Inequities in African American Environmental Contexts for Obesity Prevention

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In response to PA-08-149, this R13 application requests support for a scientific workshop focusing on social inequities in environmental determinants of obesity in African Americans that can be addressed through community-based participatory research (CBPR). The inequities of interest relate to the well-documented excess availability and promotion of unhealthful vs. more healthful foods and beverages and relative lack of access to safe and affordable options for physical activity in African American communities. This focus directly addresses NIH strategic goals for elimination of racial/ethnic disparities in obesity and cardiovascular diseases. The workshop will be convened under the auspices of the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network (AACORN). AACORN links scholars, researchers and community-based research partners nationally in efforts to increase the quality, quantity, and effective translation of research to address weight issues in African American communities. The requested support would cover partial costs of a 2 1/2 day national workshop with 100 invited participants. Framing and content will approach the issue of obesity prevention in African American communities through a social justice lens. Objectives are to: 1) obtain a broad overview of how environmental inequities affecting African Americans have been successfully addressed through policy, community action, and social change, on issues other than those directly related to obesity; 2) identify recent or current successes or promising work-in-progress in addressing inequities in the food and activity environments of African Americans; 3) highlight current research documenting and understanding community perceptions of inequities in food and beverage marketing practices and strategies for addressing them; 4) draft a model vision and research/action plan for improving food and physical activity environments of African Americans; and 5) initiate a process for implementing this action plan with national and local African American community stakeholders. This workshop will engage academic scholars and scholars- in-training from public health, nutrition and food studies, exercise science, public policy, community development, marketing, economics, and other fields as well as community partners and policy makers. Building on successes and lessons learned from the three previous AACORN national invited workshops, held in 2004, 2006, and 2008, the Network will utilize a new workshop format in 2010: a dialogical conference model will be implemented in order to prioritize and create spaces for discourse and intellectual exchange. Workshop outcomes will be disseminated through the internet, academic journals, and other channels. Inequities in the availability and promotion of healthful vs. unhealthful foods and beverages and in access to safe and affordable options for physical activity in African American communities are well-documented. These inequities limit the ability to eliminate health disparities related to obesity. A scientific workshop that brings together diverse scholars, community partners, and policy makers can generate research and action strategies to address these inequities.