Author: Erica Spurgeon
Major Program: Health
Within the Kentucky 4-H program, most clubs and activities become available to youth at age nine. By this age most children have already developed interests and extracurricular involvement. This is why engaging with youth from ages five to eight is so important. Pulaski County has a thriving Cloverbud Club where youth ages five to eight can explore what 4-H has to offer. The Cloverbud Club boasts 40 members who attend meetings monthly or attend special outings and day camps. Agent Erica Spu
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
One of the greatest aspects of the 4-H program is the plethora of ways that programs can be provided. Agents can reach youth via clubs, school enrichment, camps, and many more avenues. Pulaski County 4-H agents, Erica Spurgeon and Jennifer Cole, have found one of the best ways to engage youth in their county is through specialized day camps.During the summer of 2022, Pulaski County held a total of eight unique day camps. Topics included Beginner Cooking, Poultry BBQ Contest, Art, Cloverbud, Envi
Major Program: Leadership
The 99th Annual Kentucky 4-H Teen Conference was held at the University of Kentucky June 13-16, 2023. The objectives of Kentucky 4-H Teen Conference are: develop leadership and teamwork skills, improve communication skills, foster civic engagement, expand knowledge and skills related to 4-H core content areas, gain club, county and state 4-H program skills, have fun, create a sense of belonging, expand social skills through networking, develop youth-adult partnerships, and become acquainted with
Author: Jane Proctor
Major Program: Food Preparation and Preservation
The interest in Charcuterie boards as a type of food service as been on the rise in popularity. Although this method of food presentation has been around for many years, the current trend has become all encompassing while including a variety of food choices and different types of serving vessels. Because of the rise of popularity, the Trimble County Family and Consumer Science Agent hosted a Charcuterie class that addressed preparation methods, food safety, food storage, and incorporating
Major Program: Cook Together, Eat Together
It has been reported that cooking more meals at home is related to increased fruit and vegetable consumption. Eating more fruits and vegetables is vital for health promotion and disease prevention. However, it can be one of the most difficult eating behaviors to change.Cook Together, Eat Together is a program targeted at bringing the family together in the kitchen by cooking. Seven families (total of 24) met for six weeks at the Trimble County Cooperative Extension Service. Topics c
Major Program: Nutrition and Food Systems General
Research is clear that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help protect against several chronic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Nationwide, it is estimated that only 12.2% of adults meet the recommended amount of fruits each day and only 9.3% meet recommendations for vegetables (CDC, 2018). Kentucky falls even further below the national averages with only 8.0% of adults meeting daily recommendations for fruits and 6.3% meeting recommendations for
Major Program: Active Living and Health Promotions General
Big Blue HOT Challenge 2023 Annually, Family and Consumer Sciences Agents see an increased interest from clients in health-behavior choices. This year, to reach both current and new clientele with timely and research-based information, the HOT Challenge (Henry vs. Oldham vs. Trimble) presented a county challenge in time for the holidays - Big Blue Goals. The program was designed to allow for participation through either an online platform (Goalify app) that could be operated on a smartphone
Author: Carol Hinton
Major Program: Forages
Producers began a few years ago taking 2-3 cuttings of hay as summer rains were very plentiful. Now we have fields that are dragging in yields, very poor stand of cool season grasses, and lacking fertilizer. After numerous meetings, numerous farm visits, we began to gather information on; soil test results, 'weed identification', loss of production and new but tried and true management practices to get back on track with hay production. The old saying repeti
Major Program: Community Vitality and Leadership - ANR
Coming out of COVID we were not ready for the influx of request to get the Breckinridge County Extension programs back into the schools or back to normalcy.We began working with the Chief Curriculum Specialist to work in Farm Safety Days and Ag Awareness, Grow It, Wear It, Eat It. The teachers and students and presenters were engaged in every step of the way. The programs filled so many needs in those classes. The presenters every year learn so many things from the
Author: Carla Carter
Major Program: Aging-General
Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) disproportionately impacts African Americans compared to non-Hispanic Whites, with Franklin County, Kentucky ranking 2nd highest frequency in the United States for diagnosis in this population. The goal of this study was to examine program evaluation of a unique interdisciplinary, multi-modal and holistic community-based program, “Healthy Aging Workshop Series.”Findings from the 2022 Unity in the Community event indicat
Type 2 Diabetes has affected our lives in some way or another, especially in the African American community. African Americans adults experience disproportionately rates of obesity (69.6%) related to health disparities such as diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. African Americans also have two times the rate of having diabetes than Caucasians. According to the County Health Ranking for 2022, Franklin County, Kentucky the population of non-Hispanic African Americans is 10.3%. The Fit
According to County Health Ranking & Roadmaps, approximately 29% of Franklin County, Kentucky adults over the age of 18 and nationally 27.5% of adults aged 50 or older are physically inactive outside of work. Physical inactivity increases as individuals age with approximately 25.4% of adults aged 50-64 years, 26.9% of adults aged 65-74 years, 35.3% of adults aged 75 and older. Regular physical activity and exercise helps to improve your physical and mental health and may improve the abi
Author: Phillip Long
Major Program: Community Engagement
Since we use these stories as a resource for multiple requests, don’t restrict Success Stories only to traditional Extension appointments and activities. Any accomplishments and efforts that are noteworthy may be included.The problemSince 2019, the ag agent in Jefferson County has been involved in an Urban Extension Institute project involving the Louisville Metro Landbank Authority Vacant and Abandoned lots in west and south Louisville neighborhoods. Over 350 vacant lots (without str
Major Program: Local Food Systems
Since we use these stories as a resource for multiple requests, don’t restrict Success Stories only to traditional Extension appointments and activities. Any accomplishments and efforts that are noteworthy may be included.The Ag Agent in Jefferson County recently received a call from a greenhouse manager regarding vegetable plants that appeared to have some type of herbicide damage. The manager informed me that there haven’t been any herbicide applications applied to any of thei
Author: Tyrone Atkinson
Major Program: Family Development General
The CYFAR Uplift Project has gained momentum in Year 4 of the grant project. Kentucky State University Extension professionals collaborated on the grant in both grant site locations to help build strong relationships with community partners and co-facilitated all programming to reach target audiences. Primary community partners in Hardin County include Hardin Schools, PURE, Sunrise, faith-based organizations, and community members. Primary community partners in Fayette County include Crawford Mi
Author: Dawna Peters
Major Program: Agriculture
2023 Chick Incubation was offered to 3rd grade classes and the FMD class at Leslie County High School. FMD stands for Functional Mental Disability classroom. It is important to Leslie County 4-H to keep our FMD youth involved. Leslie County has 4 grade schools and 1 high school which targeted 8 individual classrooms. An estimated 150 youth participated in this project. We visited classrooms each week to provide a new lesson.Chick Incubation is a 21-day process and requires fertilized chick
In the third year of the five year grant project, CYFAR Uplift has Byran Station Middle School has a Career Exploration class where students can learn and plan for their futures. The Uplift team chose to work with 8th graders as we believed it would be more fruitful as they begin to transition and think about going to high school and beyond. We began programming in October as Covid-19 was stiff affecting attendance, and there were students out due to contact tracing in schools. There were three
The Kentucky Military Teen Adventure Camp program has been funded for another year (2022 & 2023). Three camps were held this fiscal year of (1 camp in July 2022 & 2 camps in June 2023. The camps are for Parent service members (or spouses) and their teenage children. One hundred forty-nine participants from all service branches, including Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Veterans, attended. Families traveled from states including CO, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, NC NE, NY, OK,
