P
lanning for 2018 was a big agenda item for me in January. In addition to some long-range plans for the main programs I share such as ServSafe; Stay Strong, Stay Healthy; and Dining with Diabetes; I also met with my fellow Family and Consumer Sciences Agents to plan collaborations for programs and events as well as ongoing outreaches such as our News Columns, Radio Spots, and FCS Newsletter.
In addition, I met with fellow agents Jacob and Jeri to brainstorm for ways we can partner together in 2018. I will also be collaborating with Labette Health to schedule two ServSafe Food Handler Workshops at their location later this year.
Health and Wellness continues to be my programming theme for 2018. Kylie and I partnered in January to share the presentation “Toward a Culture of Health” with fellow faculty members in our monthly meeting. We began examining our current programming paradigms and exploring Cooperative Extension’s new partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation looking for ways we might develop new partnerships and collaborations that will position us to help move our local communities toward healthier outcomes. Due to the fact that three out of our four Wildcat District counties rank in the bottom ten of the 102 Kansas counties listed in the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Web site, we have a lot of work to do to help “make the healthy choice the easy choice”, and the choice most people make.