Focus Area: Food Access

Developing Planning and Policy Strategies to Improve Access to Healthy Foods Within North Carolina Tribal Communities

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American Indian children endure disproportionately high obesity rates, yet few academic institutions have cultivated sustainable relationships with American Indian communities committed to improving food access. This project will: (1) apply community-based participatory research methodologies to build partnerships with the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs and North Carolina tribal communities to gain an understanding of More

Planning for Food Access: A National Scan and Evaluation of Local Comprehensive Planning and Zoning

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Low-income, underserved communities are often plagued with unhealthy food environments. A community’s comprehensive plan directly influences urban design and land-use regulations, which affect neighborhood food availability. While some local governments are including food access goals and policies in their local plans, little is understood about the quality, specificity and comprehensiveness of these goals and policies. More

Examining the Influence of Mobile Food Vendors on Food and Beverage Choices of Low-Income Mexican-American Children in Texas Colonias

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The prevalence of overweight and obesity among Mexican-American children is exceedingly high. Understanding the role of mobile food vendors in low-income, limited-resource Mexican-American colonia neighborhoods is critical. With the involvement of community partners and building on prior food environment projects within the colonias, the aim of this study is to assess the neighborhood and household More

Examining How Increases in Earned Income Tax Credits, Food Prices and Neighborhood Context Affect Children’s BMI

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The goal of this project is to examine how increases in family income generated by geographic- and time-varying changes in earned income tax credits (EITC) impact children’s body mass index, and how this effect may depend on their neighborhood food environment and regional food prices. Focusing on EITC-generated income changes amounts to a quasi-experimental research More

Food Systems and Public Health Disparities

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This article reviews literature examining the impact food systems have on creating and exacerbating health disparities in the United States. It highlights directions for future research and policies to address the health disparities created by food systems.

Evaluating the Impact of a WIC Food Package Revision on Retailer Participation and Fruit/Vegetable Supply Characteristics in Northern Illinois

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture will implement a ground-breaking new policy by October 1, 2009 that adds a cash-value voucher for fruits and vegetables to the food packages provided in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (also known as WIC). This provides a rare opportunity to assess the effect of a More

Measurement of the Food and Physical Activity Environments: Enhancing Research Relevant to Policy on Diet, Physical Activity, and Weight

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The American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM) published proceedings from a November 2007 workshop on “Measures of the Food and Built Environments.” The workshop was co-sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) National Cancer Institute; the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver More

Off the Map: Extracurricular School Food: Open Campus Lunch

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This brief discusses open-campus and off-campus lunch policies, which allow high school students to go outside school boundaries to buy and eat food during their lunch breaks. The document addresses how such policies are established, nutritional implications, racial and socioeconomic considerations, safety issues and effect on on-campus and local businesses. From this discussion, readers can More

Legal Notes: Open Campus Lunch. Off the Map: Extracurricular School Food

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This document, a companion to Off the Map: Extracurricular School Food-Open Campus Lunch, provides a legal framework for the issues surrounding open-campus lunch policies, which allow high school students to go off-campus to purchase and eat lunch. The purpose of the document is to help readers identify key legal access points for reaching policy goals More

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

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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