Projects addressing food literacy, lead poisoning awarded CTSI community partnership grants

University-community partnerships focused on food literacy initiatives in schools and on research alliances to combat early childhood lead poisoning are the focus of two unique projects awarded University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) funding from the CTSI Community Partnership Development Seed Grant Program.

Developing Appropriate School-based Food Literacy Initiatives for Buffalo Teens and Families

University Leads: Amanda M. Ziegler, PhD, MPH, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Primary Care Research Institute, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Jill Tirabassi, MD, MPH, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Primary Care Research Institute, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Community Lead: Diamonique Pettway, Director of Community, Events, and Marketing, Health Sciences Charter School

This partnership between Health Sciences Charter School and researchers from the University at Buffalo aims to improve food literacy among Buffalo high school students and their families.

Jacobs School researcher Amanda M. Ziegler, PhD, MPH, says that in 2024, UB partnered with Health Sciences Charter School on a program that engages teen wellness leaders to help identify priority knowledge and skills they want to learn before graduating high school. The seed grant-awarded project will sustain and expand this community-academic partnership.

“The main goal is to work with teen leaders and local health professionals to develop and pilot interactive, school-based food literacy sessions that empower teens with the knowledge and skills to be engaged in their food choices and the impact on their health,” Ziegler explains.

The project team identified many barriers to food literacy in the community, including limited access to fresh, healthy food as well as generational reduced role models for healthy eating.

Diamonique Pettway, Director of Community, Events, and Marketing at Health Sciences Charter School, says that the seed grant provides essential funding to cover costs for interactive sessions that build food literacy: “The grant supports both immediate needs and long-term goals, ensuring the project's success and continued growth. By engaging both teens and their families, this project will create a lasting impact on health and wellness.”

UB’s Jill Tirabassi, MD, MPH, adds that the funding is particularly important because the project involves experiential learning, which requires dedicated time and supplies.

“This grant will allow us to develop and pilot small group and school-wide food literacy sessions and provides resources to support local community members’ time and expertise to share their food literacy and culinary skills,” Tirabassi says. “Through this grant, we foresee developing a pilot food literacy curriculum that is both pragmatic and evidence based, and that could be scaled for use in other school settings as we grow our programming and research initiatives.”

Forging Research Alliances That Combat Early Childhood Lead Poisoning

University Leads: Kim Diana Connolly, JD, Professor, Vice Dean for Innovation, Interdisciplinarity and Community Impact, School of Law; Leah Bartlo, PhD Candidate, Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning, Department of Learning and Instruction, Graduate School of Education, and Research Fellow, Community Health Equity Research Institute

Community Lead: Marc Hennig, Deputy Executive Director, Beyond Support Network; Breana Hargrave, Program Coordinator, LEAD716

Establishing a robust community-academic partnership to tackle lead poisoning in Buffalo is the goal of this project, which brings together the LEAD716 program and the University at Buffalo. Project leaders are focusing on mitigating the long-term neurodevelopmental and academic challenges faced by young children exposed to lead through early intervention and related education.

Doctoral candidate Leah Bartlo says the project was inspired by a 2015 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

“Our research concept emerged from an urgent need to tackle the lasting effects of childhood lead poisoning in Buffalo, a crisis worsened by widespread poverty and an abundance of older homes riddled with lead hazards,” says Bartlo. “Buffalo’s alarming status as one of the nation’s most dangerous lead hotspots sparked the idea to expand on the existing service-learning collaboration between LEAD716 and UB to build a community-academic partnership aimed at crafting real-world, actionable solutions.”

UB’s Kim Diana Connolly, JD, explains that the project has been designed to effectively promote awareness by centering and elevating the voices of those directly impacted by lead exposure. 

“Through community forums, interviews, and outreach events, we will create a platform for amplifying and sharing lived experiences and community insights,” she says. “This project will address systemic barriers, educate families, and deliver evidence-based solutions.”

The project’s community leads, Marc Hennig of Beyond Support Network and Breana Hargrave of LEAD716, believe the seed grant will help expand impact beyond Buffalo.

“This seed grant allows us to expand community engagement and elevate the voices of families directly affected by lead, so we can better understand the challenges they face with lead exposure and create tailored solutions,” Hennig says. Hargrave adds that the “research will generate valuable community insights, so we can create more effective strategies to prevent lead poisoning and support affected families.”

“More relevant research that positively impacts our communities”

CTSI seed grants support the planning of community-based participatory research partnerships and engagement of communities in research. CTSI Community Engagement Core Director Laurene M. Tumiel-Berhalter, PhD, Director of Community Translational Research, Department of Family Medicine, Jacobs School, says that each partner — community and academic — plays an essential role in the awarded project.

“These academic-community partners co-lead all activities, bridging research with lived experience,” she says. “This approach results in more relevant research that positively impacts our communities.”

Visit the CTSI website for a complete list of current and past CTSI Community Partnership Development Seed Grant awardees.