Start Date: November 2024

ID #: 82563

Principal Investigator: Susan Gross, PhD

Organization: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Funding Round: HER Round 14

See more related research

Share


The need for WIC food delivery solutions has been recognized as a national policy priority to ensure equitable access to WIC benefits. WIC food ordering and delivery has the potential to significantly WIC benefit redemption and health equity on the Navajo Nation, but infrastructure and other contextual factors must be considered in order to implement a successful delivery system. This project aims to: 1) Conduct a secondary analysis of Navajo Nation WIC data to characterize the landscape of WIC food acquisition; 2) Gather qualitative data through interviews with WIC participants and staff, food store owners, and delivery workers to guide the planning of a WIC food ordering and delivery system; and 3) Test the feasibility of ordering and delivery in one Navajo Nation community. Key partners across the Navajo Nation will participate in formative research, and 30 households served by the Fort Defiance WIC office will participate in the food delivery pilot. Primary outcomes include acceptability, operability, perceived sustainability, preliminary efficacy of the ordering and delivery pilot, as well as changes in WIC benefit redemption among pilot participants.

Related Research

May 2026

SNAP participation and the healthfulness of food purchased by households with children during the pandemic

Changes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic included emergency benefit allotments and operation waivers. Using five expenditure-based measures of the nutritional quality of food purchases, we tested whether changes in SNAP during the first year of the pandemic were associated with better nutritional quality of food purchases More

May 2026

A Pediatric Perspective on the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines

Clear, evidence-based guidance on what foods and beverages children and adolescents should consume—and in what amounts—is foundational for promoting healthy growth and preventing diet-related chronic disease across the life course. Yet many children and adolescents in the US continue to have diets of poor nutritional quality. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), issued every 5 More

May 2026

Ultraprocessed Foods in the U.S.: Recommended Definitions and Policies

Despite growing interest in ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), there is not consensus on how to define UPFs for policy purposes. To meet this need, Healthy Eating Research convened an expert panel to develop evidence-informed recommendations for policymakers and advocates interested in advancing policies to limit UPF exposure and consumption at the local, state, and federal levels. More