Extension
It Starts With Us
Author: Katherine Jury
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
Healthy couple and parenting relationships and resulting family stability benefit the well-being of adults and children. Children who live absent from their biological fathers are two to three times more likely to be poor, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents. In an effort to increase parenting skills and provide educational resources, the Hopkins County Family and Consumer Sciences Ag
Author: Chandra DeRamus
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
Within the state of Kentucky, in Hardin County, there have been several families who have had to struggle with keeping their families together due to lack of resources and strained relationships. Sometimes the economy can impact families. Then in other times there just may be things going on in the home that maybe impacting the dynamics of the relationships between the husband and wife such as differences in how to raise the kids, having challenges with paying the bills, or having ab
Author: Lora Davidson
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
Research shows that preparing and eating meals at home can have positive impact on families by strengthening family ties and leading to better physical and mental health. In an effort to encourage more families to make family mealtime a priority, Family & Consumer Science Agents in the Wilderness Trail Area organized and conducted a Wilderness Trail Area Holiday Cooking School focused on family meal preparation. 250 participants from the eight counties from the Wilderness Trail Area attended
Author: Chandra DeRamus
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
Success Story: “Parenting Program in Hardin County Makes a Difference”Parents in Kentucky spend a large number of hours working to provide a stable home environment for their families. According to the Community Assessment report conducted by the University of Kentucky at least 40% of the population within Hardin county work at least part time and have a median income of $33,226 for men and $23,494 for women. The two biggest areas of work are concentrated in the field of Manufa
Author: Lynn Blankenship
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
During our time of remote working due to COVID - 19, this Extension Agent participated in the 4/14/20 Learn the Signs Act Early, CDC Child Development Milestone tracking ZOOM training, offered by the Senior Extension Specialist for Parenting and Child Adolescence Education and the Content Coordinator for Professional Development, for UK Child Care Aware. I had just started a "go program bag", summer resource learning kit project with the enrolled Metcalfe Co. Head Start Families
Author: David Weisenhorn
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
Mental Health First AidMental health issues affect all of society in some way, shape, or form. It is estimated that 1 in 5 Americans will experience a diagnosable mental health disorder in any given year. The stresses, strains, and challenges of everyday life increase our vulnerability and likelihood of encountering many mental health problems in our family, workplace, school, or community. Therefore, the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) at the University of Kentucky has partnere
Author: Nola Janeen Tramble
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
Situation: In 2016, there were 9 regulated home child care centers in Crittenden County and only 4 of them were Kentucky ALL STAR rated. Now there is a school pre-school program and one privately owned daycare. There is currently one after-school program, Kid's Club, which serves pre-school age children. According to the 2018 Early Childhood Profile for Crittenden County, only 55.4% of children were kindergarten ready. Testing for general and cognitive knowledge (33.8%), physical wellb
Author: Tiffany Bolinger
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
COVID-19...In a short matter of time, Extension programs as we know came to a halt. Events, clubs, and programs were cancelled in their traditional manner and agents began planning and preparing ways to continue to reach clientele. With schools being closed and students at home, a strain was placed on parents and caregivers, who might also be working from home, to provide educational and fun activities for youth. As Extension Agents, we are familiar with adapting to any situation and meetin
Author: Anna Morgan
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
Four River Counties Community Early Childhood Council is of vital importance to the rural area of Far Western KY by serving Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton and Hickman Counties. Extension FCS Agent serves as the council chairman. Early Childhood grant advocates for the young child and their families by improving quality childcare, increasing parent knowledge, improving school readiness, and collaboration to meet the needs of the families. According to the 2019 Early Childhood Profiles Fulton Cou
Author: Lynnette Allen
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
In Kentucky the need for early childhood development and school readiness continues to be identified. When looking at the 2019 Kentucky Center for Statistics, Breckinridge County was listed with only 48.4% of its youth being kindergarten ready. With this, 44.3% of the youth possessed satisfactory self-help skills and 42.3% met recommendations for well-being. With only 400 slots in licensed and certified childcare facilities, local young children are not in structured learning environments to
Author: Dayna Fentress
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
In Hardin County, right at 50% of our children enter into kindergarten unprepared. Ken­tucky defines readiness holistically and has broken it down in five domains: physical and motor development; social and emotional development; approaches to learning; language development; and cognitive development. A child's readiness score is determined by measuring a student’s cognitive, physical and language development.The first 5 years of development are crucial for a child's readiness
Author: Kelly Mackey
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
COVID-19...In a short matter of time, Extension programs as we know them came to an abrupt halt. Events, clubs and programs were cancelled in their traditional manner and everyone began working from home. With schools being closed and students at home, a strain was placed on parents and caregivers, who might also be working from home, to provide educational and fun activities for youth.Extension agents are familiar with adapting and becoming creative in order to meet the needs of our clientele.
Author: Kelly Mackey
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
According to the 2019 Kids Count County Date Profile, Calloway County ranks 66th our of 120 counties for children between the ages of 0-17 that live in out of home care. In addition, the number of children in foster care in Calloway County has increased significantly since 2013. Children need safe homes and loving families in order to thrive. When children cannot remain in their parents' care - due to substance abuse, incarceration, or child maltreatment- grandparents, other relatives or fos
Author: Tyrone Atkinson
Major Program: Nurturing Parenting
Uplift: Empowering Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s Future is a project that is designed to help provide workforce prep and life skills to limited resource and at-risk youth in Hardin and Fayette Counties of Kentucky. Ken Jones, Kerri Ashurst, Tyrone Atkinson and Allison Young are grant staff along with Kentucky State Extension Agents Carla Jordan and Chandra Deramus which make up the state staff. In year 1, the Agents have located and connected with community partners in both coun
