Cooking with the Community, a 13 part video series, was a collaborative effort with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, Nelson County 4-H, Nelson County Nutrition Education Program, Nelson County Community Education, the Backpack Weekend Food Program and many community leaders and agencies.  The videos were distributed through social media and community partners from November 2020-May 2021 and are available on the Nelson County Cooperative Extension  webpage at Nelson.ca.uky.edu.

The goals of the Cooking with the Community program were to highlight health tips for youth, introduce them to the connection between food and agriculture in our community,  and connect youth with community leaders who taught youth how to prepare friendly recipes.  The selected recipes correlated with ingredients some youth may receive through supplemental food programs.  The recipes were printed and included in those food distribution programs. The program also introduced youth to community agencies that provide assistance in the areas of food insecurity. 

The program has been extremely well received.  Early childhood programs are sharing the videos with their students reaching over 80 students and many of the videos have had very high engagement on social media with viewers noting they learned a nutrious recipe. The videos have had over 2,300 views on YouTube. 

Many of the partners were first time collaborators with Extension programming and have become more active in partnering with additional extension programming opportunities.  This has also introduce new adudiences from our partner's networks to Nelson County Cooperative Extension. 

Our Community Education partner and Backpack food program coordinator stated: "I am truly grateful for the opportunity to partner in the cooking program. Covid took away a lot of personal interaction but the cooking program allowed us to share a platform and room. The ability to adapt to change and still reach our much loved audience has a tremendous effect. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to grow, educate, and share within our wonderful community and leadership."