Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** food insecurity and unhealthy…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** food insecurity and unhealthy dietary behaviors are prevalent among college students – a major segment of the U.S. Population – and are associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes and lower academic performance. Low-income and racial/ethnic minority students are at particular risk. Central to afri's program goals, this integrated project aims to reduce these inequities through multiple research and educational objectives that will actively engage key stakeholders and focus on policy, systems, and environmental change approaches. Project partners across five universities, including three minority serving institutions (msis), will conduct research that will lead to the creation of evidence-based strategies to address food insecurity and unhealthy dietary behaviors among low-income and racial/ethnic minority college students. To do so, we will use multiple methods including: 1) analyzing determinants and correlates of food insecurity and unhealthy dietary behaviors of students at msis using a national college health dataset; 2) conducting a policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) assessment consisting of key informant interviews with campus stakeholders, document review, and food environment assessments at 3 msis; and 3) implementing focus groups with multiple stakeholder groups to confirm and expand on PSE assessment findings. These methods will be triangulated to create evidence-based recommendations for PSE interventions. Also core to this project will be developing, evaluating, and disseminating educational programming for students based on our research methods and results. We will create three course modules to be delivered asynchronously online, pilot test them, and then disseminate the refined materials widely at msis and other colleges and universities nationally.