Colleges across the country are grappling with student food insecurity, but the people most affected by the problem are often left out of designing the solutions.
A new toolkit from the Global Food Institute at George Washington University and Swipe Out Hunger offers a different approach: Designing With, Not For is a practical, human-centered design process that puts students at the center of developing solutions to food-system challenges.
The toolkit guides practitioners, researchers and educators through a two-hour workshop in which community members move from identifying unmet needs to brainstorming, prioritizing and developing actionable solutions. Rather than treating students as research subjects or program recipients, the approach positions them as co-designers and experts in their own experiences.
The approach was tested at Swipe Out Hunger’s 2026 Student Summit, where 10 students from eight campuses generated dozens of ideas for addressing campus food insecurity and developed three fully formed, student-pitched concepts in just two hours. The students represented a range of experiences, including working students, international students, commuters and caregivers.
The toolkit could offer a new way for colleges and food-system organizations to think about problems such as:
- How can campuses make food assistance more accessible while protecting students' dignity and privacy?
- How can colleges better reach students who work, commute or have caregiving responsibilities?
- How can technology, campus networks and policy be used to address unmet food needs?
- What changes when the people experiencing a problem help design the solution?
Priya Fielding-Singh, Director of Policy and Programs at the Global Food Institute and designer of the toolkit is available to discuss this approach in detail. You can find the full toolkit here. Findings from the 2026 Swipe Out Hunger Student Summit are also available in a case study here.
-GW-