GRADY'S GARDEN LLC — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.5

Description

Poor dietary quality and low fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in particular is an established riskfactor for many chronic diseases; current consumption among children is alarmingly inadequate.Engaging children through school and afterschool settings is a viable strategy to make positivechanges but for transformational and sustainable impact messaging must also reach familiesteachers retail environments and beyond. Grady's Garden includes three core components:healthy food products animated cartoon episodes that chronicle the lives of diverse children whocreate a garden in their urban neighborhood and episode-tailored Experiential LearningExtensions (ELEs) that include hands-on activities such as recipes tastings worksheets andphysical activity. Two episodes with ELEs have been pilot-tested demonstrating promisingresults. The long-term goal of the Grady's Garden Project is to translate these culturally relevant'edutainment' approaches into digital delivery format [web and mobile application ('app')platforms] to facilitate widespread (national/global) adoption that will ultimately improvechildren's FV intake and diet quality; physical activity behaviors; and social-emotional wellness.In this project we will: 1) operationalize existing Grady's Garden content into digital platformsfor four user groups: caregivers/parents teachers staff and children and conduct initial usertesting; 2) produce two additional Grady's Garden episodes with ELEs that will be built into thedigital platform; 3) field-test the four curriculum modules in school and afterschool settings; and4) analyze and apply user data and feedback to inform modifications including push notificationsto optimize user engagement. Phase I aims to demonstrate technical feasibility of these platformsand tools poising the project for a Phase II application to commercialize the program.