An Evaluation of a Neighborhood-Level Intervention to a Local Food Environment

doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2010.08.006

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Volume 39, Issue 6, December 2010, Pages e31-e38

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2010.08.006 Get rights and content

Background

The impact of local availability of healthy foods on dietary intake and health has been established. Interventions to local environments are being evaluated for their efficacy and sustainability.

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to provide an evaluation of a community-driven approach to transform neighborhood healthy food availability.

Methods

The information provided comes from minutes of monthly meetings of the partners, newsletters, media, and other store and project documentation. In addition, qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and co-op members were conducted. All of the participating individuals were interviewed during 2008 and analysis took place in 2010. Each interview was audio-taped and transcribed to form verbatim transcripts, then content analyzed for themes.

Results

The implementation phase of the initiative had long-standing negative repercussions on the ability of the store to be successful because of renting too large a space; not branding the store early; early misperceptions by community members about the store; and the changing of organizational partners and personnel, which resulted in a lack of leadership for the store. Equally important, the lack of project personnel or consultants with business experience directly related to operating a food store reverberated into issues related to marketing, price structuring, decisions about stocking the store, as well as accounting.

Conclusions

Repercussions of these challenges included unmet goals in terms of attracting local residents to become members of the co-op, low sales levels, and reduced confidence in the long-term sustainability of the food cooperative. Approaches to modifications of local food environments are likely to require additional resources beyond funding in order to secure positive outcomes.

Section snippets

Background

Diet-related health problems continue to constitute a large proportion of modifiable health conditions in the U.S. For instance, nearly 8% of American adults have diabetes; 32% have hypertension; and 20%–30% are obese.1, 2, 3 Children are also affected by diet-related health conditions, as exemplified by the increasing prevalence of obesity.⁴ These health problems leave individuals at risk for comorbid conditions and heart disease.

Recently, investigators have demonstrated differences in local

Participants

All community, academic and healthcare partners involved in the development and implementation of the program project were contacted to be interviewed (n=11), as well as all of the ENY-FC members (n=50). Approximately half of the partners (n=6) and 10% of the members agreed to be interviewed. The three major partner constituencies were represented (the community partners [n=3]; the academic partner [n=2]; and the healthcare partner [n=1]). All participating individuals were interviewed during

Results

There were a number of prominent issues that were brought forth regarding the challenges faced by the community in opening and sustaining the ENY-FC in a low-income urban area of New York City. These issues fall into two broad categories: (1) operating the store and (2) the administration of the store.

Discussion

The ENY-FC developed a membership base, opened and served the local community for 2 years. This should be documented as successes for this CBPR project. What the community was unable to achieve is to become self-sufficient within the program project timeline. This manuscript describes the many difficulties faced by the ENY-FC. Suggestions are provided for others planning to embark on opening a food store in restricted food environments in Table 1.

It is a limitation that the perspectives of all

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Research articleAn Evaluation of a Neighborhood-Level Intervention to a Local Food Environment

Background

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

Background

Participants

Results

Discussion

Am J Prev Med

J Am Diet Assoc

Am J Prev Med

Am J Prev Med

Health Place

Am J Prev Med

Prev Med

Prev Med

Prev Med

Am J Prev Med

Am J Prev Med

Am J Prev Med

J Nutr Educ Behav

National Diabetes Statistics

FastStats

Overweight and Obesity

NHANES Survey (1976–1980 and 2003–2006)

Retail stores in poor urban neighborhoods

J Consum Aff

A comparison of the availability and affordability of a market basket in two communities in the Chicago area

Public Health Nutr

Research article
An Evaluation of a Neighborhood-Level Intervention to a Local Food Environment