Recipient Organization
THAI COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTER INC
6376 YUCCA ST
LOS ANGELES,CA 90028
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Food insecurity, defined as experiencing multiple disruptions in eating patterns and reduced food intake, has steadily been rising across the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic began. In 2019, the California Food Policy Advocates, a policy advocacy and research organization working to end hunger in California, reported that 44% of low-income household adults in Los Angeles face food insecurity. This problem disproportionately affects historically-marginalized, low-income communities of color that have a long history of battling chronic illnesses, such as Type 2 diabetes. As a result, low-income populations, such as East Hollywood, continue to struggle with managing their illness due in part to having limited access to reliable and affordable food. Our Produce Box Program is a response to the rising number of individuals suffering from food insecurity. It acts as a catalyst for a healthier lifestyle by offering free produce boxes to those most vulnerable in our East Hollywood community-- those who are low-income, undocumented, and suffer from either food insecurity and/or are diagnosed with pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes. The produce boxes contain fresh ingredients, nutrition literature and simple recipes that promote healthy behavior and healthy diets. We hope that our produce box program can help build the foundation for healthier lifestyle habits in our communities, food security and diet-related disease mitigation and prevention, may allow for better performance in schools and at work, and can help alleviate financial strain that would have otherwise been worsened by diet-related healthcare expenses.Participant surveys and lab tests will be used to collect data that we hope will show a correlation between the intake of fresh fruits and vegetables and an overall improvement in health outcomes, food security and reduced healthcare costs. We intend to publish our needs assessment as well as the results of the produce prescription program to inform the wider public of the ongoing battle for food equity in East Hollywood. Ultimately, we are aiming to reduce the number of individuals suffering from food insecurity through providing free produce boxes to low-income and undocumented individuals. This program links community members to the local food system and immediately supports the financial stability of our small farmers and program participants. By providing consistent nutrition education and increased access to fresh foods, we aim to eventually replace any negative health patterns with healthier lifestyle habits that lead to a decrease in diet-related chronic illnesses. Last year Richard, an East Hollywood resident who has been living with HIV for the past 40 years, stopped by the EHCFM malnourished and seeking Cal Fresh enrollment. Ever since he was approved to receive benefits, Richard continues to shop at the market and has looked much healthier than before. He always comes with a smile and a thank you to EHCFM staff for helping alleviate his food insecurity.Consistent access to fresh and nutritious food can lead to thriving, more vibrant communities and an overall healthier society pursuing their dreams instead of fighting for mere survival. We know that global change begins at the local level. We hope that the success of our project ripples out into our community, into our County and beyond and inspires others to create projects that center, feed and care for their most vulnerable community members.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
0%
Developmental
70%
Goals / Objectives
The first goal of this program is to combat food insecurity and increase the consumption of fresh produce among low-income and undocumented individuals in East Hollywood and neighboring areas by providing produce prescriptions and accompanied bi-monthly (twice a month) produce prescription boxes to 200 individuals. Our second goal is to improve health outcomes for our participants and, where applicable, reduce healthcare costs. Our third goal is to sustain improved health outcomes for our program participants by providing continuous educational materials that promote health literacy and healthy lifestyles.GOAL 1Objective #1Submit our proposal for IRB review, and have co-Project Directors complete the CITI training Objective #2 Create a purchasingagreement with our farmers' market vendors to provide produce boxes for eligible participants, financially support our market vendors and link participants to the local food systemObjective #3Create workshop schedule and refine workshop programming Objective #4 Finalize social media plan, assets and flyers to conduct outreach to promote our programObjective #5/OngoingEHCFM staff and interns to conduct outreach by tabling at the market, door-to-door canvassing, and promotion on our social media, such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. APHCV will also conduct outreach by promoting our produce box programs to new patients. Interested potential program participants would then be referred to our partner, Asian Pacific Healthcare Venture (APHCV), where they would be verified and screened to determine participant eligibility. Objective #6/OngoingAPHCV toadminister a pre-program survey regarding participants' diet and demographic information; in addition, their HbA1c and blood pressure will be collected. APHCV will then screen participants for food insecurity and/or a pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes diagnosis. Objective #7/OngoingAPHCV to enroll 25 participants every quarter, provide produce prescriptions which can be redeemed at the EHCFM for produce boxes. The EHCFM staff will coordinate produce box preference (pre-prepared or build-it-yourself) with participants for pickup at the market.Objective #8/OngoingEHCFM staff and volunteers to assemble and distribute prepared produce boxes.GOAL 2Objective #1Program participants to complete 2 mid-program surveys assessing changes in their food security, HbA1c, and high blood pressure. Survey questions will also concern participants' interests in what the program canprovide for them, such as workshops, classes and materialsObjective #2/OngoingOur third-party evaluation consultant company, Richard Heath Association (RHA) will analyze these trends over time and periodically relay their findings to APHCV and EHCFM staffObjective #3/OngoingEHCFM staff to incorporate evaluation feedback and tailor ongoingefforts to best meet participants' health and wellness needsObjective #4/OngoingAPHCV to conduct ongoing primary care and wellness visits, and report general results of the visits and adherence to visits, toEHCFMObjective #5/OngoingAssess participant data from RHA to note trends in expected decreased food security, HbA1C levels and blood pressureObjective #6Compile data from RHA, and publish our findings in a final reportObjective #7Share our findings with our community partners, and in informational flyers to our participants and community members GOAL 3Objective #1/OngoingHost 1 workshop every quarter covering nutritional information to increase health literacy and knowledge based on participants' interests from the pre-survey results.Objective #2/OngoingInform participants and the general public of local resources and educational materials (such as affordable meal recipes, shopping on a budget, and nutritional facts), and of our mobile library that will provide access to literature focusing on nutrition.Objective #3Conduct post-program survey to assess success of goals, identify areas of improvement, and ensure continuous relationship building with our participants.
Project Methods
Beginning with a pre-survey designed to gather demographic, participant level-core metrics and health markers such as blood pressure and HbA1c levels, the APHCV will screen and identify patients that are experiencing either food insecurity and/or are living with pre-diabetes or Type-2 diabetes. APHCV will screen individuals for food insecurity using the USDA 2-item food insecurity screener, and for pre-diabetes or Type-2 diabetesby measuring individuals' Ha1c levels. Once an individual has been screened and is verified as food insecure, prediabetic or diabetic, they/she/he will be eligible, and APHCV will provide a prescription for a produce box filled with fresh fruits and vegetables that can be picked up at the EHCFM. Project Directors and staff associated with the program will receive ethical survey methods training, work on developing marketing assets, nutrition education workshops and materials, communication assets for outreach, recipes and collect needs assessment survey responses to complement the results of the produce prescription program. The development of the marketing assets, nutritional workshops and recipes will incorporate peer-reviewed feedback by colleagues not directly involved with implementation of the program. This process is done to refine our material and ensure the assets and workshops are effective and culturally appropriate. Recipes will be designed to be simple, nutritious and delicious and will be accompanied by live-cooking demonstrations to increase awareness of nutrition security. Nutritional security is defined as access, availability, and affordability of foods that promote well-being and prevent or treat disease. Concurrently, the project directors will seek IRB review for the program and disseminate a qualitative needs assessment for Spanish-speaking residents of East Hollywood. The needs assessment will complement the results of the produce prescription program and allow Thai CDC to develop targeted strategies to overcome barriers to food access. APHCV will identify 25 participants per quarter to receive a produce prescription and, with RHA, will be responsible for safeguarding participants' data. Project directors will facilitate a purchase agreement with the produce vendors at the EHCFM, assemble the prescription boxes and coordinate pickup with participants. Assisting staff will be assigned participants to follow up with throughout their participation and disseminate outreach materials to identify and engage with eligible participants. This open channel of communication is important for tracking participant progress, staying top of mind, answering questions and receiving feedback relating to the project. Following the pre-survey, participants will complete two mid-program surveys and a post-program survey. All surveys will be developed purposefully and incorporate questions to collect the required participant level and firm level metrics and collect data on health markers to track tangible improvement in health outcomes and medical costs. The post-program surveys will also show the knowledge gained since the pre-program survey as well as whether there were any changes to the participants' behavior. APHCV will be in a data sharing agreement with RHA to which they will send food insecurity, Hba1C and blood pressure data without any PHI identifiers for data analysis. RHA will analyze the participants' data and regularly report their findings to APHCV and EHCFM. EHCFM staff will be responsible for evaluating and quantifying the increase in the following outcomes: understanding of the links between diet and health amongst our participants; awareness of health literacy, healthy diets and healthy living; food equity among participants; awareness of common chronic illnesses, specifically diabetes; consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables; number of customers at the East Hollywood Certified Farmers' Market; awareness of public benefits and eligibility; number of eligible participants getting enrolled into public benefits; and number of people having access to health care via APHCV. RHA will be responsible for evaluating and quantifying the decrease in HbA1c levels amongst participants, number of food insecure participants, and healthcare costs amongst participantsreceiving medical insurance.Thai CDC's evaluation process will occur in three phases. The first phase will determine the appropriate design and assessment tools to be utilized for the comprehensive program evaluation with help from the GusNIP NTAE Center. The second phase will involve the collection of data from participant surveys for both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the program. This data will be tabulated from our intakes, pre-assessment screenings, post-assessment feedback, outreach data and demographic information, pre- and post-tests, and any other documentation from the program. It will help determine what the program's output for the year has been, such as the number of clients who received our services, the number of low-income individuals positively affected by our services, and the frequency that these services were provided. It is Thai CDC's philosophy that the process of achieving our goals should also be evaluated, such as the outreach methods we use, the methods employed for disseminating information, and our case management process. The final phase will be a third-party assessment of the program's overall adherence to the 3 GusNIP Produce Prescription goals. The first phase of the evaluation will begin at the startup of the program. The second phase of the evaluation will occur after the first quarter of the program. The results from the second phase of the evaluation will be analyzed to inform us of any changes that should be made to our program design. At the midpoint of the program, the evaluation results will help us determine whether our methods are efficient or in need of improvement. The third phase of the evaluation will be performed by RHA.Key milestones include: By Y1Q2 - 25 individuals enrolled into our programBy Y1Q3/Ongoing -- A measurable decrease in food insecurity and HbA1C levels By Y1Q4 - 100 individuals enrolled into our programBy Y2Q2 - A cohort of 150 individuals enrolled into our programBy Y2Q4 - A cohort of 200 individuals enrolled into our programThe indicators that will help inform us of our program's success include the following:The accessibility of our services;The number of participants receiving the services and participating in our workshops;The percent of individuals who have increased food security and decreased HbA1C levels;The percent of individuals whoreport or indicate that they are engaged in healthy eating habits; The percent of individuals who report that they have improved diet and overall health;The number of individuals who report or indicate that they have improved eating habits and diet;The number of individuals who report they regularly engage in activities that promote good health;The number of individuals who pursue a balanced diet.