# DP24-004, PRC, Core:  Emory Prevention Research Center

> **NIH ALLCDC U48** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $1,000,000

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Food insecurity is a major social determinant of health that disproportionately affects Black, Hispanic, lower-
income, and rural families. The Emory Prevention Research Center’s (EPRC) proposed research will leverage
implementation science in a fast-growing, community-driven response to childhood food insecurity with high
potential for scale across Georgia and nationally. Specifically, we will systematically develop and test a
multicomponent implementation strategy to improve nutritional quality of food provided through Helping Hands
Ending Hunger’s school-based food rescue and food pantry program in Georgia schools and their local
networks of community partners. Additionally, we will strengthen capacity for prevention research in Georgia
through the establishment of a novel Learning Collaborative focused on applying an equity orientation to
community assessments, action planning, and adapting evidence-based interventions, particularly in rural
communities. Building directly upon the EPRC’s 20 years of deep and varied partnerships and using a
participatory approach, the aims of this center proposal are to: 1) maintain and strengthen an infrastructure to
conduct applied prevention and health promotion research of high relevance to public health practice in rural
Georgia; 2) engage robust Community and Statewide Advisory Boards, as well as other partners to inform all
prevention research projects; 3) build capacity to conduct prevention research among Emory faculty and
students, public health practitioners, and community-based organizations in Georgia, with an emphasis on
rural communities; 4) communicate information about EPRC activities to intended audiences, including faculty
and students within Emory, public health academics and practitioners, and community partners and residents
of rural Georgia; 5) conduct a Type 3 Hybrid Implementation Effectiveness study on implementation of Food
Service Guidelines in school-based food pantries to improve access to healthy foods among food insecure
families; 6) disseminate and translate core research project findings to facilitate adoption into public health
practice including the distribution of collaboratively created products for impact; and 7) contribute in a
meaningful and substantive way to the national Prevention Research Center Network’s collective impact in
health-equity focused public health prevention research, policy, and practice. Although implementation science
has great potential to improve public health, its limited application to community settings and upstream
determinants such as food insecurity and limited access to healthy foods has been a missed opportunity to
date. The EPRC’s proposed research will help to close this gap. Moreover, our strong partnerships with state
and regional health departments and community-based organizations that are deeply invested in this work
such as Helping Hands Ending Hunger and their network of participating schools ensures that our research
and...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10874919
- **Project number:** 1U48DP006809-01
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHELLE C KEGLER
- **Activity code:** U48 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $1,000,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-30 → 2029-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10874919

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10874919, DP24-004, PRC, Core:  Emory Prevention Research Center (1U48DP006809-01). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/10874919. Licensed CC0.

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