The UB Food Lab team conducts research that informs policy actions for creating healthier communities. The team views policy structures have a key role in enabling (or, limiting) healthy lifestyles and health equity. To that end, the lab team partnered with the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities-Buffalo coalition, a group of public, civic, and private organizations, to conduct research on structural opportunities and barriers for healthy eating and active living in the city of Buffalo. Funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the lab team produced a series of policy briefs to inform the work of the coalition. See policy briefs below:

Do Kids Want to Play in the Queen City?

Transforming Active Living Policy into Practice

Children’s Health: A Growing Need to Incorporate Physical Activity into the Daily Lives of Youth

Healthy Eating and Active Living for Children in the City of Buffalo

Strengthening Buffalo’s Food System to Promote Healthy Eating Among Children

Buffalo’s Food System: An assessment of current municipal, county, and state policies that regulate Buffalo’s food system

Planning to Eat? Innovative Local Government Plans and Policies to Build Healthy Food Systems in the United States

Indicators for a Healthy Food and Built Environment in the City of Buffalo