Why connecting neighbors is cute… until it’s serious

Thanks Andrew Broderick and Karla Suomala for inviting me to present to the SF Tech Council today about digital inclusion + neighborhood tech, a topic at the heart of SF Good Neighbor Week.

When we look at the power outages that San Francisco neighborhoods experience, we know they disproportionately impact senior adults living alone (the same people who experience the most social isolation).

A shared communication channel (like a Whatsapp group) for a building or block can be the difference between your elderly neighbor staying in the dark or receiving help. We've found that SF Good Neighbor Week is the reason those Whatsapp groups often exist in the first place. I know it was for me last year, when like many people in San Francisco, I hosted a potluck for my neighbors. It was the first time many of us had met, after decades of living next door to each other. During the event, someone (not me!) suggested starting a Whatsapp group to stay in touch. So we did!

Fast forward a year later, and when my power went out a couple weeks ago, I looked at my phone and saw these sweet messages from my neighbors checking in on each other, confirming that whole block was impacted and offering support. It's a totally different feeling now, knowing I'm not facing these power outages alone. But what about my next door neighbors who are ages 94 and 95? They told me they'd like to learn how to use Whatsapp, but we haven't gotten them to use it yet (there tends to be a dropoff after age 75 in Whatsapp adoption). That's where the work of digital inclusion comes in.

So at 2026 SF Good Neighbor Week, digital inclusion around social connection is an even more explicit focus. Because yes, connecting with neighbors is sweet and wholesome. And yes, we love to run AI hackathons in the tech for good space. But sometimes the "goodest" use of technology is inviting your neighbors in their 80s and 90s to your block party and having a booth there where you help them use Whatsapp. I'm so thankful to be living in San Francisco where we have community partners focused on digital inclusion like SF Tech Council-- as well as everyday San Franciscans who care about intergenerational mutual aid-- helping make this a reality.

(By the way, I applied for a grant recently where I was encouraged to use a success metric from one of the Foundation for Social Connection's very comprehensive measurement tools inventory. I ignored their suggestions and used my usual success metric: the # of communication channels in San Francisco connecting neighbors within a building/ block. I got the grant anyway.)