EFNEP: Celebrating 50 Years of USDA-NIFA Funded Nutrition Education

In 2019, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) will be celebrating 50 years of effective, evidence-based, nutrition education programming in communities throughout the United States. We plan to highlight the program's history, purpose, strengths, impacts, and partnerships (nationally and locally, past and present), and how EFNEP has played a role in building well-connected communities for the past 50 years. Further, we will be highlighting how the program contributes to improving social, economic, and environmental conditions by providing free nutrition education to limited-resource families (thus cultivating a culture of health). In doing so, we also promote skills to enrich healthy relationships and strengthen families, because healthy families are strong families. EFNEP does more than share nutrition information; EFNEP changes lives, families, communities, and organizations! EFNEP is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) and is implemented by land-grant universities. EFNEP provides free nutrition education to limited resource families, particularly those with young children, and youth enrolled in schools/districts with 50 percent or more of students eligible for Free- and Reduced-Lunch. The program has been in effect since 1969. The program is implemented using a paraprofessional model of community nutrition education. Here in Ohio, the paraprofessionals who work for EFNEP are referred to as program assistants (PAs), but they do far more than assist the program. PAs recruit families and receive referrals from current and former participants, neighborhood contacts, and community organizations and agencies. Our PAs are the heart of the program. Their energy, dedication, personal experiences, and presence within their communities, coupled with our robust evaluation and reporting procedures, are what make EFNEP such a strong program—a program that has been serving communities throughout the country for 50 years. EFNEP has a strong history of evaluation and reporting. Land-grant universities implementing EFNEP collect the same information from adults and from youth participants, allowing data to be collected locally and analyzed nationally. In Ohio, EFNEP is in 20 counties throughout the state. Nationally, EFNEP provides nutrition education in all 50 states and six U.S. territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Micronesia, and Northern Marianas). Through a community-based, relationship-driven, hands-on educational approach, EFNEP has directly impacted economic, obesity, and food insecurity challenges that hinder the health and well-being of this nation. The partnerships formed across the nation (and in local communities within Ohio) have contributed to EFNEP's resilient and sustainable future.AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Amy Habig, EFNEP program specialist, OSU Extension, habig.13@osu.edu (Corresponding Author); Zoe Fawcett, EFNEP research associate, OSU Extension; Amy Hollar, EFNEP program specialist, OSU Extension; Kristen Matlack, EFNEP program specialist, OSU Extension; Nancy Lyons, EFNEP program specialist, OSU ExtensionIn 2019, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) will celebrate 50 years of effective, evidence-based, nutrition education programming in communities throughout the United States. This poster will highlight the program's history, purpose, strengths, impacts, and partnerships (nationally and locally, past and present), and how EFNEP has played a role in building well-connected communities for the past 50 years. It will also highlight how the program contributes to improving social, economic, and environmental conditions by providing free nutrition education to limited-resource families (thus cultivating a culture of health). In doing so, we also promote skills to enrich healthy relationships and strengthen families, because healthy families are strong families. EFNEP does more than share nutrition information; EFNEP changes lives, families, communities, and organizations, and we want to celebrate these accomplishments