The proposed study would increase knowledge about the role of street vendors in the after-school eating environment among elementary and middle school children in low-income neighborhoods. Our overall aim is to examine whether mobile vendors are a feasible vehicle for the sales of fresh fruits, vegetables and healthy snacks. We propose an initial formative phase consisting of spatial and observational data, followed by interviews to contextualize street vending near selected elementary and middle schools in Oakland, California. Information from this formative phase will lead to a community-based quasi-experimental intervention.
PI: Barbara Laraia
Co-Investigators: Irene Yen , June Tester (CHORI)
Funding: Robert Wood Johnson Healthy Eating Environments
Specific Aims:
Specific Aim 1: Describe the role of street vendors in the eating environment around elementary and middle schools in low income urban neighborhoods.
Specific Aim 2: Contextualize the role of street vendors within the school community by conducting interviews with key informants in selected schools and the vendors themselves, and conduct intercept interviews with parents and children.
Specific Aim 3: Design and conduct a pilot intervention to increase school children’s access to heart healthy snacks and/or fresh fruits and vegetables from street vendors, using formative data from previous aims.