Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program

Our Program Audience

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Objectives

After this training, you will be able to:• Differentiate between primary and secondary

audiences of EFNEP• Define a limited-resource audience• Describe topic areas that EFNEP teaches our

audience• Identify strategies for successfully teaching our

audience• Summarize an overview of diversity

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Who is our EFNEP Audience?

Primary AudienceSecondary Audience

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EFNEP Primary Audience

• Low-income parents and other adult caregivers (such as grandparents and guardians)

• Low-income pregnant women and teens• Low-income adolescent youth– Middle school through high school, or ages 13 to 18

years• Low-income children and pre-adolescent youth– Kindergarten through elementary school, or ages 5 to 12

years

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EFNEP Primary Audience

• These groups do not include:– Those that require medical nutrition therapy– Incarcerated adults

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EFNEP Secondary Audience

• Community organizations and agencies• Non-participating low-income individuals and

families

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What is a Limited-Resource Audience?

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Source: Medicaid.gov

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Low Income Statistics (2011)

• United States– 46.2 million individuals in poverty– 15% of the population

• 21.9% (under 18 years)• 13.7% (18-64 years)• 8.7% ( 65 years and older)

• Florida– 17% of the population

• 25.1% (under 18 years)

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Source: USDA Economic Research Service http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/county-level-data-sets/poverty.aspx

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Source: USDA Economic Research Service http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/county-level-data-sets/poverty.aspx

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Percentage of Floridians that Received Help from the Government (2008)

• 71% of people in Florida received cash assistance• 38% of the unemployed received government

benefits• 23% received housing benefits• 62% received SNAP• 30% uninsured who were covered by government

programs• 56% of children also received aid from government

programs

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Definition of “Literacy”

“The ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge

and potential”

- National Assessment of Adult Literacy

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Source: Florida Literacy Coalition; floridaliteracy.org

National Center for Education Statistics

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National Center for Education Statistics

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WHAT Topic Areas do We Teach our EFNEP Audience?

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WHAT Do We Teach our Audience?

• Choose and eat foods of adequate variety and appropriate quantity and to be physically active to improve health and reduce the risk for chronic disease (Diet Quality and Physical Activity)

• Improve food resource management practices such as purchasing, selecting, or otherwise obtaining; preparing; and storing foods to increase the sustained availability of healthy foods (Food Resource Management)

• Practice safe food handling to reduce the risk of foodborne illness (Food Safety)

• Identify and use emergency and non-emergency food assistance, as needed, to ensure household food security (Food Security)

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HOW can We Successfully Teach our EFNEP Audience?

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#1. Low educational level, poor experiences in school

• Use simply written materials• Insert fun into your teaching• Limit lecturing to the learners• Avoid using paper and pen “tests” / reading

and writing activities• Have learners make choices

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#2. Low self-esteem

• Make activities achievable and doable• Notice and praise what learners do right• Reinforce that learners have skills and

knowledge to share with others

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#3. Fear of change / fear of failure

• Encourage specific, achievable, and realistic goals

• Address barriers• Deliver material that address learners’ needs

and interests• Use recipes that are practical and affordable

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#4. Want practical “need-to-know” information

• Incorporate hands-on activities and involve the participants

• Focus on foods, not nutrients• Use visuals and actual products to

demonstrate teaching points• Focus on immediate application of knowledge,

attitude and behaviors

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#5. Wary and distrustful

• Treat participants with respect • Don’t judge participants’ values, etc.• Honor participants’ knowledge• “Walk the talk”• Try to use participants’ names when speaking

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#6. Barriers to program participation and learning

• Child care responsibilities• Lack of or unreliable transportation• Family values and restrictions on learning• Poverty• No social support for learning• Survival needs that take priority over learning

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#7. Plan Convenient and Relevant Programs

• Flexible• Sensitive• Convenient location and time

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An Overview of Diversity

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Defining Diversity

“Diversity is a mosaic of people who bring a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, styles, perspectives, values and beliefs as

assets to the groups and organizations with which they interact.”

- Guion, 1999

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Types of Diversity

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What is Culture?

“The totality of values, beliefs and behaviors common to a large group of people.”

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Where did We Receive Our Cultural Programming?

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Cultural Filters – “On Automatic”

• Politician • Lawyer • Professor • Man in a wheelchair • Farmer • Californian • Homeless person • Black male teenager • Police officer • 300-pound woman

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Developing Diversity Competence

1. Awareness2. Knowledge3. Skills4. Actions or behaviors

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Awareness

• Recognize differences as diversity rather than abnormal behavior or inappropriate responses to the environment.

• Respect the benefits of diverse values and behaviors to people and to the organization.

• Accept that each culture finds some values more important and some behaviors more desirable than others.

• Understand the effect that historic distrust has on present-day interactions.

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Awareness (Continued)

• Have a clear sense of your individual culture.• Recognize your own ethnocentricity—the ways in

which you stereotype, judge, and discriminate, and your emotional reactions to conflicting cultural values.

• Understand how the culture of your organization affects those whose culture is different.

• Recognize the similarities that are shared across the “human culture,” regardless of the differences that exist among individual cultures and groups.

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Knowledge

• Learn factual information about other cultures and groups with different backgrounds.

• Read an article or book about a cultural or social group different from your background. Compare your views with those of the author.

• See a movie about other cultural lifestyles. Compare how you live your life to what you’ve seen on film.

• Read about cross-gender differences in communication styles.

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Knowledge (Continued)

• Attend a cultural event, celebration, or holiday program of a different culture that you have never experienced before.

• Learn a new language.• Interview a person from a different culture to

learn about their culture. • Explore your family history and background.

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Skills

• Take personal responsibility for the way you respond to difference.

• Make continued and sincere attempts to understand the world from others’ points of view.

• Develop skills in cross-cultural communication.• Develop problem-solving skills.• Develop skills in conflict management.• Look for ways to work effectively with diverse

groups of people.

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Action or Behavior

• Teach others about cultural differences.• Develop a mentoring relationship with someone

from a different culture or identity group.• Show more patience when working and interacting

with people who have different learning styles than you.

• Integrate diversity issues as an ongoing topic in staff meetings at work.

• Develop a personal plan for continued learning toward diversity competency

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Summary

To provide successful programming through EFNEP:• Understand our primary and secondary audiences

of EFNEP as well as the definition of “a limited-resource audience”

• Know the topic areas that EFNEP emphasizes when teaching our audience

• Frequently use strategies for successfully teaching our audience

• Have an awareness and understanding of diversity

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Additional Resources

• US Census Bureau www.census.gov • Florida Literacy Coalition www.floridaliteracy.org • EFNEP Policy Document 2013

http://www.nifa.usda.gov/nea/food/efnep/resources.html

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What questions do you have?

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Comments/Suggestions on this Presentation?

Do you have feedback that you would like to with the state team? Please share your

comments at the following SurveyMonkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HH7YJBL

Thank you!!