An Online Human-centered design project work with a group of people from different cities in the USA.
Participants: José Medoza,Neil Alvanzo, Amy Y, Michelle Zamperetti, Kristie Nguyen, Chris Rom-Torbio and Alethia Gómez.
Human-centered Design Prototype: Alethia Gomez
Project Time: 6 Weeks
Acumen Academy by IDEO.org
Designing Strategies to Address
Access to Healthy, Affordable Food.
The importance of Social Justice in Food Access
Inspiration
Learn from people
People need to the best way to prepare healthy food.
Being healthy is not always equivalent to the highest income levels, but people in higher income brackets often have additional possibilities of accessing better food.
Low-income people, especially in black and Latino communities, are more affected by accessing healthy food, sometimes due to their financial resources, other times due to a lack of education in knowing what foods are healthy and how to prepare them. Finally, the easy access and the comfort of fast food.
The USA is an immigrant country; for that reason, some people have difficulty accessing food and applying for help from the government. Some of them aren’t legal residents, don't understand the language and rules, or both.
Some people attend religious communities to access the first necessities.
Depends on the cultural background or ethnicity, some people prepare better food than others.○Some people know how to live with only essential food.
People don’t always have time to cook, and many of us buy already prepared food which is not always the most healthy. ○It is allowable to purchase unhealthy food with Food Stamps
Learn from experts
Food Activist, Baltimore Maryland
Black and Brown Individuals do not have access to healthy food
There is significant systematic racism around food knowledge
We have to play a role in supporting people in understanding food and recognizing healthy food○Culture and food go hand in hand
Nutritionist and Community Health Hospital Administrator, Pinehurst, North Carolina
Hospitals are not thinking about food security enough
Hospitals/Nutrition Departments are not showing people how to purchase food, cook food, find healthy food
This is not a priority even during the last 5 months of the pandemic
Food Waste and Farmers Market Expert, Fairfax, Virginia
A great deal of food is wasted but there is not a great deal of systemization in getting that food to people who need it
Food pantries and Food Banks are not necessarily trying to collect healthy food
College Food CALFresh Expert, Irvine, California
Many students are food insecure
Services have been significantly impacted because of pandemic
Choosing and cooking healthy food is certainly a challenge for this population
Immerse yourself in context
Food Support Services
Food options are not necessarily healthy
The food available is what is donated to food banks and/or food support services (during COVID)
Food is available but education about the food is not frequently provided
Grocery Stores
Grocery Stores definitely have a specific demographic in mind (depending upon clientele and location)
Not all grocery stores have the healthiest food prominently displayed
People do not buy what they do not know how to use
Corner Stores
Many people are shopping for food at Corner Stores
Some corner stores have tried to include healthier options in their stores
In most cases, they received grants to do this
Most of these grants have ended
Twenty-three cents of every food stamp dollar is used to buy candy, desserts, salty snacks, sugar, and sweetened beverages, according to a November report from the U.S. Department ofAgriculture that for the first time revealed purchasing habit sunder the program in detail.
Insight
Based on our interviews, we realized that the entire food system from farm to table had been created to marginalize people of color. Food is fuel, but it has actually become weaponized against brown and black people and become unavailable. Because of this, food culture has minimized the consciousness of food injustice and inequity.
How might we Improve Equity and Food Justice?There is often enough food to feed hungry people, but the distribution system is not set up to get food to the right places. People in need of food support cannot guarantee that the food that they have available to them will be healthy. Healthy food goes to waste because there is a lack of understanding about food distribution opportunities.
How might we Create Effective Distribution?
People do not think that the cost of healthy food is worth it. People do not always understand how to cook with healthier options. It is sometimes easier to get more food than to get better food.
Improve Understanding of Healthy Food Choices?
Persona
Brainstorming
Ideation
Awareness
In a country where the rate of cardiovascular disease is approximately 45.1%, and rates of diabetes are over 34.5% in the adult population of the United States, we cannot allow this to pass.
We found that one of the most severe problems in the United States is poor access to healthy, balanced meals that are easy to prepare. Often people have limited their cultural knowledge around food, which leads to a lack of understanding about food and nutrition.
Seeing that this country is rich in cultural diversity and that we can all learn to improve our diet, we decided to create a FRESH BOX.
How it works
Will be prepared diverse and culturally meals in collaboration with a nutritionist and local restaurants that sign to be part of the project. That meal can be bought with money vouchers from the government. The meals will help to have affordable and healthy nutrition nearby and compete with the same prices as fast food and unhealthy options.
A nutritionist will review the meals to ensure an excellent balance of the meals.
Each FRESH BOX would come with nutritional value information and an educational recipe card to encourage people to try to do the food at home and learn new affordable dishes. This card also will come with a barcode to direct the people through a FRESH BOX App and social media.
Distribution Process
The idea is the creation of the meals and distribution of FRESHBOX to be local and available at:
Corner stores,
Grocery stores,
Food trucks,
Community churches
Recreational centers
to share and be know for people we are going to advertise on social media as a fast, healthy, low-cost food option.
Implementation
We want to present FRESHBOX
FRESHBOX would offer consumers new, well-balanced, and culturally diverse meals developed by a nutritionist that is readily available in Baltimore, MD (pilot project) with the prospect of expanding to other locations. FRESHBOX meals will prepare in partnership with local restaurants.
With this product, we hope to provide healthy and affordable food options for those struggling to balance the need to save money and enjoy food beneficial for them.
Campaing Journeys
Find a close store
Carmen, a single mother who works every day until 6:00 p.m. And sometimes, during the weekends, they have a hard time preparing food for their children and sometimes don't have enough money to balance the diet.
When Carmen is headed home from work on public transportation, she was surfing on her phone and saw a popup that said: "FRESHBOX" she got interested and pressed the button to know more about it.
She is thrilled because she realized that FRESHBOX products were selling around her house corner when she entered her zip code.
She is excited to go and look at the options that she can buy for dinner.
Learn how prepare healthy food
Alisha doesn't know how to make healthy food for her family; she usually makes food from the can she got in the pantry.
The doctor told her that she and her family are overweight and need to change the way to prepares food.
She struggles with how this will increase the cost of food and how much time she needs to make it.
Entered to her computer, she searched (affordable healthy food).
She found FRESHBOX on youtube, with many new ideas and recipes based on help people without time and short in money.
Changing the day to day food habits
Charles loves to drink soda, but the doctor told him that it wasn't right for him because of his risk for diabetes, and his need to decrease should decrease his sugar intake.
He finds this very challenging. However, he enters the convenience store near his house to buy lunch consisting of a sandwich with Coke.
Today in the morning, before going to work, he saw a poster that caught his attention. Now in the convenience store, he can find healthy meals to bring to work.
He can’t wait for lunchtime to try FRESHBOX
Low-fi Prototype
Product Prototype
