In partnership with Radian and Denver Homeless Outloud, the Laundry Truck (TLT) designers are planning to set up a mobile laundry for for individuals experiencing homelessness/extreme poverty in Denver, Colorado. The Laundry Truck will serve as a contact point with individuals experiencing extreme poverty and homelessness. 

The truck will be staffed with two workers responsible for the general operation of the machines, as well as to provide educational materials to affected populations. The plan includes gathering and disseminating important information and handouts regarding additional services throughout Metro Denver, especially for those who are averse to receiving services from traditional brick and mortar service providers. 

Many cities throughout the nation are pursuing mobile hygiene units as critical components of their continuum of care. The outreach station will serve as a rapid response conduit alerting homeless people of inclement weather or other urgent matters, as well as being able to receive important information from the target population. TLT will also document key aspects of this project in order to create a user friendly “how-to” document.

The plan, function schema and showing homeless statistics in Colorado. Image courtesy of Bayaud Enterprises

The organizers' objective in this project is three-fold

- To alleviate the cost, health, and safety issues associated with the lack of laundry services available for people experiencing extreme poverty and/or homelessness.

- To provide job training for this population. The Laundry Truck will also provide opportunities for small business development through generation of earned income. 

- To educate and do outreach using the Laundry Truck as a point of contact to build trust with individuals who experience severe persistence mental illness and homelessness.

The plan is now looking for fund on Kickstarter to support this social impact and civic design program quickly-and the detailed facility program is explained in the campaign. A few of them is here; the design of the truck maximizes functionality in relation to the service needs of the target population. The truck will include six stacked washer and dryer units running the length of the truck, a utility sink, operator and outreach desk, a folding table and a water heater. In its first year, the truck will service the target community three days per week, eight hours a day. The Laundry Truck’s projected load cycle for the first year is 8,250 loads of laundry.

Top image courtesy of Kickstarter

> via bayaudenterprises.org