SnapFood

Introduction

My twin and I grew up in the public housing projects of East Los Angeles. We would never forget the times when we would go with our mom after school so we could help her carry groceries so we could bring more food at home. We would travel up to two hours to reach a supermarket that provided fresh food and accepted food stamps.

The U.S government currently spends $94 Billion USD to provide food benefits for millions of families under the poverty line. The EBT system is making them sicker and poorer under its current limitations. We have the technology today and it doesn't have to be this way anymore.

Blockchain has changed the way business operates. From fintech to insurance, blockchain is leading the charge in providing safe and secure online transactions and security. But we’ve only just begun understanding its capabilities. How can it inform and shape the way the public sector operates to change lives for the better?

Part 1

We believe blockchain technology can address the current food insecurity crisis.

More than 23 million people in the U.S live in areas with little to no access to healthy food, called food deserts, but 91% of those below the poverty line have access to the internet.

The current food benefits system does not allow the poor to use benefits online for home-delivered groceries, which has worsened food access for the 11.5 million people under the poverty line who live more than one mile away from a supermarket.

A neighborhood corner store could be closer but have higher prices, a sacrifice hard for a mother of two to accept when the U.S average monthly food stamp allowance is $125 per month. Studies have found that urban residents who purchase groceries at small neighborhood stores pay between 3 and 37 percent more than suburban residents buying the same products at supermarkets.

Part 2

People should be able to use their food benefits to buy healthier food at lower prices by utilizing an alexa-enabled device that would let them know how many credits are in their system without going to the archaic state portal that requires so many step. We were able to cut it down to a minute or two to receive their credits thru an android app or alexa device. Alexa can also help them find the nearest farmer's market or EBT vendor at the moment.

Part 3

We will continue to build on our android app so it help people buy food online thru with their EBT cards. This will break down the food insecurity barriers by taking advantage of the online food-delivered grocery services such as AmazonFresh/ Pantry. This will lead to healthier communities that can reduce diabetes and heart disease that is currently plaguing millions living in food deserts.

Why blockchain? The funds to from the EBT card to snap servers that broker the transaction with diverse vendors. The current system secures the transactions with a mag stripe and pin at the place of the sale. If you change the paradigm and offer an online purchase, blockchain is the replacement for the POS security and brings more commerce and increase quality of good that will lead to a more productive society. Blockchain takes away a single point of failure and provides a level of security for handling public money that a private database cannot match.

Part 4

A new model will eventually replace EBT that will make way for universal basic income that would expand to distributing social services, food credits via our platform. This is our moonshot thinking.