Food and Health Research Using the Consumer Food Data System (CFDS)

CFDS Grant Program

Please note: The 2022-2025 CFDS funding opportunity is now closed. More information about the 2023 cohort of CFDS grantees can be found below.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Economic Research Service (ERS) awarded grants for researchers to use one or more restricted-use data assets in USDA’s Consumer Food Data System (CFDS). Grant recipients each receive awards of up to $100,000 per project, plus additional funds if needed to access specific data assets, for research to be completed by February 2025. Mathematica is assisting RWJF and ERS with this grant program.

The 2023-2025 CFDS grantee cohort includes:  

Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Michael C Lotspeich-Yadao and Jennifer McCaffrey): Using Journey-To-Work Data to Improve SNAP Participation Rates for Nonmetropolitan Socially Disadvantaged and Military Families.

Urban Institute (Jonathan Schwabish and Elaine Waxman): Understanding the Role of Federal and State Policy in Improving the Health and Nutritional Security of Consumers.

Tulane University (Augustine Denteh and Farah Khan): The Impact of SNAP Generosity on Nutrition, Health, and Food Insecurity.

Michigan State University (Craig W. Carpenter): The Effect of SNAP Policy on Labor Market and Health Outcomes.

Arkansas Children's Research Institute (Michael Thomsen): The Impact of Universal School Meals on Quality and Affordability of Food at Home.

Johns Hopkins University (Kate R. Schneider): Whose Diet Quality is Most at Risk when Food Prices Rise?

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Edward Iglesia and Danxia Yu): Consumer Burdens and Healthy Eating Patterns Among Households with Food Allergies.

Children’s Health Network Nebraska, Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition (Bailey Houghtaling):  Multi-Level Factors Shaping Fruit and Vegetable Purchases by Household Eligibility for Produce Prescription Programs: An Examination to Inform Policy.

Providence Health & Services, Oregon (Hannah Cohen-Cline): Are Tradeoffs Necessary for Health? How Medicaid Expansion Changed Food Purchasing Patterns for Low-Income Americans.

ASU Foundation for a New American University (Chinedum Ojinnaka and Jeffrey Wilson): Population-Level Determinants of SNAP Participation Patterns Among Residents of North And South Carolina.

Colorado State University (Rebecca Cleary and Megan Mueller): Achieving Racial Equity in Diet Quality and Diet-Related Disease.

University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. (Vibha Bhargava and Jung Sun Lee): Measuring Nutrition Security Using the Consumer Food Data System.

The George Washington University (Michael W. Long): Racialization, Class, And Migration: Intersectional Effects of Structural Discrimination on Child Access to WIC.

Drexel University (Brent Langellier): Consequences of Geographic Variation in Housing and Food Costs for SNAP Participants and Non-Participants.

Resources:

RWJF announcement page – This page includes the full CFP and a link to the RWJF online application system. Note that all proposals for this solicitation must be submitted via the RWJF online system. Visit here and use the “Apply Online” link. If you have not already done so, you will be required to register at my.rwjf.org before you begin the proposal process. All applicants should log in to the system and familiarize themselves with online proposal requirements well before the final submission deadline. Staff may not be able to assist all applicants in the final 24 hours before the submission deadline.

Office hours with CFDS data experts – An optional office hours session was held virtually on April 18, 2022 for applicants to ask questions about the CFDS data assets. This document lists the questions that were asked and the associated answers provided by ERS and Census data experts. If you have additional follow-up questions about specific data assets, please email the data expert directly.

Additional resources on CFDS data assets – The lists below provide links to presentations and slides for the restricted-use CFDS data assets. They also list the data experts that applicants should contact with any questions regarding the CFDS data asset.