SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – San Diego-based Rep. Sarah Jacobs announced more than $14 million in federal funding was secured for 14 projects across San Diego.
A closer look at where that money is going shows a few items that really stood out -- one of them focuses on students experiencing homelessness.
Imagine a laundromat, but on wheels. That's the vision San Diego Unified School District leaders have, and it is being made possible by new federal funding.
The district is set to receive $850,000, giving them some real wiggle room to turn this idea into reality. It would be a first for San Diego.
While the project is still in the design phase, ABC 10News looked around to see if anything like this exists elsewhere. At Georgia Tech, some students jerry-rigged a school bus into a mobile laundromat.
It's a unique concept and one that SD Unified Area Superintendent Dr. Steven Dorsey said was inspired by the devastating flooding in Southcrest, which displaced hundreds of students and families.
"As we had families who just had mud all through their clothes and really nowhere to go, I thought if we could just bring washers and dryers to them. We do have some school sites that can wash clothes, but on a larger scale we just don't," Dorsey said.
Currently, there are about 8,000 homeless students within San Diego Unified. District leaders say a mobile laundromat like this could help remove one more barrier and help students feel confident and secure at school.
"It can be traumatic for students as they go through their daily life at a school site, not wanting to be teased for what you're wearing or if your clothes are dirty," Dorsey said.
District leaders are working on a design, determining how many washers and dryers it could hold and how many students it could serve at one time.
They say the goal is to deploy this mobile laundromat to schools and neighborhoods with the greatest need, and they hope to have a clearer timeline later this year.
