Tackling
Food Insecurity
(...the nerdy way!)
Presented by CSUF for Pando Populus 2023
Rohan Kunchala, Alan Cortez, Cesar Rojas, Jeff Greenburg (Mentor)
“Food insecurity is when people can't access the food they need to live their fullest lives.”
Rely On Food Banks & Pantries
Hone in on LA
The Ecosystem
Food Bank Network
372 Food Banks
Feeding America
Food Bank
Data From Pantries Is Limited
Unable To Provide Necessary Stock
Leads To Food Shortage And Wastage
Delayed Shipments Ruin Agency Relationships
Grants Are Difficult To Find
Volunteers - Status Quo
LA Regional’s Current Group Volunteer Registration System
�Basic Web (HTML) Form��Requires Valuable Employee Hours to Process��Uninspiring User Experience
Food Pantry
Not Client-Choice Due To Lack Of Software
Buildup Of Redundant Stock Gets Wasted
No Way Of Keeping Track Of Their Community’s Evolving Needs
Lack of Volunteers
Difficult to Manage volunteers
Several Different Pantry Styles
Client Choice
The Benefits
Why It Is Needed?
The Community
Undignified Experience
Dietary/Cultural Needs Unmet
No Regular Updates
Difficulty Finding Info
Long Waits For Pickup
May Travel Far For Aid
Building A Unifying Software Solution For This Ecosystem
Volunteer Management
Demand Forecasting
Inventory Management
Automated Report Generation
Unified Repository of Users
Appointment Booking
Bag/Get
Food Bank Portal
U da best
Pantry Portal
Guest Portal
Volunteers! Staff! We all deserve better
One Ring Tool To Rule Them All….
Driving Adoption
Direct Sales
Adoption Support
Reaching Guests
Each Food Bank Has ~150 Pantries In-Network
Trial Access To Pantry Software
Food Bank Access Free
Food Banks Drive Adoption
Bag/Get Provides Support
Pantries Push Engagement
Flyers & Pamphlets
Community Outreach
Entity Relationship Diagram
A sneak peak at the infrastructure
Development Time Frame (Agile)
Status and Operations
�Lean Startup Methodology
Overarching Iterative Philosophy Of Repeatedly Verifying Hypotheses - Else Pivoting.
Market Research Phase I
Food Bank Interviews (Quota satisfied, but ongoing)
Market Research Phase II
Food Pantry Interviews (Ongoing)
Next Steps
Based Upon MVP Offerings, Choose Tech Stack & Flesh Out Guiding Technical Documents (Next Step)
Build MVP (Down the Road)
��
In The Future…
Historical demand datasets and current usage data from pantry sites, ran through a commercial LLM with a forecasting algorithm to generate demand projections
Route planning algorithms for delivery vehicles to optimize deliveries to partner agencies and generating smart notifications with delivery estimates.
Allow for mission-critical data analysis to be conducted on anonymized unified user database and resulting conclusions be shared with state agencies and partnered Food Banks - focus on impact!!
Our journey so far
Engineering Social Justice - March 2023
First Place
Student Creative Activities & Research - April 2023
First Place Category
Sunstone Startup Competition - May 2023
Third Place Social Enterprise Track
Titan Fast Pitch - November 2023
First Place
Meet the team!
Rohan Kunchala
Technical Product Lead
Passionate About Social Equity, Chai & The Environment
Alan Cortez
UI/UX Frontend Engineer
Pursing a Master’s Degree, and Loves Baking Bread
Cesar Rojas
Scrum Master
Interested In Innovative Social Enterprises, Coffee & Dreams of Living in Seattle
Thank You.
Special Thank You to…
Jeff Greenburg
Bernadett Leggis
Team Mentor, Business School Professor
CSUF Pantry Coordinator
from…
Resources
Bertmann, Farryl, et al. “The Food Bank and Food Pantries Help Food Insecure Participants Maintain Fruit and Vegetable Intake during COVID-19.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 13 July 2021, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2021.673158/full.
“Definitions of Food Security.” USDA ERS - Definitions of Food Security, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17 Oct. 2022, https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/definitions-of-food-security/.
“Food Security and Nutrition Assistance.” USDA ERS - Food Security and Nutrition Assistance, U.S Department of Agriculture, 18 Oct. 2022, https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/food-security-and-nutrition-assistance/.
Quinn, Emilee L., et al. “Healthy Food Environments in Food Pantries: Lessons Learned from a Sodium Reduction Intervention.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 Dec. 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8701667/.
“2022 Impact Report: La Regional Food Bank.” Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, https://www.lafoodbank.org/about/impact-report/.
University of Southern California Dornsife Public Exchange. "Food Insecurity in Los Angeles County July 2022." University of Southern California, 2022. Publicexchange.usc.edu, https://publicexchange.usc.edu/food-insecurity-in-la-county/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.
Feeding America. "What is Food Insecurity?." Accessed 7 Dec. 2023. https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/food-insecurity.
Wood, Martina. "Client Choice Food Pantries: Benefits and Barriers." Thesis, Appalachian State University, 2020.
Christopher R. Long, Mary M. ... & Pearl A. ..., "Food Pantry Clients' Needs, Preferences, and Recommendations for Food Pantries: A Qualitative Study", Rudd Center, 2022, https://uconnruddcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2909/2022/04/Food-Pantry-Clients-Qualitative-Study.pdf,
Caspi, Caitlin E., et al. "Needs and Preferences Among Food Pantry Clients." Preventing Chronic Disease: Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy, vol. 18, no. 4, Apr. 2021, pp. 200531