Student Listening Sessions Key to Nudge Food Pantry Program Development

The shared objective of improving nutrition health led a service learning administrator to introduce Together, a homeless services organization, to a nutrition course. The partnership aimed to develop a nutrition nudges food pantry program. Nudges are messages that encourage nutritious food choices. Three keys to ten proposed nudges are identified. First is co-development of 40% of course curriculum by instructor and agency community partner director. The second is training and implementation of listening sessions. Listening sessions provide opportunity for student engagement with participants; hearing life stories, identifying nutrition and health interests. The third is student-led collaboration to determine nudge messages and delivery modes based on listening sessions, literature, observations and reflection. Student reflections identify listening sessions as most influential in meeting course objective of encountering, serving and forming a relationship through program planning and implementation in an outside community. Together anticipates its community gaining knowledge of healthy choices and looks forward to finding if gained knowledge results in improved food selections. Faculty role includes providing a framework for community assessment and engagement; and program creation freedom based on student-participant interactions. Student role includes willingness to complete course requirements in non-traditional environment. Community partner role includes instilling organization mission, guiding understanding of participant needs and openness to student views.

https://newprairiepress.org/cecd/engagement/2020/21