Project Number: 6251-53000-004-32
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 01, 2003
End Date: Aug 31, 2008

Objective:
A primary objective of the Lower Mississippi Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative (Delta NIRI) Consortium mission being conducted in part under this cooperative agreement is to develop sustainable nutrition intervention strategies in the Lower Mississippi Delta (LMD) through community-based participatory research. The specific objective of this cooperative research project is to establish and support a cooperative partnership between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extensive Service (UA-CES) which will work with ARS and other Delta NIRI partners to coordinate, assist, design, organize, conduct, interpret, and evaluate community participatory based nutritional interventions established within the Marvell, Arkansas, community (Marvell NIRI) to evaluate nutritional health, identify nutritionally responsive problems, and develop and evaluate interventions which are sustainable at the community level.

Approach:
The UA-CES will appoint a Marvell NIRI Coordinator, who will be stationed in Marvell, Arkansas, to support nutrition intervention research initiatives in the Marvell community. This individual will work in partnership with the Marvell NIRI and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agriculture Research Service (ARS), and other Delta NIRI Consortium partners, to conduct, support, and facilitate nutrition interventions related to the nutritional health of the Marvell community. Following implementation and evaluation of these nutrition intervention strategies in the Marvell community, the Delta NIRI Consortium with cooperation from the Marvell NIRI Coordinator, will identify successful intervention strategies, evaluate the impact of community participation, and determine specific characteristics of the community that contributed to intervention success.