Strategies to Promote Access to Healthy Food by Vulnerable Populations in Rural Communities

The purposes of this project are to: (1) collect demographic and grocery shopping behavior data from a survey of Chittenden County residents representing socially vulnerable populations in rural communities, including the use of transit; (2) evaluate the relationship between grocery shopping behaviors and awareness of high-quality retail grocery locations not visited; (3) develop a conceptual model of access to healthy (high-quality) food by socially vulnerable households to (a) evaluate the relationship between access to healthy food, demographic attributes, and use of public transit and (b) determine the feasibility of bus electrification strategies for facilitating access to healthy food by socially-vulnerable populations; and (4) derive additional spatial metrics relating access to food quality for use in later research. The survey will be used to determine the frequency of grocery shopping trips, the mode of transportation most used, and the specific origin/destination of trips. The researchers will also evaluate respondent knowledge of other retail grocery locations and code specific retail grocery locations according to the quality of food available. Using geocoded household and retail grocery locations, the researchers can calculate network distances and determine the role that distance plays in moderating the trade-off between distance and quality in measuring accessibility to food by socially-vulnerable populations. The conceptual model will help policymakers understand the obstacles faced by socially vulnerable populations in accessing healthy food, whether those obstacles involve transportation access or awareness. It can also help rural transit providers design or modify existing route systems that facilitate the adoption of electrified transit buses.

• Record URL:
  https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/project/strategies-promote-access-healthy-food-vulnerable-populations-rural-communities

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $200000
• Contract Numbers:

  DOT 69A3552348319

  DOT 69A3552344814

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of Vermont

  Transportation Research Center
  Burlington, Vermont  United States  05405
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616

  University of Vermont

  Transportation Research Center
  Burlington, Vermont  United States  05405
• Project Managers:

  Cliff, Sydney

• Performing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of Vermont

  Transportation Research Center
  Burlington, Vermont  United States  05405
• Principal Investigators:

  Sullivan, James

  Lucas, Marilyn

  Novak, David

  Noordewier, Thomas

• Start Date: 20240901
• Expected Completion Date: 20260630
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Access; Demographics; Electric buses; Equity; Food; Health; Rural areas; Shopping trips; Spatial analysis; Surveys
• Geographic Terms: Chittenden County (Vermont)
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01931100
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Sustainable Transportation
• Contract Numbers: DOT 69A3552348319, DOT 69A3552344814
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Sep 17 2024 4:21PM