Measuring the impact of charitable food program cuts on the nutritional quality of foods

This study examines how sudden cuts to USDA programs supporting the charitable food system (i.e., The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA)) affect the supply of healthy food available for distribution by food banks. Existing data from 15 food banks will be analyzed, and additional data will More

Unveiling the Layers of Stigma Related to Utilization of Food Assistance and Free Food Programs

This study conducted a comprehensive literature review to understand the dimensions of stigma associated with both government food program utilization (i.e., SNAP, WIC) and non-profit administered free food programs (i.e., emergency food programs such as food banks, pantries, and cupboards) and to examine the effectiveness of existing stigma reduction interventions in the context of food More

Identifying policy, system, and environment approaches to promoting safe and dignified healthy food access at urban grocery stores

Urban grocery stores are facing operational challenges due to crime and are instituting crime mitigation strategies. These strategies may have unintended consequences that limit healthy food access among families with children and create threats to social dignity. This community-driven study aims to: 1) quantify modifiable community characteristics associated with crime at grocery stores; 2) examine More

Water Is K’é: Learning from the Navajo Community to Promote Early Child Health

Drinking water instead of sugary drinks is key to reducing health disparities. Since beverage habits are shaped by complex personal, community, and environmental factors, community input is critical to design any intervention promoting water. The research team worked with community partners to design a program to promote healthy beverage habits among young Navajo children. The More

Teacher and Caregiver Perspectives on Water Is K’é: An Early Child Education Program to Promote Healthy Beverages among Navajo Children

The Water is K’é program was developed to increase water consumption and decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages for young children and caregivers. The pilot program was successfully delivered by three Family and Child Education (FACE) programs on the Navajo Nation using a culturally centered curriculum between 2020 to 2022. The purpose of this research was More

Water is K’é: A Community-Based Intervention to Increase Healthy Beverage Consumption by Navajo Preschool Children

This research brief gives an overview of the Water is K’é intervention, conducted among Navajo Nation families. The intervention was delivered by early care and education teachers to households with children ages 2-5, and covered the cultural importance of water, health benefits of water, and alternatives to sugary drinks. At baseline, more than 70% of children already More

Using community-based participatory systems science approach to inform promising strategies to reduce SSB and excess juice consumption among families of infants and toddlers in Puerto Rico

The purpose of this study is to inform promising strategies that can curb SSB and excess fruit juice consumption and potentially provide safe, palatable potable drinking water as an alternative by building capacity in systems thinking among diverse stakeholders that serve families with infants and toddlers in Puerto Rico. The study will employ Group Model More

Increasing Healthy Food Access for Low-Income Communities: Protocol of the Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project

Improving healthy food access in low-income communities continues to be a public health challenge. One strategy for improving healthy food access has been to introduce community food stores, with the mission of increasing healthy food access; however, no study has explored the experiences of different initiatives and models in opening and sustaining healthy food stores. More