Fielding School of Public Health, UCLA

UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health provides cutting edge public health training and practical, hands on experience to the next generation of public health leaders. The School is consistently rated among the country’s top 10 schools of public health by U.S. News and World Report.

An example of the Fielding School’s socially entrepreneurial initiatives is its partnership with local store owners in East Los Angeles to improve the health in their neighborhoods. Because these neighborhoods lack adequate access to healthy foods, faculty and students work with store owners and other members of the community to provide fresh fruit and vegetables rather than processed convenience foods. The corner stores remain viable businesses while they also take on the responsibility of improving their community’s health.

The goal of the project is to improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables as well as impact consumer attitudes and purchasing behaviors, which will, in turn, have a positive impact on health outcomes (such as decreased rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease). Of course, there are many other factors that affect one’s health, but engaging and working with community members to make healthful foods available to consumers is an important first step. Currently the Fielding team is evaluating the impact of the intervention.  Here is a webinar that Professor Michael Prelip held that describes the project.