Studying the Effectiveness of an Intervention to Increase Water Access and Appeal for Underserved Populations Outside School Settings

In June 2016, the Philadelphia City Council passed a 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Given the tax, the climate for promoting water and discouraging SSB consumption in Philadelphia is ideal for testing interventions that may increase water consumption. Specific aims of this study are to: l) determine the effectiveness of a More

Improved Parental Dietary Quality is Associated with Children’s Dietary Intake Through the Home Environment

This study aimed to assess the relative impact of the home food environment on children’s diet after the introduction of a new supermarket in a food desert. This study builds upon a natural experiment to longitudinally examine the food-purchasing behaviors and diets among a randomly selected population of households in two major Pittsburgh food desert More

Examining Rural Store Owners’ Perceptions of USDA’s Minimum Stocking Requirements

The purpose of this project is to examine rural store owners’ perceptions about the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed rule that updates the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) vendor requirements and to understand the barriers and facilitators to implementation. The study will include a content analysis on the public comments on USDA’s proposed More

Understanding the Feasibility of Implementing the Recommendations for Minimum Stocking Levels and Marketing Strategies for Small Retail Food Stores

The purposes of this project are to: 1) understand the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the Minimum Stocking Levels and Marketing Strategies of Healthful Foods for Small Retail Food Stores recommendations developed in 2015 among stores most likely to face challenges (rural and urban, dollar and family-owned stores), and 2) obtain a baseline More

Moving from Policy to Implementation: A Methodology and Lessons Learned to Determine Eligibility for Healthy Food Financing Projects

Financing programs to incentivize healthy food retail development in communities classified as “underserved” are taking place at the local, state, and national levels. Implementing these policies requires a clear definition of eligibility for program applicants and policy administrators. This paper describes a process to implement an eligibility analysis for healthy food financing programs and shares More

Lessons Learned from Small Store Programs to Increase Healthy Food Access

This paper presents the experiences and lessons learned from small food store interventions in four U.S. cities – Baltimore, Md.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Burlington, N.C.; and Philadelphia, Pa. Experiences from these four communities indicate that small store interventions face a variety of challenges that impact feasibility, acceptability, and long-term success. Particularly challenging issues included: understanding and More

Impact of a Rewards-Based Incentive Program on Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Purchases

This paper examines the impact of a rewards-based incentive program on fruits and vegetable purchases in a supermarket located in a predominately minority community in Philadelphia, Pa. Researchers conducted a four-phase prospective cohort study with randomized intervention and wait-listed control groups. Households in the intervention were provided a 50 percent rebate on fresh or frozen More

Assessing the Relative Impact of Home-Food and Local-Supermarket Environments on Children’s Diets in Low-Resource African American Neighborhoods

This study will take advantage of a unique natural experiment to evaluate the ways in which the home food environment modifies the effects of a new full-service supermarket on children’s diet in a low-resource, urban, African American neighborhood. The study has two specific aims: 1) to determine the effect of the new supermarket on children’s More