Building Access to Food Through Systems and Solidarity

NCT05381766 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 22-00299
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 3,200
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

BASIS aims to implement a whole-of-community intervention in Brooklyn for improving diet and the social and /built environments for English-, Chinese-, Spanish-, and Bangla-speaking communities. This is achieved through five main pillars: by 1) improving food access (subsidized, culturally tailored fresh produce box program), 2) providing nutrition education, 3) conducting experiential learning (gardening workshops, cooking demonstrations, farm tours, physical activity sessions, arts-based sessions), 4) assisting with economic security (SNAP/WIC enrollment, workforce development, small business owner engagement), and 5) contributing to policy.

Conditions

Diet Habit

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Change in Fruit+Vegetable Intake as Measured by Skin Carotenoids

  Fruit and vegetable intake will be assessed by a composite measurement of skin carotenoids. Skin carotenoids are a biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake and will be measured using the Veggie Meter. The Veggie Meter is a non-invasive device about the size of a large stapler that plugs into the standard USB port of a laptop computer

  Baseline, Week 20

• Change in Fruit+Vegetable Intake as Measured by Self-Report

  Self-report of fruit and vegetable intake will rely on food frequency-like questionnaires that will ask about amount and frequency of a list of common produce items (e.g., cucumbers, tomatoes) as well as specific produce items supplied in the BASIS produce box program. Fruit+vegetable intake is reported as a composite measure.

  Baseline, Week 20

• Change in Neighborhood Social Cohesion

  Neighborhood social cohesion will be assessed using the 5-item scale developed by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey. Participants may rate agreement/disagreement on a 5-point scale (scale: 1-strongly agree, 2-agree, 3-neutral, 4-disagree, 5-strongly disagree) with the following 5 statements: 1) People around here are willing to help their neighbors; 2) People in this neighborhood generally don't get along with each other; 3) People in this neighborhood can be trusted; 4) People in this neighborhood do not share the same values; and 5) Most people in this neighborhood know each other. Participant responses for questions 1, 3 and 5 will then be reverse coded (e.g., strongly agree was assigned a value of 5 instead of 1), such that a higher value was associated with a more positive response to each statement. The total score ranges from 5-25; higher scores indicate greater neighborhood social cohesion.

  Baseline, Week 20

• Change in Sense of Belonging

  Sense of belonging will be measured using the 4-item Challenged Sense of Belonging Scale (CSBS). The CSBS is scored using a five-point Likert scale, where 1 indicates "strongly agree" and 5 indicates "strongly disagree". Each item on the scale is scored from 1 (low sense of belonging) to 5 (high sense of belonging). The total score is calculated by adding the manifest variables and dividing by the number of manifest variables, resulting in a score between 1 and 5; higher scores indicate a higher sense of belonging.

  Baseline, Week 20

• Change in Ethnic Pride

  Ethnic pride will be measured using the 8-item Ethnic Affirmation and Belonging Scale. Items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale from 1-5. The total score is an average of the 8 item scores and ranges from 1-5; higher scores indicate greater ethnic pride.

  Baseline, Week 20

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Cross-Cultural/Cross-Racial Understanding

  Baseline, Week 20

Study Arms (2)

Intervention Group - CSA Model

EXPERIMENTAL

English-, Chinese-, Spanish-, and Bangladeshi-speaking community members (adults 18+ years) residing in Sunset Park and surrounding neighborhoods will participate in a culturally adapted systems-level program for improving diet. The intervention will be evaluated through baseline and follow-up surveys and skin carotenoid assessments.

Other: CSA Model

Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

Mexican-identifying community members (adults 18+ years) residing in Mott Haven, Bronx and Chinese-identifying community members (adults 18+ years) residing in Chinatown, Manhattan and Flushing, Queens will form the comparison community. Recruited participants from the comparison communities will complete evaluation components (surveys and skin carotenoid assessments) but not receive the intervention.

Interventions

CSA Model OTHER

Community-supported agriculture (CSA) involves a community of individuals who support a farm and in return receive distributions of the farm's produce throughout the growing season. Culturally appropriate produce will be provided weekly for 20 weeks to community members in Sunset Park and surrounding neighborhoods. Brooklyn Grange in Sunset Park will grow and provide Chinese specific produce for a fee ranging from $7 to $31 depending on the participant's self-identified situation and Angel Family Farm will grow and provide Mexican specific produce for a fee of up to $15. Participants that receive SNAP benefits can use their EBT card to cover their produce box fees. Education will be offered in the form of nutrition education, cooking tutorials, and farming information provided by staff at Brooklyn Grange.

Intervention Group - CSA Model

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 85 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• CSA:
• Adult age 18 years and over
• Resides in Zip codes: 11204, 11209, 11214, 11215, 11217, 11218, 11219, 11220, 11228, 11232
• Speak English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, or Bangla
• Willing and able to provide consent
• Comparison Communities:
• Adult age 18 years and over
• Currently living in South Bronx (Zip codes 10454, 10455, 10451, 10456, 10459), Chinatown (Zip codes 10038, 10002, 10013, 10012), or Flushing (Zip codes 11354, 11355, 11356, 11357, 11360, 11359, 11358, 11365, 11367, 11368)
• Speak English, Mandarin, Cantonese, or Spanish
• Willing and able to provide consent

You may not qualify if:

• Unable to complete the baseline survey in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish or Bangla

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD): collaborator
• NYU Langone Health: lead

Study Sites (1)

NYU Langone Health

New York, New York, 10016, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Feeding Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior, Animal; Behavior

Study Officials

• Stella Yi, MD

  NYU Langone Health

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Stella Yi, MD

CONTACT

646-501-3477; Stella.Yi@nyulangone.org

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 11, 2022
• First Posted: May 19, 2022
• Study Start: June 7, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2026
• Last Updated: March 27, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, ICF
• Time Frame: Beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication or as required by a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research
• Access Criteria: The investigator who proposed to use the data. Upon reasonable request, Requests should be directed to stella.yi@nyulangone.org. To gain access, data requestors will need to sign a data access agreement.

Locations

US (1)