Wildcat Connection September 2018 | Page 30

Katrina Even

EFNEP Agent/Instructor

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ugust has been a busy administrative month for the EFNEP and SNAP-Ed programs in the Wildcat District. Though active programming has slowed down for a few weeks as we transition from summer Kids Can Cook camps to a greater variety of fall programming, our time has been well spent training, collaborating, reflecting and planning for the future of our programs.

We continue to build partnerships with organizations within the district who aim to serve the same population as we do. Two of the new relationships that we are most excited about are both located in the western part of our district. We plan to begin nutrition education programming at Hannah’s House, a transitional home for men and women who are working toward breaking addictions in their lives. Additionally, we are building a relationship with Four County Mental Health, which will offer multiple avenues for us to offer nutrition education to their clients through both the EFNEP and SNAP-Ed programs.

One of the biggest changes we are planning and preparing for is within our SNAP-Ed program. The state SNAP-Ed program is re-focusing on providing education to household decision makers. As a result, our program is in the process of shifting our presence in the schools from the elementary grades to middle and high school classes. The teachers have been very receptive of these changes and we are excited to work with them. Overall, we will be spending a little less time on school programming, which will give nutrition assistants a greater capacity to reach out to and serve a more diverse population.

Each of the nutrition assistants have set new goals to work toward between now and the end of the calendar year. We had a great PEARS training day, which allowed us to further connect as a team while also learning about how to better collect and document outcomes from our programming. We also joined other SNAP-Ed educators from across the state for a regional training. At this training, we learned about changes to state and federal expectations within the program, anticipated changes to FY18-19 budget and participated in a curriculum training. I spent several days in Manhattan this month attending new agent orientation. It was a great opportunity to meet and get to know other new agents from across the state as well as more of the extension professionals housed on campus. I walked away from that experience with a more comprehensive understanding of K-State Research and Extension as a whole, as well as my specific role within the larger organization.

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