The project focuses on eight locations in the Northeast. Three are rural and five are urban. The five urban locations are:
The rural locations are:
Each location has a leader who is a member of the larger project team. Some location leaders work on multiple project objectives. Each location leader has identified two retail stores in his/her location to work with the project over its lifetime. Much of the focus in the stores will be on the presence or absence of particular food products and their origin. In some cases the main focus of the project work is in a specific community or neighborhood within the location. This specific area of the location is called a site. In some locations the stores are located relatively close to each other in a single site. Other locations have two different sites with one store in each.
Each site has a community leader who lives in the neighborhood and is familiar with the various activities and initiatives already happening there. The community leaders help recruit participants for the focus groups, participate in location meetings, assist with data collection and represent EFSNE at the site level. The project will also engage other interested community members in research and educational activities.
Stakeholders in each location will be invited to participate in a learning community that focuses on their specific location.
