The Community Transformation Grant Project (CTGP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is interested in understanding and addressing barriers to accessing and purchasing healthy food among food decision-makers in communities of lower wealth. As part of the Exploring Food Project, this public service project uses a collaborative model to develop campaign messages and media content to promote healthy and local produce among populations living in Western North Carolina. Based on the common themes discovered through the community-based research I worked with the Exploring Food team to develop campaign messages and a pretesting framework and tool. During pretesting, I obtained feedback from community members at various community sites to better understand their comprehension, appeal, and intent related to each of the draft messages and slogans for a social marketing campaign. At the time of drafting this abstract, we have collected data from 25 individuals. Early responses indicate that the messages related to benefits of healthy food consumption for oneself and loved one has the greatest impact on our population when they make a purchasing decision. Based on the results, I will recommend how the Exploring Food team should proceed with the social marketing campaign. The Exploring Food Project ties together my studies and passions in the areas of sociology, nutrition, and food access and consumption. This real-life application of community-based research and assessment brings me insight on the hidden issues lower-wealth areas face when obtaining and valuing healthy food.
