This federal Project Grant award of $1,046,346 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program aims to address food insecurity and unhealthy dietary behaviors among college students, particularly low-income and racial/ethnic minority populations. Through a partnership with five universities, including three minority-serving institutions (MSIs), the funded project will conduct research using...
This $750,000 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) will fund research at the University of California, Los Angeles to address college food insecurity and promote healthy eating among vulnerable student populations. Over the one-year period from December 2022 through November 2023, the grantee and sub-awardee Chico State Enterprises will develop a framework for understanding barriers to and motivators for food...
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) received a $297,000 Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The goal of this 2-year project is to develop and test a peer-led nutrition and culinary education curriculum for college students. Key activities include: Conducting surveys and interviews with students and faculty/staff at multiple colleges to inform curriculum development...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), provides $557,050.70 to support research examining binge eating as a potential mechanism underlying the paradoxical relationship between food insecurity and obesity among adolescents. The key objectives of this 36-month project are to: (1) quantify the extent to which binge eating mediates the longitudinal...
This Project Grant award of $657,757 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) aims to reduce nutrition insecurity and malnutrition among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The project will employ a combination of participatory "systems thinking" methods, quantitative data, and modeling to: 1) physically map the food environments around 10 schools...
The University of New England (UNE) has been awarded a $1,092,498 project grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The grant will support research, education, and extension activities to improve nutrition security in rural underserved communities. The key objectives of the project are to: 1) Implement and evaluate an innovative primary care-based healthy food prescription program paired with...
The University of Florida was awarded a $918,472 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The goal of the grant is to improve food security for low-income families with children ages 0-2 years old through four objectives: conducting an inventory of emergency food program availability and quality of foods appropriate for this age group; formative...
This Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program provides $120,000.00 to the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) to conduct research on food insecurity vulnerability. The key products and services to be delivered include: Creating a food insecurity vulnerability index at the census level using Census data and grocery store surveys to map food insecurity vulnerability. Surveying...
The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded a $576,459 Project Grant (CFDA 93.307 - Minority Health and Health Disparities Research) to the University of South Florida. The funding will support the "COMMUNITY-DERIVED MULTILEVEL-MULTICOMPONENT NUTRITION INTERVENTION TO REDUCE FOOD ACCESS DISPARITIES - FRESH-EATS" project. The project aims to determine the feasibility of a multilevel, multicomponent...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) awarded a $772,000 four-year Project Grant under the Community Food Projects (CFDA 10.225) program to Project New Village, a Black-led, community-rooted non-profit in San Diego, California. The project aims to address food and nutrition insecurity in underserved communities by: 1) collaborating with a local high school culinary arts program to develop young people's capacity to prepare value-added and...
ADAPTING THE VEGGIE VAN MOBILE MARKET INTERVENTION TO ADDRESS DISPARITIES IN NUTRITION SECURITY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS - ABSTRACT: US POSTSECONDARY STUDENTS FACE DISPROPORTIONATELY HIGH FOOD INSECURITY RATES, TWO TO EIGHT TIMES HIGHER THAN THE 2021 RATE FOR US HOUSEHOLDS. FOOD INSECURITY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS NOT ONLY THREATENS EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT BUT PERPETUATES HEALTH DISPARITIES, PARTICULARLY AMONG LOWER-INCOME, RACIAL/ETHNIC MINORITY, AND FIRST- GENERATION STUDENTS DUE TO HISTORICAL DISCRIMINATION. FOOD INSECURITY HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH POORER PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES, LEADING TO DECREASED ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, RETENTION, AND GRADUATION RATES. EXISTING SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM ARE LIMITED, AND RESEARCH IS SCARCE. FOOD PANTRIES, THOUGH THE MOST COMMONLY USED APPROACH, OFTEN FALL SHORT DUE TO THEIR RELIANCE ON DONATIONS, INABILITY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS' NUTRITIONAL BEHAVIORS OR ENVIRONMENTS, AND ASSOCIATED STIGMA. STUDENTS REPORT SHAME, EMBARRASSMENT, AND FEAR OF JUDGMENT AS COMMON BARRIERS. THIS RESEARCH PROPOSES AN INNOVATIVE SHIFT FROM MERELY PROVIDING EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE TO PROMOTING NUTRITION SECURITY. IT PLANS TO ADAPT THE VEGGIE VAN -AN EVIDENCE- BASED APPROACH TO INCREASING ACCESS TO HEALTHY FOOD IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES- TO A COLLEGE CONTEXT. VEGGIE VAN IS A MOBILE PRODUCE MARKET INTERVENTION SUPPORTED BY OVER TEN YEARS OF EFFICACY, EFFECTIVENESS, AND IMPLEMENTATION RESEARCH. THE ADAPTED INTERVENTION WILL BE TESTED AT THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, THE LARGEST UNIVERSITY IN THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (SUNY) SYSTEM, KNOWN FOR ITS DIVERSE STUDENT POPULATION. THE STUDY WILL UTILIZE IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE ADAPTATION FRAMEWORKS TO ASSESS NEEDS, ENGAGE STAKEHOLDERS, MONITOR AND DOCUMENT ADAPTATIONS, AND EVALUATE THE EFFECTS OF ADAPTATIONS. IN AIM 1, A CAMPUS-WIDE ONLINE SURVEY WILL ASSESS STUDENTS' NUTRITION SECURITY STATUS. COMPLEMENTING THIS, A SERIES OF IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO IDENTIFY BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS TO NUTRITION INSECURITY AMONG STUDENTS EXPERIENCING FOOD INSECURITY. WE WILL FURTHER INVITE STUDENTS TO JOIN AN ADVISORY BOARD TO REVIEW THE SURVEY AND INTERVIEW FINDINGS AND GUIDE PRELIMINARY ADAPTATIONS TO THE VEGGIE VAN MODEL. IN AIM 2, THE ADAPTED CAMPUS VEGGIE VAN WILL BE PILOTED TO EXPLORE ITS EFFECT ON FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CONSUMPTION AND NUTRITION SECURITY AMONG FOOD-INSECURE STUDENTS USING A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL PRETEST-POSTTEST DESIGN. FOR AIM 3, SEMISTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS WITH STAKEHOLDERS AND FOCUS GROUPS WITH VEGGIE VAN CUSTOMERS WILL BE USED TO IDENTIFY ADAPTATIONS TO THE CAMPUS VEGGIE VAN NECESSARY FOR INCREASING PROGRAM FEASIBILITY, ACCEPTABILITY, AND USAGE IN A CAMPUS SETTING. FINDINGS FROM THIS STUDY WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP AN ADAPTABLE MODEL THAT TARGETS THE NEEDS OF STUDENTS FACING NUTRITION INSECURITY AND PROVIDES CONSISTENT ACCESS TO FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES AND SUPPORT FOR HEALTHY EATING. ULTIMATELY, ALIGNING WITH THE NATIONAL STRATEGY ON HUNGER AND NUTRITION, AND FOCUSING ON STUDENT DIGNITY AND PARTICIPATION, THIS MODEL CAN BE USED TO ENHANCE CAMPUS NUTRITION SECURITY NATIONWIDE. THE MODEL WILL BE TESTED IN A FUTURE CLUSTER RANDOMIZED TRIAL, AND DISSEMINATED THROUGH OUR EXISTING VEGGIE VAN TRAINING CENTER, PROVIDING TRAINING, ASSISTANCE, MONITORING, AND EVALUATION FOR NEW CAMPUS VEGGIE VANS.