The Explore.Act.Tell. Fast Track program gives students an opportunity to explore food insecurity in their communities and turn what they learn into meaningful action.

Designed for students in grades 6–12, the abbreviated Fast Track experience combines research, project management, leadership and community service in one classroom lesson plus project implementation time.

Students investigate national and local food insecurity, identify community needs and work together to develop and implement a service project. Along the way, they practice planning, collaboration, resource allocation, marketing and evaluation while seeing how student-led action can make a measurable difference in their community.

Explore. Act. Tell.

The program guides students through three phases:

EXPLORE
Students research food insecurity and examine its impact at both the national and local levels. They use community data and local food bank information to better understand needs in their own area and consider where their efforts could have the greatest impact.

ACT
Students turn their research into action by selecting a service project and creating a plan for implementation. Projects might include a food drive, community garden support, meal packing or fundraising. Teams determine responsibilities, establish a project timeline, identify needed resources and develop a marketing strategy to encourage community participation.

TELL
After completing the project, students measure and communicate their results. They reflect on community impact, project sustainability and their own leadership growth while documenting metrics such as student participation, volunteer hours, food collected, meals provided or funds raised.

What’s Included

Fast Track Educator Guide
The Educator Guide provides a ready-to-use lesson sequence that introduces food insecurity, guides students through local research and supports the planning, implementation and reflection stages of the service project. The lesson is designed for approximately 45–60 minutes of classroom instruction, plus project time.

Fast Track Slide Deck
The accompanying slide deck guides students through each phase of the experience and includes discussion prompts, research resources, project-planning steps and submission expectations.

Student Project Planner
The Student Project Planner helps teams organize four key areas of their project: task assignments, project timeline, resource allocation and marketing strategy.

Student Rubric
The rubric helps students understand expectations for the project and evaluate their work in areas including project planning, impact metrics, community service, sustainability, leadership growth and project evidence.

Take Action

Once students understand the issue, they select and implement a service project designed to address food insecurity in their school or community. The project-planning process encourages students to think beyond the idea itself by determining who will do what, when activities will occur, what resources and partnerships are needed and how they will encourage others to get involved.

The current Explore.Act.Tell. program also offers a Fast Track option specifically for educators looking for an abbreviated experience. Fast Track uses shortened resources, a three-step submission process and offers qualifying projects the opportunity to receive $500 mini-grants.