UB Veggie Van

In 2022, 1 in 2 UB students reported being food insecure. Accessibility to fresh, affordable produce options can make food insecurity even more difficult to navigate, which has inspired the UB Veggie Van initiative. Veggie Van is a research-based model of technical assistance, advocacy, and networking to build mobile markets in communities across the country to improve health outcomes for people with lower incomes in rural and urban areas. Led by Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, Dr. Lucia Leone, Leone and her research team have built educational toolkits to ease starting and sustaining a mobile market, as well as creating national and regional  coalitions of like-minded researchers, practitioners, funders, and policymakers to ensure an infrastructure for responsive and resilient food systems with one mission in mind: making healthier food accessible to all. 

When it comes to our own campuses and food insecurity close to home, the Veggie Van team started the UB Veggie Van in the fall of 2023 – a living lab for data collection to continue building on their food accessibility toolkit to put research into practice, but also to provide fresh, affordable produce options to students who are facing food insecurity. This webinar will feature the UB Veggie Van journey from the history and inception of our own mobile market, to seeing it in practice, to the future of strengthening a hub of nutrition security innovation and the possibilities that are ahead. 

Join Leah Vermont, MA '18, Assistant Director of Community Outreach and Partnerships, and Angelica Tutasi Lozada, predoctoral associate, from the Veggie Van team as they give us an in-depth look at Veggie Van and their admirable vision for change.  

To support the efforts of Veggie Van, please visit their online giving page.