Project Uplift

Project Uplift Homepage
Cold Weather Alert
Cover Page
Nearby Food Banks
Nearby Shelters
Education Resources
Job Resources

Demo Video Link

demo link

Inspiration

Homelessness is a growing problem in many communities, especially the around the SF Bay Area. Homeless individuals often struggle to find basic necessities such as food, shelter, and healthcare. This can be due to a lack of resources or knowledge of available services in the area. We chose to create a website instead of an app because not every homeless person has access to a mobile phone. This site can work on any browser, meaning that public libraries are able to host Project Uplift on their public computers' browsers.

What it does

Project Uplift is a platform that aims to help homeless people find information on nearby food banks, shelters, and other opportunities, such as local programs to help further the user's education, within a 20 mile radius of the user. The website is designed to be user-friendly and easy to navigate, providing a comprehensive directory of services available in the community. Our site also features a text message alert system that allows the user to sign up for text messages alerting them if the weather falls below 45 degrees Fahrenheit within the next 24 hours. This allows them to find a shelter using Project Uplift before cold weather hits, making them more prepared.

Features

Address input
Finding shelters within a 20 mile radius
Finding food banks within a 20 mile radius
Access to job resources
Access to education resources
Text message notifications when the forecast temperature for the area reaches below 45 degrees Fahrenheit
Dynamic and responsive design

How we built it

All the resources used:

HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Google Firebase
OpenWeatherMap API
Radar API
Twillio Text Messaging API

We built the website using HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and since there was no API for homeless shelters and/or food banks, we compiled a list of resources in Google Firebase. These are being pulled to the website, and then if they are within a 20 mile radius of the user's inputted locations' latitude and longitude (addresses are taken to latitude and longitude using the Radar API). A similar process works for the education and job resources, except for the 20 mile radius limit.

Challenges we ran into

One big challenge was converting a user inputted address to latitude and longitude, as well as then filtering based on which shelters and food banks are within a 20 mile radius.

To convert the user inputted address to latitude and longitude we had trouble finding a free API, but ended up settling on Radar, which worked very well. It is also very accurate, which is great.

For the filtering, we wrote Javascript code for the Haversine formula to calculate the distance in miles between two latitude and longitude points. We also tried calculating the distance with the Radar API, but that took way longer to load, so we ended up settling on the implementation with the Haversine formula. This not only allows us to filter what is in the 20 mile radius, but also show each shelter and food banks’ exact distance from the inputted address.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are super proud of the notification text messages system using Twillio and OpenWeatherMap API. Getting forecast temperatures using the API was fine, but it was a struggle to get the curl post request working using javascript (especially converting the auth token to base64 and inputting it correctly). We are super proud of that now that it works, and this is the first time any of us had worked with Twillio, OpenWeatherMap API, and Radar API.

We are also really proud of the design and the overall look of the website.

What we learned

Latitude and Longitude coordinates (converting those to an address and vice versa)
Haversine formula to calculate distance in miles
Twillio text messages (Twillio API)
Radar API
OpenWeatherMap API
Dynamic websites

What's next for Project Uplift

Project Uplift is planning on adding a feature for certified organizations, which allows these organizations to submit verified job listings, events (e.g. clothing drives, community events) and opportunities. This is helpful because users are then able to have up-to-date resources and current job listings, no matter the time. We would also love to include more situations in which text alerts get pushed out, such as natural disasters, wind, or extreme heat.