JUST HARVEST KIOSK

CHALLENGE

"The Supplmental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) application process can be arduous and frustrating."

Economic injustice is at the root of all hunger. Through a process of focusing on public policy and empowering the community, Allegheny county has a goal of addressing hunger and improving quality of life. To address this problem, we will research and collaboratively design new data-driven services with Just Harvest, a non-profit organization that reduces hunger through sustainable, long-term approaches that benefit stakeholders in need. Just Harvest leverages public policy and programs to reduce poverty and improve food access.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

In conducting our competitive analysis we looked at other local Pittsburgh non-profit organizations which work in the fields of food insecurity and fresh food distribution. We also looked at technologies that allow users to utilize their SNAP benefits more easily such as mobile apps. Lastly, we looked at software that also deal heavily in the application filling process such as Intuit’s TurboTax which might give insight towards how the SNAP application process can be made quicker and more intuitive.

STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

We performed stakeholder analysis to identify the different stakeholders involved in the project and to specify the relationship among them. We created a stakeholder map for this part, in which we visualized the interaction between Just Harvest and different organizations and people. We believe DHS should be of high influence to Just Harvest as well as the project that we are working on. There may be people who are qualified for SNAP but aren’t enrolled since this is also a pain point that has been mentioned by Just Harvest. We find this to be another opportunity area that we can work on to maximize the efficiency of the whole system and let people receive the benefits that they deserve.

USER FLOW

We dived deeper into understanding the process for applying for benefits as that was the area we were able to find most information on both online and through the interview with Just Harvest. We uncovered four main user paths that a client could go through to receive their EBT card illustrated by the color coded user journey map below.

SERVICE BLUEPRINTS

Next we created service blueprints of both the current onboarding process for SNAP benefits as well as the preferred future onboarding process based on feedback and our previous research.

Our team split up and visited different stakeholder groups to show them our storyboard ideas. We "speed-dated" these ideas with them in order to determine which ones they warmed up to and which seemed less appreciated.

We created click-through prototypes using Figma. Here they're displayed as cycling gifs and as primary functions which we determined our kiosk should have.

EVENT SLIDES

Users can utilize the kiosk to see what events Just Harvest has coming up in the future, which helps our client better advertise their organization as well as spread word of their mission and reach a broader audience.

ESTIMATING YOUR BENEFITS

The Just Harvest Kiosk allows anyone to quickly find out whether their eligible for SNAP benefits and provides an estimate of how much you will receive through SNAP.

SCHEDULING AN APPOINTMENT

A third function of the kiosk is the ability to schedule an appointment with Just Harvest in office. This is helpful for anyone who has additional questions or concerns regarding their benefits and wants to talk in person.