Start Date: September 2007

ID #: 63155

Principal Investigator: Naa Oyo Kwate, PhD

Organization: Columbia University

Funding Round: New Connections Round 1

See more related research

Share


The overall objectives of this project are to study inequality in New York City’s food environment, and more specifically, the distribution of fast food restaurants. Specifically, this project will study spatial associations between school density and fast food density, investigate environmental determinants of fast food density, and explore the circumstances in which fast food restaurateurs open and operate their businesses. Particular emphasis will be on low-income and predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods, which have high rates of obesity. This study focuses on children in grades K through 12 in an urban setting.

Related Research

August 2010

Separate and Unequal: The Influence of Neighborhood and School Characteristics on Spatial Proximity Between Fast Food and Schools

This article examines the location of fast food restaurants near schools in New York City, based on school type, school racial demographics and area racial and socioeconomic demographics. Researchers found that a minimum of 25% of schools had fast food restaurants within 400 meters. High schools had higher fast food clustering than elementary schools, and More

March 2009

Inequality in Obesigenic Environments: Fast Food Density in New York City

This paper documents the relation between racial and socioeconomic inequalities and the density of fast food in New York City. The researchers found that areas that were predominantly Black had higher densities of fast food than predominantly White areas, regardless of income level. Such results highlight the need to develop policy-level interventions to address racial More

January 2024

Food Insecurity and the Child Tax Credit

Food insecurity puts people at risk for many poor physical and mental health outcomes. Food insecurity stayed stable during much of the COVID-19 pandemic but rose significantly from 2021-2022 among U.S. households with children. Many federal supports were offered during the COVID-19 pandemic. These included expansions in food assistance programs like SNAP, as well as More