How can a non-profit organization positively impact and change an urban food desert as South Los Angeles? – Herz team proposal

Design Social Impact

The American Heart Association reached out to the IxD program with verynice. studio to design a social impact proposal to explore the issue of an urban food desert in urban cities as South LA. My team presented the social impact plan called SOW – GROW – FLOURISH to offer better access to fresh and nutritional food.

Our team proposed the concept connecting AHA with existing nonprofits who are already positively impacting the community. We envision that AHA can multiply the effect of the nonprofit’s projects to reach even further and change the community.

Research

In our field research, we visited local farmer’s markets and residential areas of South LA, to examine what living in an urban food desert means, having limited access to fresh produce. We interviewed South Los Angeles locals and farmers and visited the few farmers market in South La at Adams/Vermont Avenue. We noticed that locals have been using coupons to buy their fresh produce at the market. We were sent over to a non-profit booth that accepts governmental coupons to enable low-income families to purchase fresh produce. At this point, we realized how active non-profits groups, like Hunger Action Los Angeles (HALA) is embedded in this neighborhood to support the community.

This leads to an extensive qualitative and quantitative research to understand which organizations are already embedded in the community and what projects are having a positive impact on the community. We interviewed Frank Executive Director HALA who explained to us Market Match and other projects reaching out to low-income households in Los Angeles.

Persona

Juanita, a mother with limited income lives in South LA with her family. She buys fresh produce at the farmers’ market since she found out about the coupon programs like Calfresh, WIC, and Market Match through the local non-profits. The persona has been created using South LA demographics and interviews in the  South LA community.

Prototype

Our prototype is a field introduction

 

Our proposal was presented to the American Heart Association and a verynice. studio.

 Tools

Paper, Markers, Post its, whiteboard, Ethnographic notes, Pixel Smartphone Camera, Audio, Google Docs, Slack, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Draw, and Adobe Illustrator

Community Challenge, Santa Monica College

American Heart Association – Nicolla  Ross, Tiffany McDaniel ,  a verynice. studio – Shane Chase, Natural History Museum Senior Design Exhibits Manager – Davina Wolter, Professor Nicole Chan

Collaborator: Kaitlin Jetviroj, Maile Mailin