GO! Austin / ¡VAMOS! Austin (GAVA)
Project Overview
GAVA is a coalition of residents, community leaders, and nonprofits that share a common interest in improving the health of the Dove Springs and 78745 communities. It is a place-based, multi-component obesity intervention targeting multiple community sectors with an emphasis on the built environment. The environmental changes resulting from GAVA’s efforts are hypothesized to lead to increases in healthy eating and physical activity among all residents of the community.
The research team from the Dell Center is leading the evaluation of the impact of the GAVA Initiative through a series of studies including a cohort study and a serial, cross sectional study. The overarching goal of the 5-year GAVA evaluation study is to measure the impact of the GAVA initiative on awareness of resources, barriers to using resources, utilization of resources, obesity-related behaviors and weight status of residents in a low-income, ethnically diverse communities. The GAVA evaluation study is headed by Dr. Alexandra van den Berg (PI) and Dr. Nalini Ranjit (Co-PI), with Aida Nielsen as Project Director. Field and research staff assisting the evaluation include Nika Akhavan, Christine Jovanovic, Kathryn Janda, Martha Diaz, Gozie Ibeji, and Laurence Denis. For more details, see under People.
For more information about GAVA, visit GoAustinVamosAustin.org
GAVA blog series from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
- Oct 23, 2014 - Fighting childhood obesity- Key wins in one zip code (78745)
- Oct 16, 2014 - Fighting childhood obesity: Key wins in one zip code (78744)
- Sep 16, 2014 - Zip codes & genetic codes, part 6: To fight childhood obesity, measure what matters, celebrate the wins and keep learning
- Jul 7, 2014 - Zip codes & genetic codes, part 5: Beating childhood obesity means getting everyone to run in the same direction
- Jun 2, 2014 - Zip codes & genetic codes, part 4: Guardrails, pragmatism and unicorns
- Apr 22, 2014 - Zip codes & genetic codes, part 3: Healthy communities are built on relationships, trust
- Mar 18, 2014 - Zip codes & genetic codes, part 2: How we selected a focal point for our place-based childhood obesity prevention efforts
- Mar 11, 2014 - Zip codes & genetic codes, part 1: Fighting childhood obesity in our own backyard
Mission
Go! Austin / Vamos! Austin (GAVA) is a coalition of residents, community leaders, and nonprofits working to improve the health of communities in 78744 and 78745 by increasing access to and participation in physical activity and improved nutrition. GAVA uses community organizing and institutional alignment to improve the health of the built environment and build community power for health equity in five sectors: Physical Activity, Healthy Food Access, Coordinated School Health, Early Childhood, and Community Safety.
Learn more about GAVA on their Facebook page
Selecting and identifying strategies for a multi-sector place-based Intervention
12/15/17 - (GAVA White paper series; Nika Akhavan, MPH, Laurence Denis, MD, MPH, Aida Nielsen, MPH)
GO Austin! / ¡VAMOS! Austin (GAVA) Evaluation of a community based initiative
2/18/16 - This infographic describes some of the initial findings from the GAVA evaluation.
Designing Place-Based interventions for Sustainability and Replicability: the Case of Go! Austin/Vamos! Austin
(Hussaini, A., Basu, S., Pulido, C., Ranjit, N; Frontiers in public health; 2018)
Nika Akhavan, MPH
Research Assistant, GAVA Evaluation Study
Martha Diaz Marin
Research Assistant, GAVA Evaluation Study
Alexandra (Sandra) van den Berg, MPH, PhD
Principal Investigator, GAVA Evaluation Study; Co-Investigator, Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation
Aida Nielsen, MPH
Project Director, GAVA Evaluation Study
Nalini Ranjit, PhD
Principal Investigator, Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation; Co-Principal Investigator, GAVA Evaluation Study
Early results from GAVA: A place-based, multi-sectoral intervention targeting healthy lifestyles
GAVA seeks to implement strategies targeting residents’ fruit and vegetable behavior and physical activity practice. In this talk, we will describe GAVA’s strategies, and preliminary evaluation results with a specific emphasis on parks.
