Race to Found America
Be the first verified Adopt-A-Dumpster™ mapper in an unclaimed city. The first verified unique Site ID can launch that city’s challenge, establish permanent Founder eligibility, and open the City Captain role.
Founding a city is different from entering the Temecula–Franklin prize competition. Founder recognition requires human verification and any public recognition requires consent. The separate Race to 500 prize competition is not yet open, and earlier observations will not earn retroactive prize credit.
One national game. A new city begins with its first verified unique Site ID.
Submit
Take one photo from a lawful location, answer the three questions and submit enough location information for verification.
Verify
The first submission does not automatically win the city. Founder status is awarded only after the observation passes program verification.
Launch
If the city is unclaimed, the verified observation creates that city’s challenge and the Founding Mapper receives permanent recognition.
Repeat photos of an already-mapped dumpster area do not create another location or another Founder claim.
The Founding Mapper keeps the Founder badge forever. The founder gets first opportunity to become City Captain. If they decline or later become inactive, captain leadership can pass to another verified mapper without changing Founder recognition.
Founder. Captain. Zone Captain.
City Founder
The first verified mapper in an unclaimed city. Permanent recognition. There can be only one original Founding Mapper per city.
City Captain
An active volunteer leadership role. Helps welcome mappers, promote missions, recruit teams and encourage verified follow-up improvements.
Zone Captain
Opens and helps lead an unmapped zone inside a city. Zones give participants another frontier after their city has already been founded.
Three additions that make the system stronger
Founders Hall
Every city founder becomes part of a permanent national Founders Hall. That gives the first verified mapper lasting recognition without giving them permanent control of the city program.
Founder Launch Mission
After founding a city, the next mission is not simply “take more pictures.” The founder earns a launch bonus by helping the city reach its first verified team, first 25 observations and first documented improvement.
City Season
Instead of dozens of disconnected contests, all city activity rolls into one annual national season. Missions, sponsor reward drops and local challenges sit inside that single game.
This share-card format is reserved for verified founding observations. City and mapper information is added only after verification and the mapper’s public-recognition preference is confirmed.
Founders Hall
Permanent recognition begins only after the first eligible city-founding observation is verified.
A city may already be founded internally while the Founding Mapper remains private. Names appear here only after verification and explicit permission for public recognition.
Every founded city gets a challenge.
The public template can become Franklin 500, Murrieta 500, Riverside 500 or another locally appropriate goal. We can later scale the target based on commercial footprint instead of forcing every community to use exactly 500.
How future verified participation could earn rewards.
Local rewards can become a sponsor product.
A local restaurant can donate gift cards. A local employer can sponsor a mapping mission. A regional company can fund a city season. National partners can underwrite major milestones such as 1,000 Cities Founded.
Secure Structure Alliance keeps control of verification, scoring, rules and winner selection. Sponsor recognition remains factual and value-neutral.
Is your city still unclaimed?
Take the first verified photo. Start the challenge. Help build the map.
Founder and captain recognition is subject to verification, eligibility, privacy preferences and program rules.