Food and Justice Action Collaborative Announces Mini Grant Winners

07/18/2024

The Food and Justice Action Collaborative (FJAC) at Saint Louis University has announced that four teams of faculty and student researchers have received funding through the inaugural round of the FJAC Innovation mini-grant program.

FJAC announced the mini-grant program in early 2024 to support collaborative research and community engagement in the areas of food access, food injustice, food equity, and food security. Faculty, staff, and students from across the University submitted proposals, and in the end, four proposals were selected for funding.

“Food is a basic building block for health and human flourishing,” said Ellen Barnidge, Ph.D., interim vice president for research. “The Office of the Vice President for Research is proud to promote and support research teams addressing food insecurity in St. Louis and around the world.”

Funded projects will examine a diverse range of food-related issues. These include assessing the nutritional value of regionally sourced acorn flour used in a popular St. Louis restaurant; identifying and reducing participation barriers in federal nutrition programs; studying the efficacy of distribution networks used by a nonprofit based in Haiti to address child malnutrition; and developing and distributing new nutritional resources for underserved patients in St. Louis.

“It’s great to see such diverse projects from across campus funded through these grants,” said Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., professor and director of interprofessional education and FJAC coordinator. “The Food and Justice Action Collaborative (FJAC) was created to shine a spotlight and support existing expertise and projects that will lay the foundation for more robust collaborations. I am excited to see the impact of these funded initiatives moving forward.”

FJAC is an interprofessional collaboration between academics, industry, and the larger regional community to address critical issues in the food ecosystem.  FJAC aims to become a research and innovation hub for food industry service, training, wellness, and programming, enabling people to gain the knowledge and skills they need to lead healthy lives while contributing to positive, systematic change and sustainability in the food ecosystem.

Mini-Grant Recipients

The following projects received funding through the FJAC Innovation mini grant program:
 

“Food Security, Food Equity, and the Humble Acorn”

• Team: Flannery Burke, Ph.D., associate professor of American Studies (PI), with Robert E. Connoley, Ph.D., chef and owner of Bulrush Restaurant, St. Louis, MO
• This project will analyze the nutritional value of two types of acorn flour used by Chef Ron Connoley at Bulrush Restaurant, located in the Grant Arts Center District neighboring SLU’s midtown campus. Connoley forages for acorns, processes them into flour, and makes baked goods with it in the restaurant. Knowing the nutritional value of the acorn flour could help chefs and home cooks introduce acorns to the local diet and enhance efforts to introduce oak trees to the regional ecosystem, offering new resources in equitably producing and distributing food in a changing climate.

“Community Conversations: Specialist Views of Federal Nutrition Programs in Multicultural Contexts”

• Team: Elaine Beulick, (PI), with Maria J. Romo-Palafox, Ph.D., assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics, and Enbal Shacham, Ph.D., associate dean for research and professor in the College for Public Health and Social Justice
• The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal nutrition program that addresses maternal-child health by providing nutritious food, education, counseling, breastfeeding support, and healthcare referrals while alleviating food insecurity and improving diet quality and child development. Enrollment in the program is low, with only 49% of those eligible currently enrolled in the United States, and enrollment of eligible refugee, immigrant, or migrant families is significantly declining compared to US-born citizens. This project will leverage the insights of the frontline staff who counsel families on their eligibility for government assistance programs to identify and analyze existing participation barriers. The findings will inform targeted interventions and policy changes, ultimately reducing participation barriers and promoting equitable access to WIC.

“Efficacy of RUTF distribution in combating maternal mortality and children’s malnutrition: Case study from MFKHaiti”

• Team: Bidisha Chakrabarty, Ph.D., associate dean for research and faculty affairs and Edward Jones Professor of Finance in the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business
• This project will collect primary data to study the efficacy of the distribution networks of ready-to-use-therapeutic-foods (RUTF) produced by Meds and Foods for Kids, Haiti. Chakrabarty is a member of the MFKHaiti Board of Directors. MFKHaiti is dedicated to meeting the essential nutritional needs of malnourished children, pregnant and nursing women, and school children using the RUTFs the nonprofit produces in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. Recent unrest in that country has disrupted distribution channels, hindering the group’s ability to see how the RUTFs are distributed and used. This is critical as UNICEF, the largest buyer of MFKHaiti RUTFs, requires good distribution data for the nonprofit to be a supplier. This mini grant will allow MFKHaiti to recruit new participants into the program who will keep usage records and provide this vital distribution data.

“Healthy Food Opportunities for Optimal Outcomes (Healthy FOOD)”

• Team: Farzana Hoque, M.D., associate professor of medicine at SLU and medical director at Bordley Tower, SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital (PI), with Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., professor and director of interprofessional education and FJAC coordinator.
• This mini grant will support the Healthy FOOD project at the Bordley Tower, an inpatient facility that serves nearly 22,000 patients every year, treating underserved patients who require prolonged hospitalization due to socioeconomic challenges and morbidities. Patients will receive a folder that includes: a brochure of local food pantries; a healthy and balanced seven-day meal plan that includes recipes and preparation instructions, and a gift card to directly support their access to fresh and nutritious food. Patients over the age of 50 with diabetes, high blood pressure, or otherwise experiencing food insecurity are included in the Healthy FOOD project.