Financial Coaching and Lifestyle Intervention for Diabetes Prevention in Low-income Families

Participants will be assigned a financial coach, who will, prepare a budget, conduct a soft pull of their credit report and score to analyze the credit score. Based on the participant's goals and financial limitations as highlighted by the, the participant and financial coach will create a personalized financial action plan comprising of strategies, follow-up actions, and resources, which includes unlimited access to one-on-one sessions with the financial coach. After the intensive financial coaching, participants will maintain access to the TrustPlus Portal and can continue to connect with their financial coach as needed throughout the 6-month intervention period. Participants will also have ongoing access to educational webinars and Trust+Ed, an interactive resource that provides self-guided content on many financial topics of interest, such as credit building and debt management.

Families receive a weekly distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables for 24 weeks, there will be Nutrition education in school throughout the school year using the evidence-based CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) program and weekly healthy recipe tastings and cooking skill demos for families during produce pick-up time.Fruit and vegetable access is complemented by CATCH, an evidence based, Texas Education Agency-approved, coordinated school health program designed to promote healthy nutrition, physical activity, and prevent obesity in schoolchildren. In addition, the Brighter Bites website and mobile app are freely available in English and Spanish.

Participants will get access to Noom which is a mobile app for weight loss that shifts the paradigm from dieting to a digitally supported and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cognitive behavioral therapy approach to support personalized behavior changes towards eating, physical activity and stress management. The Noom Healthy Weight curriculum covers foundations in weight loss, nutrition, physical activity, sleep and stress management.Daily tasks (e.g., weight and food logs, readings) are organized vertically in simple cards on the phone screen, allowing users to easily scroll through what needs to be done. It will pull physical activity data (e.g., steps) directly from the health app on smartphones or apps associated with external devices such as Fitbit. Furthermore, Noom stands out from other app-based programs by assigning a personal coach to each user, helping users navigate the emotional and physiological experiences of the Noom weight loss experience.