arkItForward — Your unused parking time, turned into Detroit’s good.

The problem: Drivers often pay for parking until 8 or 9 PM but leave hours early. Those spots sit empty even though they’re paid for, while other drivers circle looking for parking.

Our solution: ParkItForward lets drivers who leave early release their spot. When another driver books the remaining time, 100% of what they pay goes to a Detroit nonprofit chosen by the original driver. The first driver gets no refund. Their unused time becomes a donation instead of a waste.

How it works:

• At sign-up, users pick interests (food, youth, health, housing, environment, and more). AI matches them with their top 3 Detroit nonprofits from a verified list, and they choose a priority nonprofit.
• Driver 1 taps “I’m leaving early” and the spot turns green on the live map.
• Driver 2 books the open spot, sees an AI-written summary of the cause their payment will likely support, and pays.
• After the original booking ends, Driver 1 chooses where the money goes, with their priority pre-selected. If they don’t choose within 7 days, it goes to their priority automatically.
• An impact page tracks each user’s donations and a running Detroit-wide total.

Responsible AI: The AI only recommends from a fixed list of real Detroit nonprofits. It never invents organizations or impact statistics, and drivers never see each other’s personal information.

Challenge areas: Neighborhood services and economic mobility.

Built with: Lovable, Lovable Cloud (database with realtime updates), and Lovable AI. Payments are simulated for this prototype.

What’s next: Partnering with Detroit parking operators and SpotHero to pilot in Downtown, real payment processing, and direct payouts to nonprofits.