CIVIC-PG Track B Walk to Healthy Foods: Modeling Community-Based Assets to Increase Healthy Food Access in Underserved Communities

在美国，低收入和种族和民族多样化的社区获得健康食品的机会有限，酒类、街角商店和便利店的集中度高于超市，这对居民的健康和福祉有影响。“走向健康食品”的愿景是通过向社区提供一种方法来识别和利用社区现有资产来解决食品获取挑战，从而在全国服务不足的社区弥合食品可及性与社区需求之间的差距。“走向健康食品”采取了一种以资产为基础的方法，通过确定已经为社区居民提供服务的企业，如现有的酒类、街角和便利店，并利用它们在社区中的存在来提供更健康的食品选择。在第一阶段，通过与社区利益相关者的接触和合作，“走向健康食品”将开发一个选址模型，以确定社区中可以成为健康食品接入点的现有资产。在第二阶段，“走向健康食品”将通过在圣地亚哥县一个服务不足的社区进行干预，测试和校准选址模型。具体而言，选址模式将用于确定潜在的健康食品接入点，并将在这些站点推出农产品分销服务，从而增加社区获得新鲜农产品的机会。提议的方法包括与向社区提供直接服务的组织合作（即向选定的地点提供分销服务），允许对选址模型进行真正的测试，并通过对一个社区产生直接影响的试点研究来解决社区确定的需求，同时测试和校准可以在其他社区实施的模型。选址模型可用于识别服务不足社区的现有资产，并可用于解决系统性挑战（如食物获取有限），这有可能重新定义社区居民获得基本资源所需的条件。“走向健康食品”将对地理、公共卫生、城市规划和商业等领域做出贡献，并对解决紧迫社会问题的创新方法的不断发展做出贡献。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Low-income and racially- and ethnically- diverse communities across the United States experience limited access to healthy foods, and a higher concentration of liquor, corner, and convenience stores than supermarkets, with implications for the health and well-being of residents. Walk to Healthy Foods' vision is to bridge the gap between food accessibility and community needs in underserved communities nationwide by providing communities with an approach for identifying and leveraging existing assets in their communities to address food access challenges. Walk to Healthy Foods takes an asset-based approach by identifying businesses that are already serving community residents, such as existing liquor, corner, and convenience stores, and leveraging their presence in the community to provide healthier food options. During Stage 1, through engagement and collaboration with community stakeholders, Walk to Healthy Foods will develop a site selection model for identifying existing assets in the community that can become access points for healthy foods. During Stage 2, Walk to Healthy Foods will test and calibrate the site selection model through an intervention in an underserved community in San Diego County. Specifically, the site selection model will be used to identify potential healthy food access points, and produce distribution services will be launched at these sites, resulting in increased access to fresh produce in the community.The approach proposed, which includes partnering with an organization that is providing a direct service to the community (i.e., produce distribution services to selected sites), allows a true test of the site selection model and for research to address a community-identified need through a pilot that will have a direct impact on one community while testing and calibrating a model that can be implemented in others. A site selection model that can be used to identify existing assets in underserved communities that can be leveraged to address systemic challenges, such as limited food access, has the potential to redefine what is needed in communities for residents to have access to essential resources. Walk to Healthy Foods will contribute to the fields of geography, public health, city planning, and business, among others, and to the ongoing development of innovative approaches to solving pressing social issues.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.