The Family-Environment Connection: Filling a Nationwide Program Gap

Since its inception, Extension has focused on helping individuals, families, and communities change economic, environmental, and social conditions. Over the organization\u27s history, environmental condition change programming has been mostly the purview of natural resource educators and less often conducted by family and consumer science professionals. There is no evidence of a comprehensive approach to environmental education in Extension linked to family development. In addition, no evidence was found of any Extension educators conducting environmental education with the family unit as the audience. The Family-Environment Connection initiative created by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach aims to fill this gap