During FY20-21 Family and Consumer Sciences Extension recognized the need to maintain community engagement of our clientele to ensure that they were informed and active members who were contributing to their own well-being.  While the global pandemic brought a series of challenges for typical Extension programming, it also gave us the opportunity to open our “doors” to a broader audience than we had previously reached.

Through interactive, online programming efforts we reached nearly 1.4 million people this year.  Not only were some of these people exposed to extension programming for the first time, but they received relevant education that was important for their families during these unprecedented times.

Clientele accessed our content through social media for a variety of educational experiences.  For those who just wanted to interact at the lowest level, we provided the opportunity to read information releases on topics related to food and nutrition, health, time management, parenting skills, relationship development, financial management and mental health.  For a more interactive experience we provide a variety of thematic learning sessions from Sizzlin’ Summer to Holidays at Home to Estate Planning and wrapping up with Living with Loss.  We also capitalized on the Plate it up! Kentucky Proud program and stepped it up a notch to use the recently developed meal plans as a basis for online learning tools.  All of these weekly sessions gave participants the opportunity to hear from our state FCS specialists and other featured guests to participate in a LIVE format, as well as access the content in a recorded format through YouTube.

Clientele participated in virtual 5K experiences facilitated through an online Facebook Group created expressly for the purpose of generating and sustaining excitement about the activity.  They recorded their achievements through the FitBlue App.

For the highest level of involvement and for those who wished to interact with other clientele, we utilized an app format for our Big Blue Goals program to gamify learning and encourage healthy behaviors. This program gave learners the opportunity to learn on their own schedules and record their activities as well as connect with other participants through the chat feature on the app.

Big Blue Book Club was a new program that encouraged clientele to read a selected book together and join a weekly Zoom session for discussion.  This program was received by clientele and further discussion was facilitated on a Facebook Group created for the book club.

The Talking FACS podcast served as another resource for an audience that might not typically utilize our programs.  Through the podcast our specialists were able to “hook” clientele with relevant information and send them to the county office for more in-depth materials.  The podcast was recognized as an award winning podcast on the national level this year.

The success of all of these programs and events was predicated on the effective marketing efforts our social media team created to encourage and sustain participation both on the state and county levels.  As we have created a reliable brand, clientele know that our programs will provide research based information that they can trust.