Extension
It Starts With Us
Basic Life Skill Education
Strengthening Youth & Adult Life Skills
Ashley Vice & Russ Muntifering
Financial Education - General
Food Preparation and Preservation
Horticulture, Consumer and Home
Communications and Expressive Arts
Nicholas County has a population of 7,135 according to the census. Of that number 19.4% of the population lives at or below the poverty rate, with an additional 12% of youth (ages 18 and under) who receive SNAP and/or WIC benefits. In addition to that, Nicholas County has over 100 students, grades K-6, in the backpack program and 90+ seniors receiving monthly commodity boxes.
The Nicholas County Extension Service wants to combat these numbers through extension programming focusing on budgeting, parenting skills, gardening/food preservation and youth communication and leadership opportunities.
Nicholas County families will be better equipped to reach financial stability and more to be more self sufficient. This will decrease the number of those in need of local food and clothing banks as well as assistance programs. This increase in financial stability and reliance on assistance programs will be reflected in the next Census.
Families will practice healthy meal planning and experiment with new fruits and vegetables.
Youth will participate in communications and leadership programming. Adults and families will practice healthy meal planning and experiment with new fruits and vegetables.
Initial Outcome: Families will develop a monthly budget
Indicator: number of families participating in annual holiday assistance program
Method: attendance sheets
Timeline: ongoing
Intermediate Outcome: Families will have a better understanding of basic gardening
Indicator: Number of families growing their own produce and increased sale of fruits and vegtables at local grocery store and farmers markets
Method: survey of producers and grocery
Timeline: ongoing
Long-term Outcome: Youth will possess basic communication and leadership skills leading them to become contributing members of society
Indicator: Number of youth in leadership roles and participation in communications contest
Method: Enrollment forms
Timeline: Ongoing
Audience: NC Families
Project or Activity: Holiday Assistance Program
Content or Curriculum: budgeting 101, bean game, meal planning resources
Inputs: FRYSC coordinator, families, handouts/publications, worksheets
Date: 2021-2025
Project or Activity: Parenting Classes
Content or Curriculum: Keys to Great Parenting, Parenting Piece by Piece
Inputs: FRYSC coordinator, families, handouts
Date: 2021-2025
Audience: NC Families
Project or Activity: Food Preservation Boot Camp
Content or Curriculum: UK Food Preservation guidelines, Ball Blue Book
Inputs: Curriculum, UK specalists, produce and plants
Date: 2021-2025
Project or Activity: Home and Horticulture
Content or Curriculum: Horticulture ID
Inputs: Curriculum, UK specalists, produce and plants
Date: 2021-2025
Audience: NC Youth
Project or Activity: Middle School Leadership Academy
Content or Curriculum: 4-H Citizenship, Civic Engagement
Inputs: Teen Conference, Teen Summit, monthly meetings
Date: 2021-2025
Project or Activity: County Communications Contest
Content or Curriculum: Picking up the Pieces, 4-H Speeches and Demonstrations
Inputs: Classroom instruction, handouts and silly speeches
Date: 2021-2025
Author: Ashley Vice
Major Program: Food Preparation and Preservation
Economic stressors on family budgets and the rise of recalls on food, have resulted in an increase in home gardening and food preservation. Also, due to Covid19 causing a gap to in-person learning, how to preserve their own food is something the County Extension Council felt needed to be addressed due to the uptick in home gardens during Covid. To focus on food safety issues related to home food preservation, the Nicholas County Cooperative Extension Service offered and delivered food preservati
