Impact Project is pleased to announce the release of Version 2 of its student food security app, an anonymous prototype designed to help students move beyond food insecurity screening and toward practical resources and potential solutions.
The prototype is currently available for demonstration and can be accessed here.
Version 1 of the application was designed primarily to screen students for food insecurity. Version 2 builds on that foundation by helping students identify where they can find healthy food, access campus pantry resources, and connect with relevant forms of assistance.
The prototype was designed around students at Baylor University, The Educators’ Resource Center at MCC, and Texas State Technical College Waco, all in Waco, Texas.
The latest version introduces several features intended to demonstrate how a localized student food-support platform could operate.
The prototype currently showcases four Waco restaurants, including their addresses and direct ordering links. It also demonstrates a potential half-price student meal system.
However, the discounted pricing is not currently active. Students can only order meals at the regular price at this stage. The restaurant listings and ordering flow are included to demonstrate how the system could work in the future if formal partnerships are established with participating restaurants or funding becomes available to subsidize student meals.
The application also includes pantry locations and contact information for Baylor, MCC, and TSTC students, providing information about where students can find these resources and how they can access them.
The interface has also been redesigned based on feedback from users of Version 1.
Typography, colors, and sizing were rebuilt to address concerns about readability and make the application easier to navigate.
At its core, the application uses the USDA 6-Item Short Form to screen for food insecurity. Rather than stopping at a screening result or sending students to a generic page of resources, the concept is to connect assessment results with relevant interventions and available resources.
The design is informed by three public health frameworks: Social Cognitive Theory, the Health Belief Model, and the Theory of Planned Behavior.
These frameworks were incorporated with a specific purpose: to recognize stigma as a structural barrier that can influence whether students seek help when experiencing food insecurity.
The intention is to create a system that does more than identify a problem. It should help students understand their options and connect them with resources in a way that is accessible, practical, and respectful.
The current application remains a prototype, and the next important step is pilot testing. Feedback from students and other stakeholders will help determine what works, what needs improvement, and how the platform can become more useful in real-world settings.
If the model proves effective, its underlying structure could potentially be adapted for other populations and communities by changing the relevant resources, locations, and program variables.
For Impact Project, one particularly important possibility is applying this approach to low-income student communities in Africa, where a similar technology-enabled model could be adapted to connect students with locally available food and basic-needs resources.
This is still a prototype, but the vision is simple: screen for need, reduce stigma, and connect students with real help.
We welcome feedback from students, public health professionals, universities, community organizations, restaurants, potential partners, and anyone interested in improving student food security.
