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The Community Health Interventions Lab at the University at Buffalo, in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have recently received funding to test a mobile produce market model, known as the Veggie Van.
What will the study do?
First we will identify organizations in the Southeast and Northeastern regions of the United States that want to start or expand mobile market programs. These organizations will be asked to submit proposals to receive funding and technical assistance to start a mobile market program. Eight organizations will be selected to receive:
- Access to the Veggie Van toolkit, a comprehensive “how-to” kit for running a mobile market
- Technical assistance from our team to implement the Veggie Van model
- Help with community engagement in low food access communities
- Point-of service (POS) software for mobile markets
- Funding to assist with program implementation and evaluation
- Assistance with developing a sustainability plan to continue mobile market programs.
In addition, we will complete a comprehensive evaluation process across all 8 sites. Community members in each community targeted by the mobile markets will become active participants in the research process, assisting with recruitment and data collection. After one year of implementation of the Veggie Van model, we will measure the change in fruit and vegetable consumption for participants as well as use data and feedback to refine a Veggie Van toolkit to establish “best practices” for future mobile market projects.