Project Salsa: Development and institutionalization of a nutritional health promotion project in a Latino community

Purpose. Project Salsa was a community-based effort seeking to promote health through nutritional behavior change in a Latino community of San Diego, California. The purpose of this article is to report on program factors related to long-term institutionalization of Project Salsa interventions. Design. Project Salsa was a demonstration rather than an experimental project. To ensure maximum sensitivity to the needs and values of the community, Project Salsa began with an extensive health needs assessment, including development of an advisory council telephone survey, archival research, and key informant interviews. Setting. Project Salsa interventions took place in San Ysidro, California, located near the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to Tijuana from 1987 to 1992. Subjects. The intervention community had 14,500 residents, of which nearly 83% were Latino. Interventions. Interventions included coronary heart disease risk factor screenings, meal preparation classes, newspaper columns, point-of -purchase education, school health and cafeteria programs, and breast-feeding promotion. Measures. Institutionalization of intervention components. Results. Two of the interventions, the risk factor screenings and school health programs, are still in operation 4 years after the end of project funding. Conclusions. Four factors common to institutionalized components are presented in the paper.