Performing Department
Nutrition Dietetics & Food Sci
Non Technical Summary
The proposed project addresses critical challenges to improve nutrition security. Current trends show little or no progress in improving food security or dietary quality, both key factors in preventing chronic diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Barriers such as structural inequalities and lack of tailored interventions based on precision nutrition particularly affect underserved populations, including low-income, rural, and minority communities. This project will create the Western Region Nutrition Security Collaborative, a platform to foster interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration to address these barriers and improve equitable access to health-promoting foods.The project has four main objectives. First, it will establish a collaborative network of stakeholders across the Western Region, facilitating knowledge exchange, resource-sharing, and coordinated action. Second, formative evaluation research will be conducted to assess community needs and inform the development of effective tools, ensuring that interventions are contextually relevant. Third, the project will develop and pilot several evidence-based toolkits and associated trainings to guide Policy, Systems, and Environment (PSE) interventions for improve food access through community partnerships. Fourth, an open-access toolkit for community-engaged learning will be created to enhance the capacity of university faculty, students, and community partners to address nutrition security through practical, hands-on engagement, resulting in an enhanced workforce.The project builds on existing expertise and strong partnerships, leveraging the strengths of three land-grant institutions. By utilizing community-engaged methods, the project aims to develop sustainable, scalable, and culturally relevant solutions to improve nutrition security and reduce health disparities across the Western Region.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
Our long-term goal is to improve nutrition security and thus health disparities through increased equitable access to health-promoting and culturally acceptable foods. The overall objective of this proposal is to establish an multisectoral umbrella program, the Western Region Nutrition Security Collaborative, to develop, test, and evaluate community-engaged, transdisciplinary training and resources to support collaborative projects to improve food security through collaborative projects.Objective 1: Establish the Western Region Nutrition Security Collaborative to bring together interdisciplinary partners and leverage existing resources to collaboratively maximize impact on the shared goal: to increase equitable access to health-promoting foods.Objective 2: Conduct formative evaluation research to inform the iterative development of the tools and resources described in Objectives 3 and 4.Objective 3: Develop and adapt resources to guide effective and sustainable PSE nutrition security interventions and use these resources to guide PSE design and implementation to strengthen nutrition security and partner capacity through Extension-community partnerships.Objective 4: Develop and support the implementation of an open-access, applied, and evidence-based toolkit for community-engaged learning to increase focus on workforce development, enhance knowledge of university personnel and students, improve student learning outcomes, and enhance involvement of and impact for community partners.
Project Methods
Community-Engaged ApproachOur project is grounded in a community-engaged approach across all program activities, emphasizing active collaboration with community members in outreach, education, and research. This approach is recognized as a best practice in Extension outreach, ensuring that learning and problem-solving activities are human-centered and informed by stakeholders.We will employ a combination of deep engagement, involving community members (e.g., Benally, Wille, Ruiz) as leaders and co-developers (local advisory groups), and shallow engagement, where community members provide input on work plans and interpretation of results. Projects will utilize community-engaged research and community-engaged solution-building approaches, guided by the Framework for Collaborative Community Action on Health (Institute of Medicine, 2002) and the Theory of Change (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2022). These principles emphasize reciprocity, collegiality with community partners, and adaptability to feedback, unexpected outcomes, and evolving needs.Precision NutritionWe will apply the lens of precision nutrition, defined in accordance with the RFA as nutrition tailored to different population subgroups through the integration of diverse data sources. We plan to incorporate data including but not limited to socioeconomic and psychosocial characteristics, food environments, and cultural factors. Based on community needs, our efforts will focus on Tribal and Hispanic communities, which are disproportionately affected, underserved, and typically underrepresented in data. These populations also align with the program area's priority subgroups.Objective 1: Establish the Western Region Nutrition Security Collaborative to unite interdisciplinary partners and leverage existing resources to maximize the impact on a shared goal: increasing equitable access to health-promoting foods.We will create a regional hub under the Utah State University Hunger Solutions Institute, an organization focused on addressing hunger through education and community engagement. The Collaborative will convene interdisciplinary stakeholders from the Western Region to foster collaboration and resource sharing. Regular communication through quarterly calls, newsletters, and workshops will enable members to discuss projects, share challenges and successes, and brainstorm solutions. Annual conferences will facilitate in-depth discussions and project planning.Objective 2: Conduct formative evaluation research to inform iterative development of the tools and resources described in Objectives 3 and 4.We will employ mixed-methods research, including surveys and interviews with key informants, to identify community strengths, barriers, and needs related to nutrition security in our three collaborating states. This community-engaged research will focus on Tribal and Hispanic populations. Findings will inform tool development and project planning.Following initial tool development (Objectives 3 and 4), we will conduct community-engaged pilot studies to evaluate the utility and impact of these tools at three Utah locations. Results from these pilots will guide further refinement before wider dissemination.Objective 3: Develop and adapt resources to guide effective and sustainable policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) nutrition security interventions.We will create three adaptable toolkits, incorporating both existing materials and new content to address identified gaps. These toolkits will serve various stakeholders in nutrition security, including non-profits, Extension programs, public health departments, coalitions, nutrition educators, Community Health Workers, students, and faculty.After pilot testing (Objective 2), we will issue an open RFA for mini-grants to provide seed funding, training, and technical support for Extension faculty to implement these tools with community partners across the Western Region.Objective 4: Develop and support implementation of an open-access, applied, evidence-based toolkit for community-engaged learning (CEL).This toolkit will support workforce development, enhance the knowledge of university personnel and students, improve student learning outcomes, and increase involvement and impact for community partners.Using community-engaged research and solution-building, we will design a context-informed, online, open-access toolkit to guide faculty, staff, and students in developing community-engaged learning opportunities across teaching, research, service, and Extension.To support implementation, we will offer mini-grants to faculty in the Western Region for projects that use the CEL toolkit to address nutrition security solutions among vulnerable populations in collaboration with community partners and Extension faculty.Terminology NoteThroughout this proposal, in alignment with the terminology used in the RFA, we used the term Tribal to refer to Indigenous communities, sometimes also called Native American or American Indian. We recognize that individuals and communities may prefer different terms and are committed to respecting those preferences. Additionally, we acknowledge the diversity within both Tribal and Hispanic communities, encompassing unique cultures, traditions, and experiences. We will approach this work with sensitivity to these differences and ensure that our efforts are guided by the voices and perspectives of those we serve.