UMD Food insecurity and AI Case 1 20250303

Summary

The University of Maryland, in collaboration with Capital Area Food Bank, is hosting a competition to address food insecurity through AI solutions. The current barriers include lack of information, language, literacy issues, and social stigma. Capital Area Food Bank's existing solutions, like a Hunger Hotline and GIS map, have limitations. Competitors are tasked to create AI agents that provide personalized food distribution recommendations. The agents must accommodate low English literacy and be multilingual. Creativity and practical AI application are key to winning the competition.

Highlights

• 56% of food insecure individuals in the DMV are not accessing essential services. 🌽
• Language and literacy barriers prevent effective resource utilization. 📚
• AI competitions aim to innovate solutions that simplify access to food. 🤖
• The competition invites creative solutions beyond the standard tech stack. ✨

Key Takeaways

• Food insecurity in the DMV area is a significant issue, with 56% of affected individuals not utilizing available services. 🍏
• Language barriers and lack of information hinder access to food resources. 🚧
• Existing solutions like the Hunger Hotline and GIS map are not fully scalable or user-friendly. 📞🗺️
• Participants are challenged to build AI agents to improve access to food distribution services. 🤖
• Compulsory features for AI solutions include multilingual support and addressing low literacy levels. 🌐

Overview

In a move to tackle food insecurity, the University of Maryland is teaming up with the Capital Area Food Bank to hold a case competition. The challenge is clear: create an AI-powered solution that helps more food-insecure neighbors access available resources. The current scenario is dire, with 56% of food-insecure individuals in the DMV area not taking advantage of existing services. Barriers like language, literacy, and social stigma need creative solutions to ensure everyone can access the food they need.

The Capital Area Food Bank already offers a Hunger Hotline and a GIS map to help people find food. However, these tools come with limitations. For instance, the Hunger Hotline is not scalable, and its working hours might not align with everyone's schedule. The GIS map, while informative, isn't the most user-friendly—especially for those who aren't tech-savvy or are hindered by language barriers. These current solutions highlight the need for better, innovative, and inclusive tools.

Enter the opportunity for innovation: the AI case competition calls for solutions that can process varying user needs—like dietary restrictions and location specifics—while also accommodating language barriers and literacy issues. This competition values creative and functional approaches that can revolutionize how food resources are distributed to those in need. Participants are encouraged to think beyond traditional methods and embrace AI technologies that are both effective and considerate of the ethical implications.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Overview The chapter 'Introduction and Overview' provides an overview of case number one for the University of Maryland's food insecurity and AI competition, done in collaboration with the Capital Area Food Bank. The major issue identified is that food insecure individuals are not utilizing the available charitable food resources, according to a 2024 study by the Capital Area Food Bank, which found that 56% of food insecure neighbors are not taking advantage of these resources.
• 00:30 - 02:30: Barriers for Food Insecure Neighbors This chapter discusses the challenges faced by food-insecure neighbors in the DMV area regarding accessing resources available through the Capital Area Food Bank Network. It identifies a general lack of awareness among individuals as a significant barrier, as they often do not know where to seek help or obtain necessary information.
• 02:30 - 04:30: Existing Solutions by Capital Area Food Bank The chapter discusses the existing solutions provided by the Capital Area Food Bank to address food insecurity challenges. It highlights several barriers that food insecure individuals face, such as language and literacy barriers, lack of access to technology and the internet, and social stigma associated with food insecurity. These factors prevent people from reaching out for assistance and utilizing available food resources.
• 04:30 - 07:00: Goals and Requirements for AI Solution This chapter discusses the challenges faced by food-insecure individuals in accessing resources. Even if they overcome the stigma and barriers to ask for help, they encounter issues such as varying hours of operation, location, types of available food, and inventory at food distribution sites. These factors make it difficult for them to find the right match and get to the right location for the necessary resources.
• 07:00 - 10:00: Additional Features and Creativity The chapter discusses the challenges faced by food insecure individuals in accessing food resources due to limitations on resource availability and restrictions on visitation frequency and quantity. It also introduces some solutions being implemented by the Capital Area Food Bank to increase food access for these individuals.
• 10:00 - 15:30: Data and Resources for Development This chapter discusses the resources available for development, focusing on initiatives to combat food insecurity. It highlights the role of a hunger hotline, run by the Capital Area Food Bank, which operates during business hours. The hotline provides food insecure individuals with information on nearby food distribution sites by collecting their details and offering personalized recommendations to meet their needs.
• 15:30 - 18:00: Evaluation Criteria for Solutions The chapter discusses the limitations of a hunger hotline designed to serve food-insecure neighbors. It highlights that the manual nature of the hotline makes it unscalable, thus affecting the efficiency in addressing the needs of all individuals. Additionally, the restricted operating hours during the business day may result in unmet needs for those who attempt to call after hours. There is also an identified language barrier, as the hotline primarily operates in English, posing challenges for non-English speakers.
• 18:00 - 19:00: Conclusion The chapter concludes by discussing the limitations and challenges of the Capital Area Food Bank's current strategies, including their hotline service, which is restricted to two hours daily and lacks comprehensive Spanish-language support. Additionally, it touches on the social stigma surrounding food insecurity, which may prevent individuals from utilizing phone services. The chapter also mentions an existing solution in the form of an interactive GIS map that provides details on food distribution sites.

UMD Food insecurity and AI Case 1 20250303 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hi everyone in this video we will give you an overview of case number one for the University of Maryland's food insecurity and ai's competition in collaboration with the Capital Area Food Bank a major problem that capital a food bank has identified is that food insecure neighbors are not taking advantage of the available charitable food resources based on a 2024 study done by the Capital Area Food Bank 56%
• 00:30 - 01:00 of our food insecure Neighbors in the DMV area are not accessing available resources in the Capital Area food banks Network what might be some of the barriers that are preventing food insecure Neighbors from accessing food resources first there seems to be a general lack of knowledge some food insecure neighbors simply don't know where to go or who to turn to for them to get relevant information second
• 01:00 - 01:30 there also seems to be English language and literacy barriers that are preventing some food insecure Neighbors from reaching out or using the Services food insecure neighbors lack of access to technology and the internet also might play a role here in terms of them being unable to obtain the information that they need lastly the social stigma around food insecurity is stopping people from reaching out for help and getting food resources
• 01:30 - 02:00 however even if a food insecure neighbor can overcome these barriers and the stigma of being food insecure and ask for help there are often other challenges along the way for them to find the right match and to get them to the right location for resources for instance food distribution sites vary on factors like their hours of operation their location the types of food available and their inventory and
• 02:00 - 02:30 resource availability that may make it difficult for food insecure neighbors to access food resources some sites even have restrictions placed on how often a person can visit the site and how much food they can take over a certain period of time Capital Area Food Bank currently has some solutions aiming to address this problem and to increase the amount of food that ends up in the hands of food insecure Neighbors
• 02:30 - 03:00 one solution is their hunger hotline this is where food insecure neighbors can call and speak to a Capital Area Food Bank staff member live during business hours 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to get relevant information on nearby food distribution sites for instance the staff member would gather different pieces of information about the food insecure neighbor and then provide recommendations and directions to Food Distribution sites that would best fit
• 03:00 - 03:30 the needs of the food insecure neighbor however given that this hunger hotline is manual is not scalable which limits the ability to serve all food insecure neighbors efficiently on related Notes The hotline's Limited hours of operations during the business day may leave people's needs unmet especially for those who call after hours also the English language barrier prevents non- English speakers from
• 03:30 - 04:00 using this hotline while the hotline currently has some Spanish capabilities it is only limited to two hours a day lastly the social stigma around food insecurity May deter people from talking to someone live over the phone another solution that Capital Area food bank has in place right now is an interactive GIS map that shows information about food distribution sit
• 04:00 - 04:30 we have provided you with the link to the gis map once you go into it and play around with it you can see that users can enter in their address and then the map will show nearby distribution sites and key information like their location phone number and hours of operation however as you can probably tell the map is not the most userfriendly is not the easiest to navigate and for people to get the information that they need
• 04:30 - 05:00 and also English language and literacy barriers May prevent food insecure Neighbors from using this tool so this brings us to the goal of this case competition to help solve this problem of food insecure neighbors not accessing available resources we want you to develop an artificial intelligence agent that can help reduce the challenges faced by food insecure neighbors and allow more food to end up
• 05:00 - 05:30 in the hands of those who need it your solution must be able to address the following requirements first the agent must have the capability to consider and incorporate various factors about the food insecure neighbor for example their schedule location and any dietary needs and make personalized recommendations of food distribution sites based on these factors about the
• 05:30 - 06:00 food insecure neighbor second Your solution has to consider low English Literacy for instance the agent has to be able to understand any misspellings or grammatical errors and the inputs from the food insecure neighbor similarly Your solution should also be multilingual for example it should also be operable in Spanish in addition to English again these are mus haves in your solution that that can provide huge
• 06:00 - 06:30 value to the Capital Area food bank in addition to the necessary requirements that we just went over we have also outlined some nice to haves in your solution but of course these are not necessary one potential nice to have feature is your solution being able to provide public transit information to the recommended food distribution sites it would also be a nice to have feature for solution to be able to solicit
• 06:30 - 07:00 feedback from food insecure Neighbors after they use the agent and visit a food distribution site lastly it would be a nice feature for your solution to have in terms of having the capabilities to report on summaries of the agent's activities and the feedback from food insecure neighbors who have used the agent and of course as long as your solution satisfies the must have's requirements fill feel free to think outside the box
• 07:00 - 07:30 and be creative in what you want your solution to be able to do in terms of what your solution should look like we are not dictating what you should submit to the competition there can be a variety of AI solutions that can help address Capital Area food banks problem for instance it can be a chatbot or it could be an AI enhanced interactive map but again we're looking for your creativity here we want you to
• 07:30 - 08:00 think outside the box and deliver a solution that will wow us and help the Capital Area food bank in this competition we will provide you with some data that could help you prototype and refine Your solution first we will give you several data sets that powers the current GIS map that Capital Area Food Bank uses these data sets will give you inform information on Capital
• 08:00 - 08:30 Area food banks network of shopping partners that includes several hundred nonprofits and faith-based agencies and food distribution sites in the area these data sets will also give you information about Capital Area food banks own direct distribution programs that operate their mobile markets and Community marketplaces in these data sets you can find specific information about individual food distribution sites and
• 08:30 - 09:00 channels including their location hour of operation cultural population served and other available non-food Services we will also provide you with a decision tree that is modeled after how currently capital a food bank handles information requests through their hunger hotline is used to handle user queries through a series of questions that can help quickly connect food insecure Neighbors with the appropriate
• 09:00 - 09:30 food assistance here are some potential directions and pointers from us that you can think about and investigate more to better inform the design of your solution first it may be helpful for you to think about from a process perspective why might food in Secure neighbors not get the food they need what might be some additional obstacles that food insecure neighbors could face
• 09:30 - 10:00 when they're looking to get charitable food resources from a food distribution site thinking through these obstacles may help you hone in on some of the solution features that can help solve these problems second what might be the profiles of the various groups of food insecure people who may seek out charitable food resources this pertains to how certain groups of food insecure people may face different barriers and could inform the different features that can help these
• 10:00 - 10:30 different groups of people lastly another potential for you to think about is from the perspective of the food distribution sites in terms of how might they help match with food insecure neighbors and increase the flow of charitable food resources to those who need them here are also some technical pointers that you may find useful as you think about and develop Your solution again we're not dictating what
• 10:30 - 11:00 technology or software you should use for your solution we're just offering this information as potential directions for you to go into again we want you to be creative and we're very excited about your original ideas lastly in terms of evaluation criteria for this case we are looking for four main points first we will evaluate Your solution based on its fit with the case how well does your
• 11:00 - 11:30 solution address the requirements and the elements of the case second to what extent does your solution demonstrate knowledge about Capital Area food bank in the issue of food insecurity third we're looking for creativity in your proposed solution and any proposed actionable recommendations lastly how well does your solution Embrace a a i methods and
• 11:30 - 12:00 show your understanding of AI techniques as well as the ethical considerations of AI use this concludes the video for case number one thank you all very much for your interest in this case competition