Below you will find more information about the challenge, including:

Challenge Details

• Important Dates


• How to Participate


• Prizes and Judging

About Central Market and Food Justice

• Description


• Current Efforts


• Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

Meetups and Questions

About Zendesk

CHALLENGE DETAILS

Important Dates:

• Challenge opens: June 18


• Challenge closes - last day for submissions: July 20


• Panel and Workshop #1: June 19


• Panel and Workshop #2: July 9


• Public Voting: July 23-July 29


• Judging: July 30-August 3


• Finalists Announced: August 3


• Winner's Party + Announcement: TBD

How to Participate:

1. Submit a concept in the form of a written proposal with supporting visuals. If you haven't already, register on ImproveSF.com. Once you register, you will be able to upload a written proposal and supporting visuals.


2. View all of the entries, vote for your favorites, and provide your feedback. The first round of finalists will be determined by public votes, and those who participate in the voting can earn points for rewards. Additionally, you can help shape and refine submissions by providing praise or constructive criticism.


3. Share ImproveSF.com. Help ensure that the winning solution is appropriate, beneficial, innovative, and creative by sharing the site and ideas with community members and friends. The more people that participate, the better!

Prizes and Judging Criteria:

Dream Day in San Francisco by Zendesk:
Zendesk will make your "Dream Day in San Francisco come true. The winner of this prize will be selected by our panel of judges based on the following criteria:

• Direct Impact on Residents: Solutions must be mindful of the unique needs of the residents of the Central Market/Tenderloin neighborhood and should be designed accordingly so that the residents see real, tangible benefits from the solution.


• Accessible: Solutions should be accessible for people with a broad range of financial, technological, physical and language capabilities.


• Low Cost: Ideal solutions will be relatively low cost to implement, low cost to maintain and low cost to the residents so that they are sustainable for the long-term.


• Easy to Implement: Solutions should be implementable within 6 months to allow residents to see the benefits of the solution right away.


• Replicable to other communities: While solutions may be neighborhood-specific, solutions should also be implementable with minor tweaks in other areas with limited access to cooking and food storage facilities.

The Social Enterprise prize by the Hub Mission:
The Hub Mission will offer a two-month membership in their coworking space in San Francisco or Berkeley, a chance at mentorship, opportunities to showcase at SOCAP12 (the world's largest gathering of social entrepreneurs and impact investors), and other chances to transform the winning idea into a sustainable solution. In addition to the above criteria, the judges will also look for the following:

• Business Potential: Submissions should clearly identify a target customer, be differentiated from competitors, be financially sustainable, attractive to investors and donors, and scalable across regions, product areas, or impact areas.


• Blended Value Potential: Submissions should have concrete blended value offerings, demonstrating positive impact for people and the planet through a clearly articulated social mission and subsequent goals.

ABOUT CENTRAL MARKET/TENDERLOIN AND FOOD JUSTICE

Description:

The Central Market neighborhood is a stretch of Market Street from 5th Street to Van Ness Avenue and the Tenderloin extends north from Market to Geary Street. The region is home to beautiful historic mid-rise architecture, many cultural organizations (theatres, galleries, music venues, and historic dive bars), non-profits, mural art, City government buildings and low-income housing.

Though the region is considered blighted, the City government recognizes it is a vibrant cultural center and is working together with its community partners to stabilize the existing community, reduce vacancies, increase community safety, and achieve other economic and community development goals. For more information visit www.centralmarketpartnership.org.

What are the demographics of Central Market/Tenderloin?
The predominant race is Asian, followed by Caucasian, Hispanic, and African-American. The median household income is $25,471. If residents have cell phones, they primarily use them for texting and have limited access to apps and the internet. The median age is 36. More information can be found at data.sfgov.org and city-data.com.

What are the unique challenges of this community?
Central Market/Tenderloin is comprised of large commercial corridors, a busy thoroughfare, some vacant storefronts, an abundance of SRO hotels and a high concentration of low-income residents. Many of the challenges that residents of these neighborhoods face stem from their economic status. Many residents live in an SRO or single room occupancy, which provides basic living amenities similar to that of a university dormitory - some have full kitchenettes, while others have a shared kitchen, and others are without any kitchen facilities. Some SROs permit external appliances such as hot plates or crockpots but most do not for health and safety reasons. More information can be found at ccsro.org.

What are the existing alternatives to fresh, home-cooked meals?
Since residents are limited in their ability to make meals at home, most look elsewhere where their affordable options include processed foods from corner stores or fast food outlets. Additionally, several non-profit organizations offer free hot meals to residents on a daily basis.

Current Food Justice Efforts Underway:

• There are at least 4 organizations that prepare and serve hot meals on a daily basis, and some serve twice per day. It is estimated that these organizations serve a combined average of 7,000 hot meals per day.


• The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation's Tenderloin People’s Garden (McAllister and Larkin) has given away over 3,000 pounds of fresh produce to date and there are plans to expand the garden at its current location and in other locations such as rooftops, courtyards, etc.


• Heart of the City Farmer’s Market partners with Tenderloin People’s Garden to drop off end-of-day produce from the Farmer’s Market. The food is brought to a storefront location at 480 Eddy Street where it is freely distributed by volunteers every Thursday.


• Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation provides educational workshops and classes to their residents on how to cook healthy, nutritious meals using a rice cooker, microwave, or crock pot.


• A Tenderloin neighborhood coalition, along with SF Department of Public Health, is embarking on a campaign to urge liquor stores and corner markets to sell more produce and healthier food options.


• Local elementary schools (DeMarillac Academy, San Francisco City Academy, Tenderloin Community School, Bessie Carmichael) provide breakfast, lunch, and after school snacks for students.


• Do you know of a program not on our list? Let us know so we can include it!

Other Resources Currently Available to Residents:

Food-Focused

• Project Open Hand


• Meals on Wheels


• SF Food Bank


• Food Runners


• San Francisco City Impact


• St Anthony Foundation


• Glide


• Tenderloin Self Help Center


• Heart of the City Farmers Market


• Youth With a Mission

Other

• Tenderloin Housing Clinic


• Episcopal Community Services


• Curry Senior Center


• Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation


• TNDC's Tenderloin People’s Garden


• Chinatown Community Development Center

Additional information
The Tenderloin does not have a full-service grocery market in its district. Many residents travel to the Mission district or Chinatown district to shop for groceries. The cost of public transportation, heavy grocery loads, high food prices, and limited food storage space in SROs make shopping at large retail supermarkets outside of the district challenging.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

For questions about how the ImproveSF platform works, visit the ImproveSF FAQ page.

What is food justice?

Food justice is the belief that no one should have to go without enough food due to social inequality or economic constraint because food access is a basic human right.

Why this challenge?

By addressing the need to store and cook fresh and nutritious food, we will help improve the access to food and reduce malnutrition in the Central Market/Tenderloin neighborhoods. For the many residents of Central Market/Tenderloin, this is a real challenge that offers substantial benefits to their daily lives.

What is a food desert?

A food desert is in area where it is difficult to obtain affordable, nutritious food. The Central Market/Tenderloin area lacks a major grocery store and many of the corner markets do not have a broad range of food options.

Can I submit an idea on behalf of a team?

Absolutely! Please choose one representative to register for the site and be the point of contact. When you submit your idea, be sure to include the names of all team members along with the description of your idea.

How can I submit an idea if I don’t have computer/internet access?

Printed challenge briefs and submission forms will be available at San Francisco Public Libraries across the city. Forms can be picked up and dropped off at the following locations:

• Main Branch Library, 100 Larkin St., (415) 557-4400


• Mission Bay Branch, 960 4th St. near Berry St., (415) 355-2838


• Mission Branch, 300 Bartlett St., (415) 355-2800


• Chinatown Branch Library, 1135 Powell Street, (415) 355-2888

Can I submit an idea if I work for the city?

Yes! The goal of ImproveSF is to bring in the best ideas from all members of the San Francisco community to find the best possible solution for the challenge proposed.

What is the best way to get votes?

Submit your idea early! Early submissions will be seen by more people and can be brought to the Workshops and Panels for community feedback and refinement. And of course, you can share your idea with friends and family using Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.

MEETUPS AND QUESTIONS

We will be hosting two panel/workshop meetings that will give you access to organizations and residents from the neighborhood to answer questions you might have about the Challenge. Meetup dates and locations TBA.

To get up-to-date info on meetups, challenge announcements and answers to your questions, follow us on:

Facebook: facebook.com/improvesf

Twitter: @ImproveSF

ABOUT ZENDESK

Zendesk is a cloud-based customer support software company that helps organizations offer awesome customer service. In even simpler terms, our company aims to make people's lives easier, which is why this particular challenge resonated with us so deeply. The company moved to San Francisco in 2009 from Denmark and to its current headquarters at 989 Market Street in August 2011. Zendesk's move to the intersection of 6th and Market streets helped foster the connection it now has with the the residents and businesses in and around mid-Market, making sponsorship of the Central Market/Tenderloin Food Challenge a no-brainer. Preparing and storing food in one's home should not be an obstacle one has to wrestle with on a daily basis. Zendesk is confident that the creativity and innovation generated by the ImproveSF platform will help to produce an amazing solution to this decades-old problem and they look forward to meeting and celebrating this challenge's winner.