Author: LaToya Drake
Major Program: Promoting Healthy Homes and Communities (general)
With an estimated 9,397 Barren County residents living in poverty and many others living as working poor, a substantial number of families make too little to afford a basic budget. Promoting healthy financial behaviors is a priority for Barren County and the Smart Shopping Tips program set out to do this through education on grocery shopping budgeting, meal planning, and food storage and freezing techniques.The Barren County Extension Agent for FCS presented the program on two different occasion
Author: Rachael Price
With sewing becoming more popular and a means to generate income, Family and Consumer Science agents coordinated its 14th annual “It’s Sew Fine” Sewing Expo, providing hands-on, experiential learning programs. Over the years, the program has grown to attract participants from across Kentucky and surrounding states.While the sewing expo has been a consistent event that many attended annually, we have seen growth this past year. Not only did the average number of participan
Author: M. Elizabeth Coots
There has been a movement to “go green” in more ways than one in our society, and there has been a particular interest for citizens of Woodford County, Kentucky after the local recycling center announced that there would be certain limitations on the items they would be accepting. To help to educate the community on recycling as well as other green living areas, the Woodford County Extension Agent for Horticulture and the Woodford County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Scienc
Author: Lynn Blankenship
The Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences Education in Metcalfe County, compiled a four unit curriculum in 2014/15, which has been actively in the pilot process, for fine tuning and revision; prior to submission for publication through University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension publication process. The Metcalfe County FCS Agent piloted it first, with freshmen and subsequently with eighth grade students, over the past four years. For the 2018/19 program
Author: Ruth Chowning
Sewing is cool again! Not too long ago, hand sewn items were considered “homespun”, “plain-Jane” and “unsophisticated”. But with the popularity of TV shows like Project Runway, Fashion Star and more recently Threads, sewing is now thought of more in terms such as “stylish”, “innovative” & “fashion-forward”. Keeping that in mind, the "It's Sew Fine For Home and Family Sewing Expo (Sewing Expo
Author: Bethany Wilson
Sky Hope Rehabilitation Center is a 100-bed facility for women with drug addictions. Pulaski County has a large drug abuse problem. Gardening has been shown to have many positive effects on humans. There are physical, cognitive, social, and psychological benefits such as improvement in self-esteem, alleviation of depression, increased strength and stamina, and decreased stress. Winter programs consisted of sessions on vegetable gardening, straw bale gardening, raised bed garden
Author: Joann Lianekhammy
The Rural Child Poverty Nutrition Center wrapped up its final year in its grant cycle. It was awarded 1.3 million dollars from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service and was able to carry out subgrants to 15 organizations working in persistently poor, rural communities in 12 states. The organizations were able to implement a great number of strategies into their county infrastructure to better address child hunger. These strategies, along with the success – both captured qualitati
Author: Danielle Ford
Progressive Ag Safety is a wonderful grant program that we have received for the past couple of years that truly benefits the youth of our county. This year we had a record number of students participate, 384-4th graders in the district participated. There were numerous stations set up that included-water safety, chemical/drug safety, grain bin safety, animal safety, food safety, atv and tractor safety to list a few. The Marion county extension office collaborated with several community business
Author: Sarah Hanks
To help families in Kentucky improve safety in their homes FCS agents were offered an opportunity to become trained in an updated national curriculum developed by the Healthy Homes Partnership. UK FCSE, in collaboration with LSU and MSU Extension Healthy Homes specialist provided a train the trainer session at the February FCS Inservice training. A total of 89 FCS agents were trained on how to use the recently updated Healthy Homes Partnership curriculum. Agents received an overview of the modul
Author: Tamera Magee
Homeownership is a part of the American Dream. However, with homeownership is a major monetary investment that also includes the responsibility of a maintenance and the task of deciding how a person wants their home to reflect their personality and lifestyle so that their home's value increases. There are many ways to learn how to decorate, repair and furnish a home. In some cases, we can just read a magazine or turn on the television to a favorite home design/decorate show or YouTube
Author: Alexander Elswick
The latest data on the opioid epidemic paints a dire picture for the state of Kentucky. In 2017, overdose mortalities rose for at least a tenth consecutive year, totaling more than 1,500 deaths. In response, the state has begun exploring new and innovative alternatives to the traditional modalities of treatment and recovery.Research indicates that for people with substance use disorders, and particularly for those who have become justice involved, the risk of relapse is highest durin
Author: Joan Bowling
The average household size has declined to 2.61 persons while the average home has doubled in size since 1950. However, people continue to have problems with managing clutter and knowing what to do with everything they have accumulated. One out of 11 people in the US rent storage space. Many factors play into why homeowners are overwhelmed with clutter. Internet shopping, super-center shopping stores, and an overwhelming amount of options has been a major contributor. As the baby boo
Author: Judith Hetterman
With sewing becoming more popular and a means to generate income, Family Consumer sciences Extension Agents coordinated the "It's Sew Fine For Home and Family Sewing Expo, providing hands on experiences learning programs to 165 participants from 48 Kentucky Counties and 19 states. The Sewing Expo attracts college educated women(65%; 22% had some college); over the age of 55 (87%) and a growing number under the age of 35 (22%) who belong to one or more organizations who address issues re
Author: Karen Denniston
1 in 5 adults in America experience a mental illness and 90% of those who die by suicide have an underlying mental illness. Mental illness does not discriminate by race, culture, gender or financial status. These numbers are terrifying however as a society it is uncomfortable to acknowledge or discuss this issue. The Bluegrass Area Extension Homemakers selected Mental Health Awareness as a monthly lesson for the 2019-19 year. Congratulations to this group for requesting i
Author: Kathy Byrnes
According to Michigan State University Extension, gardening-considered a moderate intensity level activity - can reduce the risk for obesity and many chronic diseases. They also report on the effectiveness of gardening as a scientifically noted stress reliever. The Kenton County Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent collaborated with the Northern Kentucky Extension Homemakers Housing and Environment chairs, plus the horticulture staff in Kenton, Boone and Campbell counties to o
Author: Brenda Cockerham
In 2018-19, FCS was able to reach 3, 601 youth and families with information about foods and nutrition through various efforts. The Snap program reached 273 youth with marked results such as an average of 77% of participants improving their diets by adopting one or more improved food selection behaviors and an average of 65% adopting 1 or more behaviors related to improved physical activities. Volunteer instructors at K-3 at Central Elementary have been reached with Organwise program
Author: Louis "Jenie" Carter
One Person Can Make a DifferenceLouisville, Kentucky like other cities and communities is trying to address the opioid and addiction crisis. Mayor Greg Fisher in a statement said “the opioid crisis is a vital concern to public safety in this community”. Community groups and organizations are doing what they can to help.One agency, Volunteers of America Mid-States, Inc. (VOA) is making a major impact in the lives of the people they serve, especially pregnant women who are fighting add
