Outcomes of a Community-Wide Health Intervention in a Low-Income, Primarily Hispanic Community: The Go! Austin/Vamos! Austin (GAVA) Initiative.

To describe outcomes of a 4-year physical activity (PA) and nutrition intervention (2013-2017) in Dove Springs, a low-income urban community in Texas. Go! Austin/Vamos! Austin is a place-based intervention targeting the built and social environments of PA and nutrition. Baseline and follow-up measures related to PA and nutrition were obtained from 357 parent-child dyads (final "High exposure" adult participants showed consistently more favorable changes than "no exposure" participants across a variety of indicators, including positive perceptions and utilization of community PA resources, amount of moderate PA, utilization of retail outlets offering fresh produce, and measures of healthy eating. Few improvements were seen in child-level outcomes. Community interventions can successfully improve health-promoting behaviors provided they ensure sufficient dose of exposure.