given out.



The winning team.



Team 1. Campaign to raise awareness & education "Expose the Secret"

Domestic violence by nature is rarely visible and happens behind closed doors. It is seen as taboo and difficult to discuss. It is not always easy to recognize or is denied, and it is perceived as a "Poor-person problem" -> they will bring the Domestic Violence conversation out of the shadows and educate the community.

This team will run targeted Comcast spots/YouTube ads, bus shelter posters, etc

This is a poster from one angle, when you change the angle- different message appears.





Looks like a nice family photo.



But when you change the angle domestic violence reality shows up.



They will put those on bathroom stalls as well.









They also have "reverse makeup" idea -when you play the video, a woman is taking off her make up, and bruise appears on her face.

Team 2. Twitter campaign

Making people tweet #1000voicesstrong



1. Heatmap of Domestic Violence. Green is places that has domestic violence, Blue is places to get help.



2. Tweet campaign - Tweet map of people talking about domestic violence.



3. Platform to share their stories anonymously but with zip code

Key Message: "It's not just you, domestic violence is happening everywhere"

Team3. domestic violence video campaign

Word of mouth, a website to share conversation.
This team will put posters in boutique which has URL to video, which has URL for "more info". Many women don't know what is normal, so they want to show what is a normal step.



Congratulations to the winning teams, the non-profits will receive $5,000 each to implement your ideas!

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employer. -Fumi Yamazaki

Code Across SF 2014

Today, 2/22 is International Open Data Day! There are 167 hackathons happening all over the world.

http://opendataday.org/

This weekend is also CodeAcross 2014 - a weekend of events taking place in cities around the world, with the goal to activate the Code for America network and inspire residents everywhere to get actively involved in their community.

The theme for CodeAcross 2014 is "Beyond Transparency". We are going to take the open government movement one step further, by focusing on not only making data open, but actionable.

There are 47 event happening all over the world.

http://www.codeforamerica.org/events/codeacross-2014/

• ARLINGTON, VA
 
• ANCHORAGE, AK
 
• ASHEVILLE, NC
 
• ATLANTA, GA
 
• AUSTIN, TX
 
• BERLIN, GERMANY
 
• BOSTON, MA
 
• BOULDER, CO
 
• BURLINGTON, VT
 
• CARY, NC
 
• CHARLOTTE, NC
 
• CHATTANOOGA, TN
 
• DENVER, CO
• DURHAM, NC
 
• DUBLIN, IRELAND
 
• GRAND RAPIDS, MI
 
• HOUSTON, TX
 
• LAHORE, PAKISTAN
 
• MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
 
• LEXINGTON, KY
 
• LONG BEACH, CA
 
• MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
 
• MESA, AZ
 
• MIAMI, FL
 
• MONTERREY, MEXICO
 
• NEW YORK, NY
 
• NORFOLK, VA
 
• OAKLAND, CA
 
• PHILADELPHIA, PA
 
• PORTO ALLEGRE, BRAZIL
• PROVIDENCE, RI
 
• RALEIGH, NC
 
• RICHMOND, VA
 
• SALT LAKE CITY, UT
 
• SACRAMENTO, CA
 
• SAN ANTONIO, TX
• SAN DIEGO, CA
 
• SAN FRANCISCO, CA
 
• SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
 
• SEATTLE, WA
 
• ST. LOUIS, MO
 
• TAIPEI, TAIWAN
 
• TOKYO, JAPAN
 
• TULSA, OK
 
• TWIN CITIES, MN
 
• WARSZAWA, POLAND
 
• ZAGREB, CROATIA

I joined Code Across in San Francisco, hosted at Code for America HQ. Code Across 2014 is focused on housing issues, which is a very hot topic in the city.



This is the schedule:



This is the projects we worked on.



SF Data Scorecard (US City Open Data Census)

This is the team I joined. Open Knowledge Foundation created US City Open Data Census website, in preparation for Code Across. We checked the SF Data Portal and updated information on San Francisco.

I worked on Crime incident report data in San Francisco.

It exists in many formats.

Licensed CC0.

I select venue, which dataset we will be registering, year, and the details.

Making progress!

And we're done! San Francisco is #1 among all of the Code Across cities :D

You can see the source code here, so replicate them to other countries.

https://github.com/okfn/opendatacensus



Housing Inventory

This team is working on creating a Housing Inventory list, which can be seen here.

Housing Inventory Community

Similar to the team above, but focusing on communities.



Anti-Eviction Mapping Project

They already have historical eviction data, so they are planning to make it searchable and visible.



SF Tenants Union Website

SF Tenants Union has a website with lots of data, but their website is not easy to use. This team is planning to revamp the website and make their data easier to use.

http://www.sftu.org/

Also there's this "Unlawful Detainer Procedures & Time Chart" that should be more user friendly...

SF Budget- Look at Cook

This team is digging out budget data from SF Budget, similar to Look At Cook

Bayview Footprints

http://www.bayviewfootprints.org/


Resources:

City Data Sources Related to Housing
Open Data Portal Hunt
Existing Curated Lists of Housing Data

Events:

Date	Event
3/28-30	Reallocate is doing a hacktivation on homelessness
2/25	Tech workers against displacement. Sup. David Campos speaking. Virgil’s.
3/5	Project homeless connect - in Bill Graham - get any services you need on one day. Accepting volunteer help (medical checks, public services, etc.). Go to Project Homeless Connect - accepting volunteers ahead of time. Fantastic volunteer opportunity. Duplicated 200+ times throughout the world and started here in SF!!! Connects homeless population with acute needs.
3/20	Geeks for Good - mostly design agencies doing a design jam for non-profits etc. Ignite talks!
3/3	Homeless coordinating board - Full board meeting
Every Thurs	Planning commission meets at Noon. Agendas are online the week before.
Ongoing	Set up a keyword alert regarding upcoming legislative hearings (Legistar)
2/26	SPUR - forum to talk about good urbanism
Date?	Feedback meeting for budget. There were notices on bus stops. Could be very relevant to housing.
Date?	Events surrounding the Ellis Act
Resource. Dates?	Tenants together coordinates protests and action on a state level.  Eviction free SF is another good  one.
2/24	Land use and development board meeting at 1.30pm. All hearings are online - Granicus. All meetings are taped by SFGov.tv - videos available on demand through their website - sfbos.org
Resource.	Facebook group - TechForGoodSF

Board of Supervisors past meeting videos and agendas: http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=10

Board of Supervisors upcoming meetings:

http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=2314

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employer. -Fumi Yamazaki

HackSF

Today I joined HackSF in the afternoon.

http://www.letshacksf.com/

HackSF was an event that nonprofits based in San Francisco (La Casa de las Madres, the Eviction Defense Collaborative, and Goodwill of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin) talks about their missions. Each organization shares one key challenge it faces that, if addressed, would have a significant positive impact on its ability to fulfill its mission. Hackathon teams will then have 24 hours to come up with their best ideas.

Day2 is presentation- the prizes ($5,000 each) will be given to the nonprofits so that each of them can implement the winning idea devised to benefit their organization. Judging criteria is as follows:

1. Presentation
2. Impact - how likely that it will create positive impact
3. Sustainability
4. Innovation - original, creative

Shannon Spanhake from San Francisco Mayor's Office of Civic Innovation giving welcome talk.



3 non-profits gave their pitches.

La Casa de las Madres is working on social justice and anti domestic violence. They have a mission to respond to calls for help from domestic violence victims of all ages, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They have 24 hour hotlines, partner with SF police department, and runs confidentially located emergency shelter (364 women and children accessed for up to an 8 week stay). They have Community-based programs etc. 2.4 million dollar operation budget. 10,000 community members.

http://lacasa.org/

"Domestic violence is not just physical violence. It is about power and control. It is an escalating pattern of abuse in which one person is an intimate relationship controls the other through force, intimidation, or the threat of violence."



"Strike Out Violence Day" - 42,000 reached, $35,000 raised.

"1000 Voices Strong" campaign.




SF Good Will is an organization aiming to break the cycle of poverty by helping people get jobs and become self-sufficient. They are helping people in recovery from eviction, came out from jail, etc and providing on-the-job training, job placements, education, job partnerships, etc.

http://sfgoodwill.org/



Donation and eCommerce is their revenue source.





Diane Joiner story

"Go BIN" - will be placed in big apartments in SF, easy for residents to provide recycle clothes. Frog Design designed the bin!



Challenge: Get San Franciscans under 40 to invest in their community by investing in Goodwill.

Eviction Defense Collaborative is an organization that defends citizens from eviction lawsuits.

http://www.evictiondefense.org/



Usually lawsuits are very long fight, but eviction lawsuits happen really quickly and the tenants only have 5 days to respond. They really need protection. EDC assists anyone and do not turn anyone down, since usually really poor people are thrown into those lawsuits. EDC prepared necessary paperwork for 2,003 cases a year.

Services that EDC provide includes:
Legal assistance- The Eviction Defense Collaborative provides counseling and legal help to tenants during the eviction process. Programs include preparing a response to the lawsuit, limited representation at the settlement conference, and preparation of requests for delays of the sheriff's eviction.

Rental Assistance- The Rental Assistance Program provides one-time, no-interest loans to tenants at risk of losing their residence and becoming homeless. Follow the link for more information on who we help, how we help, and if we can help you.

Challenge: To empower tenants around the City with the resources to preserve their housing in the face of illegal eviction threats.



"Tech is part of the solution to displacement"

Unlawful detainer procedures and time chart

Presentation file of EDC

Hacks

After the pitches by the non-profits, we spread into teams and started to hack.



I decided to join the EDC team.

Resources:

2012 Eviction Report

Hack SF Nonprofit Brief of EDC

Partners that can help:

ACCESS Center (SF Superior Court Self Help Center)   AIDS Housing Alliance AIDS Legal Referral Panel Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Anit-Eviction Mapping Project Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus   Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach Bay Area Legal Aid Bayview/Hunters Point Community Legal Causa Justa :: Just Cause Chinatown Community Development Center Curry Senior Center Dolores Street Community Services - MSROC Homeless Prenatal Program Housing Rights Committee Independent Living Resource Center Justice and Diversity Center - Homeless Advocacy Project Legal Assistance to the Elderly PODER San Francisco Rent Board   San Francisco Tenants Union   San Francisco Veterans Equity Center - BiSHOP Self-Help for the Elderly Senior and Disability Action South of Market Community Action Network   Swords to Plowshares Tenants Together Tenderloin Housing Clinic - Ellis Act Tenderloin Housing Clinic - CC SRO Collab

Relevant Data

Housing

Monthly Rent Board Statistics (Petitions, Appeals, Evictions)

These monthly statistics are published in a report format (PDF) showing things like number of appeals, evictions, etc.

http://www.sfrb.org/index.aspx?page=47 (PDFs)

Rent Board annual eviction reports

The Annual Eviction Report is submitted to the Board of Supervisors every year and reflects eviction notices filed with the department from March thru February. This includes the pdf versions of past years as well as the current year.

http://www.sfrb.org/index.aspx?page=46

Rent Board annual statistical reports

These reports are produced roll up statistics on the work of the Rent Board. They include stats on evictions, petitions, and appeals as they relate to the work of the Rent Board.

http://www.sfrb.org/index.aspx?page=48

Rent Board Referral Listing

This is a list of external agencies and organizations that may be relevant to tenants.

http://www.sfrb.org/index.aspx?page=17

Housing Code Violations (aka, Housefacts)

Housefacts is a data standard for reporting building inspections including violations, locations and owners of the properties. You can learn more here: http://housefacts.me, spec available here: https://sites.google.com/site/housefactsdatastandard/hfds/specification, data here:

https://data.sfgov.org/Public-Health/Housing-Code-Violations-San-Francisco-CA/739v-w6y3

San Francisco Housing Authority Parcels

These are spatial files that can be opened in open source software like QGIS or proprietary software like ArcGIS. This shows the location of SF Housing Authority owned parcels.

https://data.sfgov.org/Construction-and-Housing-/San-Francisco-Housing-Authority-Parcels/ennt-h5ib

Housing Affordability Gap by Neighborhood

The data illustrate median two bedroom home sale prices per neighborhood with an estimated income needed to afford the median priced home versus what the median neighborhood household income is as of the 2010 American Community Survey. These data are represented spatially and require some form of GIS software to open.

https://data.sfgov.org/Public-Health/Housing-Affordability-Gap-by-Neighborhood-San-Fran/nyy3-sijf

Hack SF Github Repository

1) a Sinatra webapp that sends and receives JSON and places them in a Redis server. It's a very simple way to store data and pass it around. This has instructions on how to deploy to heroku.
2) an HTML boiler template that has a reset css file as well as jquery and some simple addons in a plugin.js file. this should get you running on a static html site. if you want to use something like twitter bootstrap that can be included.
3) an HTML boiler template that also has a PHP mobile detect for making mobile webapps and includes all the stuff that is in the HTML boiler app.

View from the venue:







Day2 presentation results can be seen here:

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employer. -Fumi Yamazaki