Extension
It Starts With Us
Targeting Life Skills and Family Lives
Enriching Family Lives
Madalyn Hale, Levi Berg, Shonda Johnston, Carrie Spry, Aubrey Lawson
Horticulture, Consumer and Home
Financial Education - General
Nutrition and Food Systems General
Communications
In the current economy, the security and management of basic human needs of food, clothing and shelter dominate the needs of families as they work to improve their lives. There are many skills necessary for individuals and families to acquire in order to strengthen their family life. By utilizing Extension programming individuals and families can build personal strengths and develops life skills such as cooking, sewing, food accessibility, financial management, relationship building, and academic success. Clark County Extension will promote programming such as Master Gardener, Health and Wellness Ambassador, Character Education, financial education, Community Life skills, Farmers’ Market, home horticulture, summer youth enrichment activities, and early education programming so that families can develop strong values, make wise decisions and encourage a supportive, educational environment.
-Improve quality of life for families
-Families are able to care for the physical and mental health and well being of each individual over the long term
-Build personal strengths and self-control, interpersonal communication, and development of life skills.
-Improve academic success for children in Kentucky
-Practice skills to strengthen and sustain relationships
-Demonstrate basic life skills such as sewing, cooking, personal care
-Securing basic family needs
-Increase number of learning activities experienced at home
-Identify basic family needs
-Learn best practices related to self-control and positive interpersonal communication
-Increase in knowledge of basic life skills: sewing, cooking, personal care needs
-Increased knowledge and skills related to managing financial resources, including savings, credit, and financial planning.
-Increased knowledge of early education skills and activities, including developmentally appropriate play, expression of emotion, and gross motor skills
Outcome: Knowledge of basic life skills: sewing, cooking, personal care needs
Indicator: increase quality of work produced by individuals engaging in development of basic life skills needs: sewing, cooking
Method: Self-Evaluation and Danish Ribbon Results
Timeline: After Project Completion
Outcome: Self-control and positive interpersonal communication
Indicator: Increase of number of individuals indicating an increase in learning/developing skills in basic family needs best practices
Method: Reduction in repeat families in utilizing community needs services
Method: Survey of Participants
Timeline: Monthly Reports of Services Utilized
Outcome: Individuals gaining knowledge of how to plan and implement gardening budgets/purchasing best practices
Indicator: Increase in number of individuals utilizing budgets in home gardening
Method: Survey of Participants,
Timeline: Monthly, Annually
Outcome: Increase knowledge and skills related to managing financial resources
Indicator: Number of individuals reporting increased levels of understanding in the areas of handling money issues and financial decision-making or specific financial matters
Method: Survey of participants/pre-post evaluations
Timeline: Annually
Outcome: Increase knowledge of age-appropriate educational and social-emotional skills/activities to aid in their child’s healthy development.
Indicator: Number of caregivers who expressed learning new skills and activities to engage their children at home
Method: Survey of participants/pre-post evaluations
Timeline: Annually
Audience: 6th Grade Students
Project or Activity: 4-H Dollars and Sense
Content or Curriculum: 4-H Dollars and Sense
Inputs: Clark County 4-H, Public School, Community Volunteers and Agencies
Date: Spring
Audience: 8th Grade Students
Project or Activity: 4-H It’s Your Reality
Content or Curriculum: 4-H It’s Your Reality
Inputs:Clark County 4-H Staff, Public School Staff, Community Volunteers and Agencies
Date: Fall
Audience: 4-H Age Youth
Project or Activity: 4-H Sewing
Content or Curriculum: KY 4-H Sewing Curriculum
Inputs: Clark County Cooperative Extension Facilities and Equipment, 4-H Staff, Master Clothing Volunteers, 4-H Volunteers
Date: weekly fall and spring
Audience: Youth age 9-14 years old
Project or Activity: 4-H Summer Camp
Content or Curriculum: 4-H Core Content
Inputs: Clark County Extension Staff, 4-H Camp and Staff, 4-H Volunteers, Clark County 4-H Program Support/Materials
Date: Summer
Audience: 4-H age youth
Project or Activity: 4-H Cooking Club
Content or Curriculum: 4-H Approved Curriculum
Inputs: Clark County Cooperative Extension Facilities/Materials, 4-H Extension Staff, 4-H Volunteers
Date: Monthly
Audience: Adults
Project or Activity: Gardening Classes & Workshops
Content or Curriculum: UK Publications and Specialists
Inputs: Master Gardener Volunteers, Clark County CES Facilities, Community Garden Locations
Date: Spring, Summer, Fall
Audience: Preschool aged children and their parents
Project or Activity: Early education workshops/series
Content or Curriculum: Laugh and Learn Playdates; Stories, Songs, and Stretches
Inputs: FCS Agent, UK curriculum and resources,
Date: Annually
Audience: Adults, young adults, and teens
Project or Activity: Financial Education Workshops (budgeting, estate planning), Life Skills Academy
Content or Curriculum: Money Habitudes; Good Credit Game; estate planning, Life Skills Academy
Inputs: FCS Agent, curriculum publications and resources,
Date: Annually
Audience: 5-8 yr olds
Project or Activity: Cloverbud Club
Content or Curriculum: 4-H Core Content
Inputs: 4-H Extension Staff/Facilities/Materials, 4-H Volunteers
Date: Monthly
Audience: Adults
Project or Activity: Farm Enterprise Creation/Expansion
Content or Curriculum: UK Publications, UK Specialist and Community Resources
Inputs: Extension Staff; local producers
Date: Spring, Summer, Fall
Author: Shonda Johnston
Major Program: Super Star Chef
In order to provide more opportunities to practice cooking and safe kitchen practices, the Clark County FCS and 4-H agents partnered to offer the Superstar Chef Camp program to 18 students, ages 9-12, in July of 2023. Agents along with the 4-H program assistant, a dietetics intern, and a homemaker volunteer worked with students in a hands-on educational setting to teach important life skills. A pre-test/ post test evaluation was conducted to determine learning outcomes. Over 85% the participants
Author: Shonda Johnston
Major Program: Recipes for Life
Clark County Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent collaborated with the counselors and FRC at Baker Intermediate School to offer the Recipes for Life Program to 358 fifth-grade students over three days in December of 2023. The Clark County Horticulture, ANR, and 4-H agents also assisted in the implementation of this program. Since all public-school 5th graders attend Baker, the students were divided into three groups based on their homerooms. Each group, consisting of about 119 students,
Author: Madalyn Hale
Major Program: Family and Consumer Science
The problemWe often hear that we need to teach our youth about money and practical life skills. Many of our young people are not familiar with the concept of budgeting and spending money, and keeping a written record of finances is quickly becoming obsolete due to technology.The educational program responseThe 4-H Dollars and Sense program is designed to educate youth on the importance of budgeting and identifying needs and wants, as well as making informed financial purchases. The particip
Author: Shonda Johnston
Major Program: Food Preparation and Preservation
One of the most consistent requests received at Clark County Extension from its constituents, is information on growing and cooking with herbs. With upward trends in eating healthier, growing your own food, and living a more self-sustainable life, more people have been hoping to learn about the benefits of herbs. Clark County Extension’s Horticulture Agent and Family and Consumer Sciences Agent partnered up for a 2-class series on Growing and Cooking with Herbs. The 2 classes covered all t
Author: Shonda Johnston
Major Program: Food Preparation and Preservation
Food preservation is a skill that many Clark County residents express interest in, but report hesitancy and fear about actually doing it. Clark County Family and Consumer Sciences agent had many requests for food preservation skills and therefore presented two food preservation workshops, one in July and one in August. The classes consisted of hands-on canning demonstrations of both water bath and pressure canning as well as the safety of both practices. Between the two classes, 19 people
