There is increased attention and funding to policies that can increase the presence of supermarkets in lower-income, ethnically diverse neighborhoods. While having access to a wide variety of foods is a basic human right, little is known about what purchases are made in supermarkets in these areas and the factors that influence them. The aims More
This paper examines student-involvement goals in local wellness policies by analyzing the characteristics of local education agencies (LEAs) in Pennsylvania. Researchers found that the majority of LEAs in Pennsylvania included policy goals that address student involvement in various activities related to wellness policy, food service and role modeling. LEAs with comprehensive and strong policies were More
Mobile food vending as a venue for food access has received little attention in the public health literature. This paper outlines key components of mobile food vending regulation and provides examples from 12 U.S. cities to illustrate the variations surrounding these regulations. Then, using the regulatory framework, the authors describe how mobile food vending can More
The Healthy Eating Research (HER) Corner Store working group, comprised of HER grantees conducting research in this topic area, undertook a research project that builds on existing projects in multiple communities around the United States. Each of the eight participating sites in seven states produced in-depth interviews with small store owners and managers. The interviews More
This article assesses the availability of healthy foods in small food stores within four metropolitan areas: Baltimore, Maryland; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; Oakland, California; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Overall, availability of healthy foods within these small urban stores was limited. For nearly all food/beverage categories, scores regarding healthy food availability increased as store size increased.
This article examines Pennsylvania’s response to the Child Nutrition and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Reauthorization Act of 2004. The analysis reveals that improvements were made to the nutritional quality of a la carte food choices offered in conjunction with school meal programs, according to respondents. However, the implementation of wellness policies in Pennsylvania was More
This study provides data on what children purchase in corner stores located near their schools. The investigators collected data on 833 purchases that students made before and after school at 24 different corner stores. (Surveys were conducted immediately outside the stores after the students exited.) The students purchased an average of 356.6 calories per corner-store visit, More
Major policy changes in WIC voucher provision for a wide range of healthy foods has the potential to impact the more than eight million U.S. families that receive WIC benefits as well as the food environment in low-income neighborhoods. In December 2008, investigators began conducting baseline research about the food choices that WIC participants make, More
This paper documents the reliability of a new coding tool developed to evaluate the quality of school wellness policies. The 96-item coding tool assesses seven goal areas, and each of these goal areas was scored on the dimensions of comprehensiveness and strength. To evaluate reliability, researchers from four states coded a sample of 60 policies More
This paper assesses Pennsylvania public school district local wellness policies, compares the policies to local wellness policy mandate requirements and provides information about the local wellness policy development process. Researchers found that all required school districts in the state established a local wellness policy and almost all (85.6%-100%) met each mandate requirement (e.g., included goals More
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