- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Author: Gail Woodward-Lopez
A position is available at the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), Oakland, Calif. for Director of the NPI CalFresh Healthy Living Evaluation Unit. This position directs the work under contract with the California Department of Public Health to evaluate and inform the SNAP-Ed efforts of local health departments in California. The Director of the NPI-CFHL Evaluation unit provides strategic leadership and expertise on program development, research and evaluation activities to inform and improve policies and practices related to nutrition and physical activity behaviors and obesity prevention primarily in California. This position is expected to lead and oversee a complex, multi-component, and multi-million-dollar state-wide evaluation of a SNAP-Ed program with an impact on the national program, play a leadership role on additional regional, state and national research and evaluation programs as needed, and facilitate and develop new funding opportunities and partnerships. This position also provides leadership for future proposals and strategic planning for NPI with impact at the regional, state and national levels. Additional duties include budget development and management, management of project deliverables, and priority setting. Applications are due by Monday, July 18, 2022.
- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Author: Kaela Plank
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
- Contributor: Gail Woodward-Lopez
The Nutrition Policy Institute's CalFresh Healthy Living evaluation team analyzed data from a stratified, random sample of 190 CalFresh Healthy Living-eligible school districts in California to better understand equitable school meal distribution and changes in meal participation during COVID-19 school closures. Researchers found total school meals served decreased by a median of 46% between May 2019 and May 2020. While districts did a commendable job providing information and meals to families during school closures, there were gaps in communication about school meal eligibility requirements and menus. Additionally, while districts placed more school meal distribution sites in lower-income areas, the number of school meal distribution sites was not proportionate to the size of the population in those areas. The study was published in Preventive Medicine Reports. Researchers offer actionable steps and recommendations in an accompanying research brief for how programs like CalFresh Healthy Living can better support schools and provide equitable meal access during emergency school closures. The study and research brief are timely and important because emergency school closures will likely occur in the future as communities cope with floods, fires and other natural disasters. This work was conducted under contract with the California Department of Public Health with funding from the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed).
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) is an evidence-based, federally funded education program to support participants eligible for receiving SNAP food benefits. SNAP-Ed initiatives include nutrition education classes, social marketing campaigns, and efforts to improve policies, systems, and the environment of communities; the program is known as CalFresh Healthy Living in California. The COVID-19 pandemic produced unprecedented challenges for SNAP-Ed implementation in California. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers from the CalFresh Healthy Living Evaluation team–Gail Woodward Lopez, Janice Kao, and Christina Becker–presented at the Association of SNAP Nutrition Education Administrators virtual conference on Feb. 10, 2022 a talk titled “Where do we go from here? COVID-19 impacts on local health department SNAP-Ed programming, priority populations and equity in California”. The talk was part of a panel moderated by NPI researcher Sridharshi Hewawitharana. Researchers presented results of a web-based survey of 1064 majority Black, Indigenous, and people of color SNAP-Ed eligible parents across California and results from online reporting from local health departments that implement SNAP-Ed at over 500 sites. Results showed dramatic changes in food and physical activity acquisition and SNAP-Ed programming, reductions in physical activity, mixed impacts on dietary intake, and a high prevalence of perceived weight gain.
The University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is a statewide program with local development and delivery. The Division's Nutrition Policy Institute is a research and policy institute that evaluates the impact of programs and policies on nutrition, physical activity, and public health outcomes. The Research Data Analyst 3 works on multiple extramural funded research projects in collaboration with multiple research staff, with supervision from Principal Investigators and input from senior statisticians and data analysts as needed. This position will focus on working on evaluation studies conducted by NPI through its CalFresh Healthy Living contract with the California Department of Public Health. While this position normally is based in Oakland, CA, this position is eligible for hybrid flexible work arrangements for applicants living in the State of California, at this time. Hybrid flexible work arrangements are subject to change by the University. This job posting will close on March 11, 2022.
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Contributor: Gail Woodward-Lopez
A new study from University of California researchers suggests that most fast food restaurants in low-income neighborhoods in California are not offering beverages online in a way that is consistent with the state's healthy beverage law for children's meals sold on the restaurant's website and popular online ordering platforms like DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats. California's Healthy-By-Default Beverage law requires restaurants to offer only plain or sparkling water with no added sweeteners, unflavored milk or unflavored non-dairy milk as the default beverage in children's meals. The law also requires that menus, menu boards and advertisements for children's meals include only approved default options. Researchers found that less than six percent of the observations they made on the online ordering platforms of 245 fast food restaurants across low-income California neighborhoods were offering children's meal beverages that were consistent with the Healthy-By-Default Beverage law in its most restrictive interpretation. This is cause for concern as online ordering platforms are gaining popularity. The study was published online in the journal Public Health Nutrition by Nutrition Policy Institute researchers Hannah Thompson, Anna Martin, Ron Strochlic, Sonali Singh, and Gail Woodward Lopez as part of the NPI CalFresh Healthy Living evaluation.