| Despite large sums of agribusiness wealth, Tulare County, located in the San Joaquin Valley of California, has one of the highest prevalence of disadvantaged unincorporated communities and some of the highest rates of poverty and food insecure households in the state of California (Flegal et al., 2013; Harrison, 2008). The local food bank, FoodLink of Tulare County, is attempting to improve food security and community health with programming such as on-site gardening and community classes. In April and May of 2016, they piloted a five-week nutrition class titled Cooking for Health Matters in multiple disadvantaged, unincorporated communities in Tulare County. Overall, evidence in the literature is inconclusive as to whether sustainable behavior change is possible after attending similar nutrition courses and recommends that evaluations should be prioritized. I used a pre-class and post-class survey, a post-class focus group, and two, eight-month follow-up focus groups to evaluate the impact of the nutrition course for six women in one community, Pixley, California. The evaluation is rooted in a social ecological framework, a theory that explores the relationship between community health and community infrastructure. The evaluation found notable health behavior changes such as increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. However, access to affordable and proximate grocery stores continues to impede lasting positive health outcomes for the women and their families. Moving forward, FoodLink and other community organizations should consider: • offering nutrition programs that better reflect the local culture and priorities of its communities; • co-developing a curriculum with local promotoras and health professionals on the subject(s) of preventing diabetes, heart disease, and/or anemia; • developing a coalition of central community figures to develop collaborative solutions to food insecurity and health disparities; and • critically considering how health interventions are working at both the local, the personal, and the larger system/policy level to improve local communities. |
