Extension
It Starts With Us
Fostering Healthy Communities and Families
Fostering Healthy Communities and Families
Amanda Sears, Brandon Sears, Aubrey Clark, Scott Darst
Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (general)
4-H Communications and Expressive Arts Core Curriculum
4-H Leadership Core Curriculum
Local Food Systems
Sixty percent of respondents to the Madison County Health and Safety Survey identified healthy behaviors and lifestyles as the most important need for creating a healthy Madison County. Likewise, obesity and lack of physical activity were recognized as the 2nd greatest health problem. And, school health education was cited as one of the top five most needed health services in our county. (Madison County, KY Health and Safety Survey, 2015)
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Youth and adult Extension programming which encourages healthy lifestyles and behavior and promotes safe practices may lead to healthier individuals, families and communities. (JOE, September 2014)
Youth participants will maintain positive health habits, lower their risk for serious disease and illness, and will lower their risk for physical and emotional distress. Youth will also develop into competent, capable, contributing adults as their important developmental asset needs are met through their participation in 4-H.
Youth will learn safe and responsible use of firearms and archery equipment. In doing so, youth will lower the risk of injury as well as increase their knowledge of handling a firearm in several different disciplines.
Madison County Residents will have increased awareness of our local food economy, practice physical activity and healthy eating, increase their skills and knowledge in food preparation, and increase their average fruit and vegetable consumption.
Families are able to practice parental leadership skills, build personal strengths, interpersonal communication, life skills including wise decision-making, access community resources and improve quality of life.
Youth will have increased adoption and mastery of healthy behaviors that lead to a healthy lifestyle that include making healthy lifestyle choices, not engaging in risky behavior and handling stress.
Youth will master skills necessary in selecting and preparing healthy and nutritious foods and understand the decision-making process.
Youth will have an increase in developing life skills centered on shooting sports. Youth will experience a sense of achievement therefore increasing the child’s self-esteem.
Residents increase amount of local food purchases, practice healthy food choices, build healthy eating plans and patterns, and are physically active.
Parents and Grandparents increase communication and enhance relationships and social support, reduce stress levels, make wiser decisions about money and time management, and use preventive and positive discipline techniques.
Youth will identify healthy and safe lifestyle choices, understand risky behaviors and their consequences, aspire to have higher self-esteem, and identify healthy ways to handle stress.
Youth will identify healthy food and drinks and understand the risk of making unhealthy choices, and the benefits of making healthy selections.
Participants will change their awareness, knowledge, opinions, skills, and attitudes needed to make informed choices regarding: Healthy lifestyle choices, Adult weight management, Healthy aging, Aware of importance of daily physical activity, Reduction of chronic disease, Risk of falling, Healthy lifespan behaviors, Empathy, and Age-related family issues such as dementia, failing health, and end-of-life concerns.
Parents will learn about community support services, hold realistic behavior expectations, understand discipline vs. punishment, and practice stress management techniques.
Residents will know where the farmer's markets are located, understand the importance of sustainable local agriculture to individual health and financial well-being, and begin to grow, prepare, and preserve food. Increase knowledge and understanding of healthy eating, food safety and food resource management. Participants will also learn about community support services to increase food security.
Outcome: Youth will have increased adoption and mastery of healthy behaviors that lead to a healthy lifestyle that include making healthy lifestyle choices, not engaging in risky behavior and handling stress.
Indicator: Percentage of youth participants who can identify where germs are located, acknowledge that some germs can make people sick, and who can describe times in the day when hand washing is needed.
Method:4-H Hand washing Survey
Timeline:Soon after the conclusion of the program.
Outcome: Youth will have increased adoption and mastery of healthy behaviors that lead to a healthy lifestyle that include making healthy lifestyle choices, not engaging in risky behavior and handling stress.
Indicator: Percentage of youth participants who can identify healthy behaviors, who report avoidance of risky behaviors, and identify stress in themselves and others.
Method: 4-H Common Measures Survey: Health
Timeline: Soon after the conclusion of the program.
Outcome: Youth will have an increase in developing life skills centered on shooting sports. Youth will experience a sense of achievement therefore increasing the child’s self-esteem.
Indicator: Percentage of youth who increase in their individual scores.
Method: Score sheets and records
Timeline: Annually
Outcome: Participants make healthy lifestyle choices including exercising, drinking adequate water, consuming fruits and vegetables and planning meals.
Indicator: Number of participants who report achieving outcomes.
Method: Small Steps to Health and Wealth on-line challenge
Timeline: Conclusion of Challenge
Outcome:Residents will know where the farmer's markets are located, understand the importance of sustainable local agriculture to individual health and financial well-being, and begin to grow, prepare, and preserve food. Increase knowledge and understanding of healthy eating, food safety and food resource management. Participants will also learn about community support services to increase food security.
Indicator:Percentage of farmers market vendors who experience an increase in sales based on Extension programming efforts.
Method:Vendor surveys
Timeline:End of growing season on an annual basis
Audience: Youth ages 9-18
Project or Activity: Madison County 4-H Shooting Sports
Content or Curriculum: 4-H Shooting Sports program
Inputs:
Date: Annually
Audience: Youth ages 5-18
Project or Activity: 4-H Nutrition workshops
Content or Curriculum: Exploring My Plate with Professor Popcorn
Inputs: 4-H Agent time, EFNEP/SNAP Assistant time, volunteer time, funding, curriculum, equipment, meeting
space
Date: Year Round
Audience: Nutrition Education program clientele
Activity: classes and promotions
Content: NEP curriculum
Inputs: NEP resources and incentives, assistant and agent time and travel
Date: Ongoing
Audience: Parents and Grandparents
Activity: Grandparents as Parents group and conference, parenting classes.
Content: Parenting curriculum
Inputs: Speakers time, supplies and samples, assistant and agent time and travel.
Date: year round
Audience: Extension Homemakers
Activity: Extension Homemaker educational activities
Content: FCS curriculum, volunteer knowledge
Inputs: FCS resources, volunteer hours, supplies, staff time and travel, community resources
Date: year round
Audience: General public
Activity: Homemaker leader Lessons
Content: Leader Lesson Curriculum
Inputs: Leader Lesson Curriculum, Area agents time and travel, newspaper articles, volunteer time, samples
Date: Fall through Spring, monthly
Audience: Extension Homemakers and public
Project or Activity: Local Foods Awareness
Content or Curriculum: maintain list of local growers and products
Inputs: County office staff and agents, farmer’s market vendors, Horticulture and Agriculture Agents
Date: Fall, Annually
Audience: Madison County Residents
Audience: Farmer's Market Promotion events and articles
Content: per agent, UK materials
Inputs: County Office Staff and Agents
Date: spring, summer, fall, annually
Author: Brandon Darst
Major Program: 4-H Agriculture Core Curriculum AND Natural Resources
Environmental education is becoming a rare interest because many youth are just not going outside anymore. Due to this trend, obesity rates continue to rise, driving further in activity and lack of interest in the outdoors. Statistics show the number of hours spent in front of screens, which directly relates to youth becoming dissociated with nature (Cohen, 2020). To help combat this trend and also get youth outdoors, the CES Agents introduced a fishing program at a local middle school. Th
Author: Brandon Darst
Major Program: 4-H Agriculture Core Curriculum AND Natural Resources
For about 10 years the CES has collabortated with Waco Elementary and Kentucky Fish and Wildlife to host a live stream study. The CES and the teacher have collected data from those years and have started logging them as we visit the same stream each year. The students get a chance to learn in the classroom and then show their skills off while in the stream. The CES goes over how to chemically test the stream and also how to biologically test the stream by looking for macro invertabra
Author: Aubrey Lawson
Major Program: 4-H Family and Consumer Science Core Curriculum
Madison County 4-H sponsors youth to attend the Kentucky 4-H State Teen Conference each summer if the teen agrees to lead a 4-H program through Madison County Cooperative Extension Service for the community such as a day camp or monthly club, the council just requires that they lead at least 6 educational hours of programming. One Madison County High-School Student attended the conference in 2019 and began plans for his workshop soon after the conference ended. This teen had an interest in cooki
Author: Aubrey Lawson
Major Program: 4-H Family and Consumer Science Core Curriculum
The University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program partnered with Madison County Cooperative Extension Service to bring the Super Star Chef program to youth in Madison County. The program included a three-day program where 17 youth ages 9-12 learned the basics of nutrition and cooking while having fun. Studies have shown that children who help cook at home are more likely to enjoy fruits and vegetables than those who do not cook. This program exposed youth to a variety of cooking techniques
Author: Jessica Hunley
Major Program: Kentucky Extension Homemaker Association
Throughout the unprecedented times presented in relation to COVID-19, the Madison County Extension Homemakers rallied together to make and assemble masks for those in need. The first round of masks were donated under the direction of University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital, in which Madison County Homemakers were responsible for donating 100+ masks. Once the need was met at the Children’s Hospital, I aided, as the FCS Agent, to be the contact person and help coordinate
