Case Study: No Kid Hungry City Innovation Fellowship

Case Studies

Innovate Memphis’ Research Project Manager, Angelica Carey, first began her work on food security with our team in 2022 as a No Kid Hungry City Innovation Fellow. The 18-month fellowship selected diverse leaders to be embedded in city government or innovation teams to address food insecurity using creativity and collaboration. The fellows use a human-centered design process to bring new voices to the table, develop bottom-up solutions, and pilot new approaches to addressing food insecurity.

During her fellowship, Angelica worked on two key projects: 1) a Food Rescue Landscape Analysis in partnership with Clean Memphis and 30 local last-mile organizations; and 2) a Memphis Food Finder online prototype to make information referrals more user-friendly for those looking for food resources in real time. Having engaged with over 100 Memphians who either provide food resources or are eligible clients for services, Angelica harnessed the power of community voice to develop innovative solutions. “A lot of times in focus groups, you can fall into being too prescriptive in how you ask questions. But I was working with adults who have never been asked how to develop or design something. By leaving the table open to all sorts of ideas, really interesting pieces came through,” Carey said.

Learn more here about Angelica’s work along with other No Kid Hungry City Innovation Fellows in her cohort, and check out more Innovate Memphis case studies here.