In 2012, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management created the nation’s first federal Innovation Lab, using the LUMA System of Innovation framework, methods and resources. One of the first projects was helping the U.S. Department of Agriculture take a four-page school lunch application form that was complex and intimidating, and make it into something shorter and simpler that parents could complete faster, with fewer mistakes. The goals were to two-fold: qualify more low-income kids to get low-cost or free school lunches; and save millions in taxpayer dollars by reducing payments made in error due to wrong information.

Over the next year, the Office of Personnel Management teamed up with the U.S.D.A.’s Food and Nutrition Service to follow LUMA’s core framework of Looking (methods for observing human experience), Understanding (methods for analyzing challenges and opportunities) and Making (methods for envisioning future possibilities). The team studied policies, guidance documents and the four-page application form. They interviewed parents, caregivers and others involved with the program. They visited schools to see the National School Lunch Program in action and hear school perspectives. Next, they created prototypes of a new application form, testing with users and iterating through 12 versions until they had a straightforward, one-page form parents could fill out – just in time for the 2015-16 school year.

After one year using the revised form, the Food and Nutrition Service team has heard positive feedback from state and local offices that use it. In a survey of state websites, 20 have posted the revised form online, and FNS expects that number to increase. Although FNS does not have hard data on the impact of the revised form, the team made new updates for the 2016-17 school year based on user feedback, and is seeking additional insights through testing at the U.S. Census Bureau’s Usability Lab. FNS now views the application as a living document and intends to make on-going improvements to serve the ultimate goal – making the application process as easy as possible so more eligible kids can eat healthy meals at school.