Tech companies talk big about doing good, but software developers can have a myopic view of the world. As COVID-19 stay-at-home control measures hit the low-income segment of society hard, those already struggling to make ends meet are turning to government support to help put food on the table.

But where are the apps to solve the everyday frustrations of life on welfare?

“The reality is [software developers are] not the demographic of people who use technology in the United States,” said Jimmy Chen (pictured), founder and chief executive officer of Propel Inc. “If people solve the problems that they understand, who’s gonna solve the problems that people on food stamps understand?”

Chen spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the AWS Summit Online event. They discussed Propel’s work to help low-income families manage their finances and how Project 100 is feeding those affected by the COVID-19 crisis. (* Disclosure below.)

COVID-19 brings more U.S. households onto food assistance

The Propel team identified a pain point among Americans who use the government EBT card to access benefits, and they set out to eliminate it.

“Everyone who goes grocery shopping with an EBT card has to call the 1-800 number on the back of the card first because that’s how they can check the balance,” he explained. “If you try to check out at the grocery store and you don’t have enough left on your card, you get into this really embarrassing experience of having to decide do you want three apples or two and trying to figure out how to get your balance to be appropriate for the amount of food that you’re trying to buy.”

Propel released Fresh EBT, a free digital app that allows food-stamp recipients to check the balance and transaction history linked to their EBT card. The app had 2 million users at the start of the year. This number has increased by a million in just a few weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those already on benefits have been worst hit.

“Our survey data shows that for people who were getting food-stamp benefits and working in early March, 86% of them have now lost some source of income or have had their hours cut,” Chen said.

Managing ever-decreasing resources is more critical than ever for people affected, and the Fresh EBT app can provide help by tracking spending and showing online coupons for items the user regularly buys.

Propel had to be able to react fast to the influx of new users in such a short period of time, but the company was prepared thanks to being an Amazon Web Services Inc. partner. “AWS has really enabled us being able to scale our services,” Chen stated.

Project 100 feeds U.S. households

Alongside providing financial management through Fresh EBT, Propel has partnered with non-profits Stand For Children and Give Directly to create Project 100. The goal is to “make cash transfers to a hundred thousand people who use the Fresh EBT app and are in financial need,” Chen said.

The project has raised $70 million dollars so far, but with predictions of a worse economic downturn on the way, the need to help America’s poor isn’t going away anytime soon.

“We still have a ways to go,” Chen said.

Donations to Project 100 can be made on the website: https://www.givedirectly.org/covid-19/us/.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS Summit Online event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the AWS Summit Online event. Neither Amazon Web Services, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE