Ten WhatsApp groups moderated by long-term San Francisco residents. Whoever you are, whenever you arrive, a community is already waiting. You will never stay alone in this city.
In a Mission District taqueria, a small group of us realised something simple: most of our best San Francisco memories started with a stranger saying hi. So we started a WhatsApp group called "SF Welcome" and added anyone we met who was new to the city.
Within weeks it was 80 people. Not long after it had hit 250 - the WhatsApp group limit at the time - and we had to split it. Hikers wanted trailhead talk. Founders wanted coworking meetups. Parents wanted school-lottery advice. The one group became three, then five, then ten.
Ten WhatsApp communities, each capped around 250 members, each moderated by 2 to 4 long-term San Francisco residents. When you reach out, a human reads your message, checks which group fits, and adds you. We do not use bots, we do not sell numbers, we do not run ads in the chats.
It is a labor of love, paid for by the occasional local business that sponsors a members-only dinner and by a small number of members who buy us coffee when they can. That is it.
A rotating team of 12 moderators across the Mission, Hayes Valley, the Sunset, Bernal Heights and the Castro. Half of us have been in San Francisco 5+ years, half arrived in the last 18 months. We are not a business. We do not have an office. We meet for dinner every 6 weeks in different neighborhoods to keep sane.
Communities
Active members
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