Students will investigate the real experiences of community members affected by child hunger, practice empathy-based research skills, and gather firsthand insights from local partners to inform a human-centered service project.

Students will synthesize insights from interviews and observations to clearly define a human-centered problem statement about child hunger in their community. They will analyze patterns, identify root causes and access gaps, and collaboratively craft and refine an empathy-based problem statement that will guide their solution design in later phases.

Students will generate a wide range of human-centered solution ideas to address child hunger, using structured brainstorming and decision-making strategies. They will build on their empathy interviews and problem statements to create, critique, and refine concepts for their Food Access Connect digital platform and related community partnerships.

Students will build and refine a functional prototype of their Food Access Connect digital platform by translating their empathy-based problem statements into testable features, engaging in structured peer critique, and preparing for real user testing with community partners.

Students will test their Food Access Connect prototypes with authentic users, analyze feedback, revise their designs, and present their final solutions and impact evidence at a Partnership Showcase & Roundtable with community partners.