Building Access to Food Through Systems and Solidarity

Fruit and vegetable intake will be assessed by a composite measurement of skin carotenoids. Skin carotenoids are a biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake and will be measured using the Veggie Meter. The Veggie Meter is a non-invasive device about the size of a large stapler that plugs into the standard USB port of a laptop computer

Self-report of fruit and vegetable intake will rely on food frequency-like questionnaires that will ask about amount and frequency of a list of common produce items (e.g., cucumbers, tomatoes) as well as specific produce items supplied in the BASIS produce box program. Fruit+vegetable intake is reported as a composite measure.

Neighborhood social cohesion will be assessed using the 5-item scale developed by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey. Participants may rate agreement/disagreement on a 5-point scale (scale: 1-strongly agree, 2-agree, 3-neutral, 4-disagree, 5-strongly disagree) with the following 5 statements: 1) People around here are willing to help their neighbors; 2) People in this neighborhood generally don't get along with each other; 3) People in this neighborhood can be trusted; 4) People in this neighborhood do not share the same values; and 5) Most people in this neighborhood know each other. Participant responses for questions 1, 3 and 5 will then be reverse coded (e.g., strongly agree was assigned a value of 5 instead of 1), such that a higher value was associated with a more positive response to each statement. The total score ranges from 5-25; higher scores indicate greater neighborhood social cohesion.

Sense of belonging will be measured using the 4-item Challenged Sense of Belonging Scale (CSBS). The CSBS is scored using a five-point Likert scale, where 1 indicates "strongly agree" and 5 indicates "strongly disagree". Each item on the scale is scored from 1 (low sense of belonging) to 5 (high sense of belonging). The total score is calculated by adding the manifest variables and dividing by the number of manifest variables, resulting in a score between 1 and 5; higher scores indicate a higher sense of belonging.

Ethnic pride will be measured using the 8-item Ethnic Affirmation and Belonging Scale. Items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale from 1-5. The total score is an average of the 8 item scores and ranges from 1-5; higher scores indicate greater ethnic pride.

Cross-cultural/cross-racial understanding will be measured using the 'Other Group Orientation' subscale of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure. The six-item subscale is rated on a 4-point scale (scale: 1-strongly agree, 2-agree, 4-disagree, 5-strongly disagree). The total score is an average of the 6 item scores and ranges from 1-5; higher scores indicate greater cross-cultural/cross-racial understanding.