State: Maryland

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

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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

Philadelphia Beverage Tax’s Impact on Beverage Ad Expenditures and Number of Ads Purchased

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On January 1, 2017, Philadelphia implemented a beverage excise tax. The study’s objective was to determine whether beverage advertising expenditures and the number of beverage ads purchased changed in Philadelphia compared to Baltimore because of this tax. Monthly beverage ad expenditures and the number of beverage ads purchased by brand from January 2016 through December More

Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project Findings

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Study Overview and Key Findings Improving healthy food access in low-income communities continues to be a public health challenge. One promising approach has been opening supermarkets in low-income neighborhoods or converting existing food retail operations to emphasize healthy options. The overall goal of this study was to use a case study approach to understand the More

A click too far from fresh foods: A mixed methods comparison of online and in-store grocery behaviors among low-income households

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A recent policy in the U.S. authorized monthly benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to be used online to increase grocery access and promote healthy eating. This study examined online grocery attitudes and purchasing behaviors among low-income SNAP-eligible households with young children with and without online grocery experience. An explanatory sequential mixed methods More

The Impact of a Pricing Manipulation Intervention on Food Sales in a Small Community Grocery Store in Baltimore City

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This study tested a pricing manipulation strategy in a small grocery store to assess the impact on food sales. The prices of 35 healthy foods were decreased over time while simultaneously increasing the prices of 45 unhealthy foods. Trends in sales were examined across each manipulation period. Total sales of healthy foods remained relatively stable More

Exploring the Reasons for Low Usage and Informing Strategies to Improve Use of a Nonprofit Grocery Store in Baltimore City

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Introducing new grocery stores into low-income communities has been a focus of policy efforts to improve the food environment. Yet, evidence of the impact of this strategy on diet and health outcomes is inconsistent. In Baltimore, a not-for-profit grocery store was opened by the Salvation Army in March 2018 with the goal of improving healthy More

Urban School Food Infrastructure: Current Issues, Challenges, and Solutions

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In the next year, an estimated 1 in 4 children will experience food insecurity (up from 1 in 6, pre-pandemic), disproportionately impacting children in low-income households and racial/ethnic minorities. To mediate loss of school meals during closures and reduce COVID-19 exposure, Congress authorized the USDA to permit local education authorities to apply approaches from the More

Assessing Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program families’ online food purchasing behaviors to inform policies targeting expansion of SNAP benefits

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Online grocery services may be a promising strategy to increase food access by creating systems that increase the self-reliance of communities to meet their food needs; however, there may be unintended consequences that should be considered. Despite the potential to increase healthier choices, individuals may purchase more soft drinks and juices online than fresh produce. More