Ripe for Revival: Outcomes Evaluation of a Mobile Produce Market With Vouchers
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Mobile Market Voucher Outcomes Study.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Diet Interventions, Food Security, Nutrition Security, Fruit and Vegetable Intake. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
Increasing access to healthy foods is crucial to combating chronic disease in rural communities. The Ripe for Revival mobile market, a non-profit eastern NC-based mobile market, seeks to improve healthy food access among those at greatest risk of food insecurity and poor health. By implementing vouchers at the mobile market, this study will help make healthy food affordable and accessible without stigma. This project is poised to improve diet and health among rural residents in eight counties and promote sustainable local food systems in North Carolina.
Detailed description
Increasing fruit and vegetable (FV) intake and reducing saturated fat, salt, and added sugar are central lifestyle recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to prevent chronic disease. Yet, while diet is modifiable, rural families face structural and systemic inequities that make accessing affordable, healthy food more difficult.
Recognizing these disparities and adverse impacts, there is a clear need to create opportunities for improved nutrition through comprehensive solutions that account for rurality, affordability, and accessibility. One potential strategy to improve rural food access is mobile markets. Ripe for Revival is a 501(c)3 based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, with a mission to increase access to fresh foods in lower-resourced communities with a mobile market model. Ripe for Revival owns and operates a produce farm, purchases excess food from eastern NC farmers, and then sells fresh foods to patrons at roughly 20% discounted prices through its mobile market. The mobile market (a retrofitted school bus) offers fresh produce, eggs, meat, and milk weekly in eastern and central NC counties. This project continues NC State Extension's partnership with Ripe for Revival to implement vouchers to help increase mobile market affordability and assess program impacts among rural NC families. The specific aims of this proposed study include:
Aim 1. Determine the nutrition-related impacts of mobile market vouchers among Ripe for Revival (RfR) shoppers in eight rural eastern NC counties (Bertie, Halifax, Hertford, Jones, Lenoir, Northampton, Warren, and Washington).
Aim 2: Determine the health-related impacts of mobile market vouchers among RfR mobile market shoppers.
Aim 3. Examine voucher redemption rates, volume, and dollars of local produce purchased, and suggestions for mobile market improvements among Ripe for Revival mobile market customers.
This proposed project will promote health and advance equity among underserved rural families. The project addresses barriers to equitable food access, promotes a balanced diet to prevent chronic disease, and fosters sustainable local agriculture through a mobile market model.
Interventions
- Behavioral Mobile Market Voucher Outcomes Study
Voucher participants will be referred by Extension professionals who serve lower-resourced individuals during routine programs (i.e., NC Extension programs such as Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). After receiving the referrals from Extension professionals, a member of the research team will contact the referred participant to provide a $20 monthly voucher each month for three months for use at the mobile market. Trained researchers will collect data at baseline (when a vouc
Primary outcome measures
- Skin Carotenoids [Time frame: Enrollment/baseline (week 0), 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks, and at 12-16 weeks]
- Fruit and vegetable intake [Time frame: Enrollment/baseline (week 0), 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks, and at 12-16 weeks]
Secondary outcome measures (8)
- Weight/Body Mass Index [Time frame: Enrollment/baseline (week 0), 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks, and at 12-16 weeks]
- Blood Pressure [Time frame: Enrollment/baseline (week 0), 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks, and at 12-16 weeks]
- Food Security Status [Time frame: Enrollment/baseline (week 0), 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks, and at 12-16 weeks]
- Nutrition Security Status [Time frame: Enrollment/baseline (week 0), 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks, and at 12-16 weeks]
- Food Utilization [Time frame: Enrollment/baseline (week 0), 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks, and at 12-16 weeks]
- Voucher Redemption Rate [Time frame: Monthly through study completion for up to 2 years]
- Local produce distributed [Time frame: Monthly through study completion for up to 2 years]
- Mobile Produce Market Satisfaction [Time frame: Enrollment/baseline (week 0), 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks, and at 12-16 weeks]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- 18 years of age or older
- Communicates fluently in English or Spanish
- An active participant in an NC Cooperative Extension program May 2026 - March 2028
- At risk of food insecurity
- Willing to shop at or visit a Ripe for Revival mobile produce market
- Willing to use the provided $20 monthly voucher to shop at the Ripe for Revival mobile produce market
- Works or lives in a North Carolina county where this study is being conducted, including Bertie, Halifax, Hertford, Jones, Lenoir, Northampton, Warren, or Washington
Exclusion criteria
- Individuals who do not meet the inclusion criteria above cannot participate
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- N/A
- Model
- Single group
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- NC State University — Raleigh
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07218978 · 28013