The Detroit Water Project

The Human Utility's mission is to preserve human dignity by increasing water affordability for all families in the United States through crowdfunding, community-building, and policy action.

Water is a human right. But, the United States has a water affordability problem. In places like Detroit, Baltimore, and other cities, families unable to afford their water bills have their water shut off. When this happens, kids can't bathe, people can't wash dishes, and grandparents can't flush their toilets. The Human Utility is non-profit organisation providing help to families and makes sure they always have running water at home.

Tiffani Ashley Bell founded The Human Utility in 2014 as a platform bringing people together from around the world to help people in Baltimore, Detroit. It has since gone on to work with 28 other cities in Michigan with their water bills. The organization has helped over 3,000 people and is a Y Combinator-backed not-for-profit.

The organisation was founded when Tiffani was a 2017 Technology & Democracy Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government researching water affordability and designing a water affordability subsidy.