Alivio + Preparese

Farm and Food Workers Relief (FFWR) grant program

The Project

In September 2021, the US Department of Agriculture announced the Farm and Food Workers Relief (FFWR) grant program to assist farmworkers and meatpacking workers with pandemic-related health and safety costs. The program offers direct payments of up to $600, distributed through state agencies, tribal entities, and non-profit organizations like the UFW Foundation.

The UFW Foundation has applied for at least $50 million in distributable funds, with approximately 80% designated for direct distribution to farm workers. Additionally, the UFW Foundation plans to enlist up to nine subcontractors—independent farmworker service organizations—to use the same tool.

This project aims to streamline the distribution of funds to farmworkers through a centralized system for screening, reviewing, and submitting purchase orders. Also, help farmworkers submit their applications on their own time all while protecting their data and helping them understand the status of their application.

Applicant profile page

The Design

I designed a single, multi-tenant web application that provided staff the following:

  • Allowed a tenant user to access and process inbound inquiries of various stages from a queue

  • Allowed a tenant user and applicant to attach and review documents to an inquiry

  • Allowed a tenant user to conduct a review of the inquiry, including duplicate contact/service/account checks against a central USDA database

  • Allowed a tenant user to submit purchase orders for debit cards, activate debit cards, and monitor fulfillment

  • Generated and met reporting requirements such as real-time inventory

  • Partitioned tenant users so that PII information is preserved

Chat messaging

User Paths

The intaker can: 

  1. Work from a single queue

  2. Easily attach documents to an inquiry

  3. Contact applicants with any questions

  4. Respond to applicant questions

  5. See a role-specific dashboard with defined CTAs

  6. See applicant information, from intake to fulfillment, so that they can provide information to applicants

  7. Send a link to Preparese app so that an applicant can participate in the process anytime

  8. Avoid duplicate work when interacting with the USDA website

The approver can:

  1. Work from a single queue

  2. Contact applicants with any questions

  3. View applicant information

The treasurer can:

  1. Know how much inventory is available

  2. Conduct bulk purchase orders

  3. Activate cards in bulk

Treasurer dashboard

Research

I conducted research at every step of the design process. Early on, I interviewed staff at the UFW Foundation to understand their role and the work they would be doing on the Alivio platform. Gathering this insight, I started designing based on their needs and mocked up prototypes for them to test. I conducted over 120 usability testing sessions with staff members taking on the role of intakers, approvers, and treasurers. Each provided insightful knowledge on improving the designs to make it easier to process and review applications. Once I received this feedback, I redesigned and made the necessary changes to make the designs user-friendly.

I also attended in-person events to gather insights on how the UFW Foundation used the Alivio platform. I conducted usability testing with intakers and approvers and personally viewed how they interacted with farmworkers. These interactions helped me understand how to improve the user flow, copy, and accessibility.

A majority of farmworkers are Spanish speakers so we had to ensure the Alivio platform was bilingual. This ensured that the staff communicated with farmworkers in a conversational and easy-to-understand manner. I also learned the importance of using illustrations to communicate with farmworkers who may be illiterate and rely on images to understand information.

The Outcome

Since the program launched in 2023, 130,000 farmworker applications have been approved using the web app we developed. Staff members also increased their efforts and speed. Before, staff members took an average of 20 minutes to process an application. Now thanks to the Alivio platform they took approximately 5 minutes to complete an application. Staff members more than doubled the number of farmworkers who received the $600 assistance.

With thousands of farmworkers calling the call center, we were able to increase communication efforts by allowing staff members to communicate with farmworkers via chat. Farmworkers received ongoing help with their application with ease.

130,000

Farmworkers assisted

Over 130,000 farmworkers received a one-time $600 relief payment for their arduous work during the pandemic.

49

States

Our web app benefited farmworkers across 49 states increasing the number of applications with hard-to-reach communities.

40,000

Downloads

The app has achieved over 40,000 unique downloads allowing farmworkers to submit their application on their own time.

12

Minutes

On average it took 12 minutes to complete the Alivio application using the web app. Before on average it took 30 minutes to complete it.