2024 | Community Engaged Research in Public Health. Instructor: Dr. Alison Tovar | Brown University Project Team: Blaine Ramalho, Nour Abaherah

Contribution: Data analysis, graphic design, writing, research.

This report examines the current state of local food procurement in early childhood education (ECE) programs across Rhode Island. Created in collaboration with the organization Farm Fresh RI, It highlights the potential of leveraging community gardens and established networks to support local food initiatives. An engagement protocol with local catering companies was put in place to assess their experiences with ECE procurement. Recommendations for the future include developing centralized databases to connect providers to local distributers, providing technical assistance to support ECE caterers, and exploring funding opportunities to improve local food integration in ECE programs.