Research & Practice
United Way of King County DoorDash Delivery Program: Analysis and Recommendations
In this project, students worked with the United Way of King County (UWKC) to evaluate and assess its UWKC-DoorDash Program, a food delivery service which delivers healthy meals to families and helps relieve the rising food insecurity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The UWKC-DoorDash Program also helps address some of the long-standing challenges of the traditional emergency food systems such as transportation and limited open hours and other barriers to accessing federal resources.
Second-year graduate students in the Nutritional Sciences Program at the University of Washington conducted an evaluation of their current food delivery service. Which included comparing key demographic data from local food banks and the UWKC-DoorDash Program, analyzing 2021 UWKC-DoorDash client survey data, and conducting client interviews with the aim of understanding six key focus areas:
- UWKC-DoorDash Program client demographics
- Food bank usage among UWKC-DoorDash Program clients
- Client reasons for participating in UWKC-DoorDash Program
- Client satisfaction with the current UWKC-DoorDash Program
- Potential UWKC-DoorDash Program improvements
- Other services used by UWKC-DoorDash Program clients
In addition to answering the research questions, nine students completed capstone projects for UWKC on related food access research questions.
Group Project
Individual Capstone Projects
- SNAP and Emergency Food System Use and Users: A Report for UWKC – Amy Irvin
- Federal Emergency Food Responses to COVID-19 – Beth Faw
- Assessing Demographics of United Way King County DoorDash Clients vs. Low-income King County Residents – Sarah Haack
- Strategies for the Provision of Culturally Relevant Foods – Ana Portilla
- Food Bank Delivery Programs: Best Practices Across the U.S. – Olivia Ramoino
- College Students’ Perception of SNAP and Strategies to Increase Participation – Rachel Ross
- Race, Disability, Gender, Age, and Income Among Participants of United Way King County’s DoorDash Program as Compared to King County Residents Living Below the Federal Poverty Level – Allie Serioussi
- Culturally Relevant Food In Seattle & King County – Jennifer Urban
- SNAP Policy Changes During COVID-19 – Chelsea Whealdon
This project was completed as a part NUTR 531: Public Health Nutrition.
Project Type(s): Master's Capstone
Author(s): Kaitlin Benjamin, Jenn Dearden, Amy Ervin, Kate Evans, Beth Faw, Norma Garfias Avila, Sarah Haack, Trey Hill, Evelyn Morris, Ana Portilla, Olivia Ramoino, Rachel Ross, Kaitlin Sandberg, Allie Seroussi, Jen Urban and Chelsea Whealdon
Program(s): Master of Public Health, Master of Science, RDN Training
Year: 2021
Adviser(s):