Exploring community nutrition outreach and research

PRYDE Scholar, Sarah Rudolph-Naiberg, conducting nutrition outreach at a farmers market in NYS.

After spending my junior year learning about the principles of translational research and hearing from Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) 4-H educators about the work they do, I had the opportunity over the summer of 2023 to apply my learning across two different projects. From May to August, I interned with the NYS Farmers Market Nutrition Program through Cornell Cooperative Extension. In addition, I continued to engage in translational research with Dr. Roger Figueroa, my PRYDE faculty mentor, on a project regarding the evaluation of community-supported agriculture programs to improve food security and diet quality of food pantry members.

I was super excited to start working as an outreach intern with the NYS Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) under the supervision of Dr. Alisha Gaines. My role with FMNP was primarily in delivering nutrition education– I went to farmers markets across the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier to talk to people about both nutrition (including topics like increasing fruit and vegetable intake, making better beverage choices, and eating healthy on a budget) and FMNP. FMNP is a program that gives $25 in coupons to low-income seniors and WIC participants to spend on fruits and vegetables at farmers markets throughout the season. The aim of the program is to increase participants’ access to healthy foods and knowledge about nutrition while providing financial support for farmers. When I went to the markets, I brought nutritional handouts, healthy recipe samples (my favorite: peach salsa), measuring tools, and recipe cards to distribute to visitors.

Despite my excitement, there were some delays at the start of summer. Before being able to attend the markets, I had the opportunity to engage with FMNP in other ways. I updated the nutrition facts for some FMNP recipes that had fact labels dating from before the 2016 updates to nutritional composition disclosure requirements. It was interesting to perform the calculations associated with nutritional composition and see how dietary guidelines shift over time. I attended meetings and took notes for meetings with Dr. Gaines and CCE nutrition educators across the state concerning FMNP, research, and other community nutrition programs. I really enjoyed learning about the different programs and how they are adapting to better suit the needs of their clients. I also created educational materials for FMNP and interviewed educators for a spotlight series to highlight the contributions of practitioners working to promote community nutrition. The interviews with educators were very interesting, as I got to learn about the different roles and responsibilities within CCE nutrition programming. My ideal career trajectory is to be working within the community nutrition sector, so I loved hearing about how various people started in the field and what keeps them motivated. I also spent time collaborating in different contexts with another CCE intern whose role was to create social media content for the Food and Nutrition Education in Communities program (FNEC). My favorite day working together was when we filmed a series of healthy recipe videos in the CCE Tompkins kitchen. She also took the above photo of me at the Corning Farmers’ Market!

When my market visits started, I was able to go all over– Corning, Ovid, Seneca Falls, Ithaca (3 different locations), Trumansburg, Owego, Auburn, Geneva, Elmira, and Sodus. As time went on, I learned new techniques for drawing farmers market patrons to my booth. This was difficult at first, but I quickly learned that fresh local produce tends to be more appealing than a lecture on nutrition. I liked getting to know the different vendors who would be at the same market time and time again and having people recognize me. They would come visit my tent when I returned to their local market and ask, “what did you bring this week?” (people love samples!). My favorite moments with FMNP was raising awareness about the program with someone initially unaware of its existence. Whether they themselves were eligible or they planned on telling an eligible friend or family member about the program, connecting people with resources they could use to improve their diet quality and food security was the most important and rewarding part of my summer.

In addition to my work with FMNP, I spent the summer working in Dr. Figueroa’s laboratory. Initially, I was working solely on the Farm Share project. This project evaluates the success of Farm Share, a community supported agriculture program, on improving food security and diet quality of food pantry members in New York City. A couple weeks into the summer, however, I, along with fellow PRYDE scholar Shahad Salman, was added to a summer project team that focused more on food policy. We joined a partnership between the FIG lab and Food Pantries for the Capital District with the goal of assessing participant experiences with Food as Medicine (FAM) programs and making policy recommendations by urging NYS Medicaid to pay for FAM programs. Shahad and I attended the NYS Food Policy Council Summit in Syracuse this August, which was co-hosted by the FIG lab. The summit was a fantastic opportunity to hear from different Food Policy Council stakeholders from across the state. I contributed to the discussion by presenting a poster on “economic development opportunities in the NYS food system”. Through the summit, I was able to learn about various efforts to promote equity driven agriculture and nutrition policies. It was incredible to see people across diverse sectors work together to plan future initiatives to improve food and nutrition access.

PRYDE Scholars Sarah Rudolph-Naiberg and Shahad Salman, presenting at the NYS Food Policy Council Summit in Syracuse.

I am incredibly grateful for all the opportunities I received this summer to work in community nutrition outreach and research, as well as using research to inform policy. My summer experiences allowed me to engage with different facets of community nutrition by putting translational research and community engagement skills into practice. These experiences have helped shape my postgraduate plans by solidifying my interest in public health nutrition. I thoroughly enjoyed both roles, and I am so grateful to Dr. Gaines and the FIG lab for providing these incredible opportunities as well as for their guidance and mentorship. I also want to thank CCE and PRYDE for funding my summer experiences, and I am super excited to continue working with my PRYDE cohort throughout our senior year!