Produce Perks Midwest (PPM) seeks a contractor to provide review of and recommendations on data collection and evaluation for an USDA Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) funded Produce Prescription (PPR) project. The Evaluation Consultant (EC) will be responsible for guiding the development of a project evaluation plan in collaboration with project partners, and provide mentorship and training to PPM staff to develop data collection tools and activities for participating project health care providers, patients and partners that yield relevant and robust data for evaluation to project goals. Subsequently, the EC will review data and provide guidance on evaluation approaches to analyze and distill findings and review evaluation conducted by PPM staff.

Total available project budget is $9,000.

PPM’s Produce Prescription (PRx) Programs strive to support health equity for all Ohioans.  PRx seeks to provide nutrition security to participant households, strengthen healthcare/patient relationships, and contribute to positive health outcomes for all participants. Through monthly healthcare provider visits, enrolled patients receive health and nutrition education and access to affordable healthy foods through produce prescriptions: $30/month per household member (max 5 household members) to redeem at neighborhood food access points such as farmers’ markets, grocery-retail, and corner stores or are enrolled in a produce box delivery program. 

Background

Focusing on pre-diabetic and type 2 diabetic low-income Ohioans, Produce Perks Midwest’s PPR project, Exploring Participant Engagement and Retention in Voucher vs. Home Delivery Incentive Distribution Models, will explore the efficacy of prescription voucher vs. home produce delivery PPR incentive distribution models. PPM, Ohio State University Extension – Cuyahoga County, three healthcare systems representing multiple regions of Ohio, and nutrition and health education partners seek to create positive health outcomes; improve poor health indicators such as fasting glucose, A1c, and weight; reduce diabetes management medication use; and increase food security, access, and consumption of fruits and vegetables among participants.

Project Goals: 1) Increase the dietary health and overall wellbeing of participants through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and reduced household food insecurity; 2) Reduce patient health care costs in management of pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes; 3) Measure and evaluate effectiveness of delivery vs voucher program models; 4) Build a suite of engagement activities, enhancing patient experience and satisfaction through collaboration with nutrition and health education partners.

Activities engage community partners providing meaningful and culturally appropriate placed-based nutrition and health education programming, re-building communities of care and peer learning in the Covid era. This project directly responds to GusNIP PPR purpose and priorities by partnering with healthcare providers to create programming with measurable results in improving the nutrition, household food security, and health status of participants through increased access and consumption of fresh fruits/vegetables through voucher and delivery models. Monthly financial incentives for the purchase of fruits/vegetables impact participants and their household’s food security while strengthening and stimulating local food economies.

Scope of Work

Project Evaluation Plan Development

  • Review project goals and outcomes and co-develop evaluation plan with PPM staff and project partners, providing a written evaluation plan document to PPM.
  • Participate in partner meetings as needed to communicate evaluation plan and garner feedback on execution of data collection.

Survey and Systems Review & Recommendations

  • Review PPM’s existing suite of PPR systems and tools, including patient, provider, and partner surveys.
  • Provide recommendations to maximize data integrity and analysis potential to grant outcomes.

Survey Response Review & Evaluation Recommendations

  • Review preliminary sets of survey responses to recommend needed adjustments to content or process.
  • Provide guidance for evaluation approaches, to include training of PPM and partners as needed.
  • Identify opportunities for data visualization as a component of analysis and outcomes communication; train PPM and partners as needed.

Project Meetings

Attend/lead at least 25 hours of project meetings with PPM and partners. Contractor will keep detailed notes of project meetings and submit with final project summary.

Timeline

Y1, Q1 (Jan-Mar 2023)

Project orientation, create project evaluation plan, review of and provide recommendations for PPM’s existing suite of PPR systems and tools.

Y1, Q2 & Q3 (Apr-Sep 2023)

Review of Program Enrollment and Monthly Progress Report responses.

Y1, Q4 (Oct-Dec 2023)

Review of and provide recommendations for Clinic & Advisory Group surveys; Review of Post-Program responses; Full data review to provide recommendations on Cohort 1 evaluation approaches and techniques; Review of Cohort 1 evaluation findings.

Y2, Q1 & Q2 (Jan-June 2024)

Review of Clinic & Advisory Group survey responses; Provide recommendations for survey revisions for Cohort 2; Review Cohort 2 survey responses.

Y2, Q4 & Y3, Q1 (Oct 2024-Jan 2025)

Provide recommendations on Cohort 2 and full project evaluation; Review of Cohort 2 and full project evaluation.

Qualifications

Required

  • Expertise in quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis
  • Familiarity with diet-related disease health disparities, with a focus on health equity
  • Experience presenting findings to non-academic audiences, with a focus on data visualization

Preferred

  • Experience with Qualtrics


Proposal Submission Requirements

Proposals must contain, at a minimum, the following:

  1. Detail on relevant projects and research to which you have previously contributed. Previous experience in relevant fields (diet-related diseases, nutrition assistance/incentive programs, culturally relevant diet-based interventions, local food systems) is a plus.
  2. Detail on data collection and survey platforms used in previous projects.
  3. Contact information for two to three references from organizations or clients you have worked with previously.
  4. Your system of client reporting and communication.
  5. An overview of how you would approach the proposed project, including timeline, process, and estimated costs.

 

Proposals should be emailed in a single PDF document to [email protected] by COB Friday, February 17th.

 

PRODUCE PERKS MIDWEST IS DEDICATED TO DIVERSIFYING OUR CONTRACTOR BASE. WE SEEK TO WORK WITH BUSINESSES THAT SHARE OUR VALUES OF SOCIAL AND RACIAL EQUITY AND ARE COMMITTED TO PROVIDING CONTRACTING OPPORTUNITIES TO MINORITY-OWNED, WOMEN-OWNED, VETERAN-OWNED, LGBT-OWNED, AND DISABLED-OWNED BUSINESSES WHENEVER POSSIBLE.