Ripe for Revival: Outcomes Evaluation of a Mobile Produce Market With Vouchers
North Carolina State University
Summary
Increasing access to healthy foods is crucial to combating chronic disease in rural communities. The Ripe for Revival mobile market, a non-profit eastern NC-based mobile market, seeks to improve healthy food access among those at greatest risk of food insecurity and poor health. By implementing vouchers at the mobile market, this study will help make healthy food affordable and accessible. This project is poised to improve diet and health among rural residents in eight counties and promote sustainable local food systems in North Carolina.
Description
Increasing fruit and vegetable (FV) intake and reducing saturated fat, salt, and added sugar are central lifestyle recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to prevent chronic disease. Yet, while diet is modifiable, rural families face structural and systemic inequities that make accessing affordable, healthy food more difficult. Recognizing these disparities and adverse impacts, there is a clear need to create opportunities for improved nutrition through comprehensive solutions that account for rurality, affordability, and accessibility. One potential strategy to improve rural…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * 18 years of age or older * Communicates fluently in English or Spanish * An active participant in an NC Cooperative Extension program May 2025 - June 2027 * At risk of food insecurity * Willing to shop at or visit a Ripe for Revival mobile produce market * Willing to use the provided $20 monthly voucher to shop at the Ripe for Revival mobile produce market * Works or lives in a North Carolina county where this study is being conducted, including Bertie, Halifax, Hertford, Jones, Lenoir, Northampton, Warren, or Washington Exclusion Criteria: * Individuals who do not mee…
Interventions
- BehavioralMobile Market Voucher Outcomes Study
Voucher participants will be referred by Extension professionals who serve lower-resourced individuals during routine programs (i.e., NC Extension programs such as Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). After receiving the referrals from Extension professionals, a member of the research team will contact the referred participant to provide a $20 monthly voucher for three months for use at the mobile market. Trained researchers will collect data at baseline (when a voucher is issued), at \~4 weeks (2nd voucher), 8 weeks (3rd voucher) and 12-16 weeks (post-program) at the NC Cooperative Extension office. FV intake will be measured by skin carotenoid scan. Researchers will obtain height (baseline), weight, and blood pressure at each data collection time point. Survey measures will include the secondary outcomes using adapted versions of validated instruments, with questions on demographics, and food and nutrition security status.
Location
- NC State UniversityRaleigh, North Carolina