NUTRITION, ENVIRONMENT, & FOOD SYSTEMS FOR EMPOWERMENT

(NEFSE)

Participant Feedback from a Community Food Systems Internship Program in Dane and Iron Counties

Wisconsin Local Food Summit

Friday, 15 January 2016

Presented by Jacob Berlyn, Heidi Busse, Ruth Gebremedhin, and Rissa Lane

Outline

• NEFSE Program Overview

• NEFSE Internships

• Intern Projects• Rissa Lane, Youth in the Local Food System (Iron County)

• Jacob Berlyn, Garden to Market (Iron County)

• Ruth Gebremedhin, Gardens for Empowerment (Dane County)

• Key Lessons and Feedback

• Discussion

• Next Steps

NEFSE PROGRAM OVERVIEW

NEFSE History

• 2009 – University of Wisconsin began health systems strengthening partnerships with medical schools in Ethiopia

• 2012 – Focus shifted to community health partnerships

• Cross-disciplinary approaches

• Interconnectedness of systems in health

• 2014 – NEFSE curriculum development

• 5 units, 24 lessons

• Modular and adaptable

• Participatory and community-oriented

NEFSE Curriculum

Modules

• Unit A: From Local to Global: An overview of the food system

• Unit B: From Land to Table: Sustainable Agricultural Systems

• Unit C: From Soil to Medicine: Linking Agriculture and Health

• Unit D: From Prevention to Education: Planning for Healthy People in Health Places

• Unit E: From Me to We: Leadership and Community Service for Social Change

NEFSE Foundations

• Education for Social Change• Use of education and empowerment to address poverty, youth unemployment, and other social issues

• Social Ecological Model• Ecological systems theory to understand the interrelationships

among people and their environments.

• Positive Youth Development• Development approach that highlights positive youth assets and behaviors rather than focus on reducing problems and negative behaviors.

Disempower-ment is the most under-recognized problem in Africa.”

WangariMaathai, 2011

NEFSE: Social Ecological ModelIn the context of NEFSE:

• Interns consider relationships between themselves, communities, and other tiers of influence.

• Focus on the multi-directionality of these connections, particularly as it relates to food systems.

• Supported, valued, and responsible members among peers, communities, and global community

• Interns utilized SEM in the design and implementation of the action research and community service projects.

Policy

Community

Organizational

Interpersonal(networks)

Individual

Social Ecological Model

NEFSE: Positive Youth DevelopmentIn the context of NEFSE:

• Highlight positive youth assets

• Build local capacity

• Enhance characteristics such as civic engagement, leadership, connection, and creativity for individual and collective impact.

• “5 C’s”

1. Competence

2. Confidence

3. Connection

4. Compassion

5. Character

NEFSE INTERNSHIPS

Internship: Objectives

Objective 1 Improve undergraduate students’ education/knowledge and confidence in food systems, nutrition, and health concepts through the completion of an internship.

Objective 2 Promote action research & extension experiential learning for undergraduates such that, upon graduation, they may enter their respective workforces with skills to function more effectively on multidisciplinary teams.

Objective 3 Strengthen relationships between UW and NEFSE partners, as well as experience-sharing between organizations with shared goals, in spite of separation by distance, culture, or other barriers.

NEFSE Internship Program Objectives

• Interns should play a meaningful part in the development, implementation, and/or evaluation of programs run by community organizations.

• NEFSE staff and community mentors met to discuss internship goals

• Interns matched based on intern skills/interests and needs of community organization

Internship: Design

• Guided seminar before internship

• 4 classroom session, 3-day orientation

• Expectations, cultural preparation, academic foundations, logistics

• Enhance familiarity with NEFSE curriculum

• Introduction to Food Systems

• What is health?

Internship: Preparation

• Interns were at different sites

• Dissimilar experiences, but common themes

• Online forum for discussion, content distribution, and shared reflection

• Readings, videos and lectures

• Field journal for reflections

2015 NEFSE SUMMER INTERNSHIP

• Pre-Internship Workshop: Ethics, Cultural Humility, and Community Food Systems

• Week 1: What is Community?

• Week 2: What is Development?

• Week 3: Asset-based approaches to sustainable development

• Week 4: Community assessments

• Week 5: Power and privilege

• Week 6: Evaluation

• Week 7: Values and priority setting

• Week 8: Servant leadership for social change

Internship: Curriculum

• Identify community mentors

• Application process

• Organization capacity

• Potential internship projects

• Opportunities for interns to learn and contribute

• Three internship categories:

• Agriculture/Food Systems

• Health/Nutrition

• Community/Economic Development

• Personalized approach (not widely distributed)

Internship: Curriculum

1. Classroom Instruction (pre-internship seminars, weekly readings, and assignments)

2. Reflection (field journal with reflection questions)

3. Mentoring (community mentors)

4. Individual Development Plans (goals, skills/knowledge, action steps, resources, timeframe, evaluation)

5. Service Learning

6. Action Research

Internship: Components

Rubric for Action Research Project

1. Does the project meet a need stated by the community?

2. Did the project involve the community in design, action, and evaluation?

3. Was the final project given back to the community?

4. Did the project have an academic aspect?

Internship: Action Research Project

Internships and Projects

INTERNSHIP PROJECT:

YOUTH IN THE LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM

RISSA LANE UW EXTENSION

IRON COUNTY, WI

Objectives• Help youth to realize their role as

young leaders and activists in the local food system

• Explore concepts of the food system in the region: agriculture, cooking, nutrition, culture of food, retail and processing

• Healthier community and individuals through increased value in and accessibility of fresh vegetables

Significance

• Slow and Local Food Movement is really gaining energy in the region

• Local Foodies Group lead by UW-Extension Agent

• 4-H is looking to incorporate youth into this movement

• Local Food System is underdeveloped in the region

• Chronic health problems related to obesity is a growing problem among the community

Methods• Series of lessons on nutrition,

health, cooking, and food systems• Adapted versions of NEFSE What is

Health? And Introduction to Food Systems Lessons

• Mini nutrition lessons each based on an aspect of the food system followed by associated cooking opportunity• Sugar & Sugar Alternatives; Low Sugar,

No Pectin Strawberry Jam

• Food as Tradition; Sunbutter

• Food as Medicine; Spinach, Orange, Pineapple Smoothie

• Meat (or Nah?); Easy Farmer’s Cheese

• Sharing of knowledge gained with Community Members

DirectionsIngredients

From

Recipe

Garden 2 Market Kitchen

1 Cup Fresh Spinach

1 frozen banana

1 cup frozen pineapple chunks

¼ cup orange chunks

1 cup milk (cow or alternative)

Additional ice for texture (optional)

Combine all ingredients into a blender.

Blend until smoothie is of desired

consistency. Divide evenly into 2

glasses and enjoy!

Spinach, Banana, Orange, Pineapple Smoothie

Spread of samples at Farmer’s Market Easy Farmer’s Cheese Sandwich (left) and Sunbutter

Apple snacks (right)

Youth promoted the samples and offered to community members

the recipe to try it at home.

They were also able to describe how it was made and

nutrition/health benefits.

The nutrition facts were printed on the back of the cards.

Evaluation Methods• Baseline Evaluation

• Completed during second week of internship

• Questions designed to reveal information about youth’s knowledge of local food system and impact of food on health

• Endline Evaluation

• Completed during the last week of the internship

• Format changed to better fit time, age group, better convey information

Results• Youth were more specific about identifying

healthy foods and ways to prepare them• Listed good generalizations about what

constitutes healthy foods • Antibiotic free, grass-fed, locally grown, nutrient

dense, fresh

• Made important connections between human health, nutrition, and the physical environment• Recognize the school garden and local farmers’

markets as valuable sources for healthy, fresh food in their community

• Demonstrated amazing leadership skills educating community members about nutrition and local food systems

Next Steps• Continue to support development of youth by

expanding their knowledge of nutrition, cooking, local food systems– specifically availability and accessibility of healthy, fresh foods in their community

• Involving youth in community food systems projects to both benefit from the energy they contribute to the movement and prepare the next generation for future opportunities

• Broadening Garden 2 Market program with local food system work: expand the garden and consider what community wants and needs for production, commercial kitchen use, better leadership of school in the program

Acknowledgments

Heidi Busse & Girma Tefera for their support of the NEFSE interns and making the internship and associated opportunities possible.

Neil Klemme for his work directing and organizing 4-H programs in Iron County. Neil, the Idea Guy, made wildest ideas a possibility and then a reality.

Amy Nosal & Andrea Newby for their direct support and mentorship of NEFSE interns and independent projects

Joy Schelble for all of the work she has put into building the Garden 2 Market program, her expertise in nutrition, horticulture, and youth development, and her continued support of Iron County projects.

INTERNSHIP PROJECT:

GARDEN TO MARKET PROGRAM

JACOB BERLYNUW EXTENSION

IRON COUNTY, WI

Goals and Objectives• Create a digital story of the Garden to Market program

• Enable youth to share their story

• Evaluate the program for the UW-Extension team members

• Empower youth to produce food for themselves and their communities

• Educate youth about the links between food systems, health, and the environment

Significance• Iron County UW-Extension

seeking increased use of digital media in programs

• Digital storytelling

• interesting and engaging way to incorporate media into G2M

• Increased community awareness of G2M

• Engage the youth in learning about their roles in the food system

Methods

• Iron County Multidisciplinary Programming Logic Model

• short-term and mid-term desired outcomes

• desired outcomes used to develop interview questions

• Data collection

• youth and mentor interviews

• pictures and videos of G2M

• Data analysis: compilation of G2M video

Results• G2M digital story

Next Steps• Digital storytelling as a template for

incorporating media into UW-Extension programs and 4-H clubs

• Continue developing the UW Extension and NEFSE partnership to teach youth their roles in the food systems and the links between food, health and environmental systems

Acknowledgments• NEFSE Coordinators: Heidi Busse, Riley Balikian

• UW-Extension Mentors: Amy Nosal, Andrea Newby, Neil Klemme, Darrin Kimbler

• Christina Rencontre: 4-H Communicatio Arts Specialist

• Joy Schelbe

• Deb Swartz: Iron County Farmers Market

• storycenter.org• http://www.sdc-learningandnetworking-blog.admin.ch/uploads/2011/11/T.Lewin_Digital_Storytelling.pdf

• preventionspeaks.org

INTERNSHIP PROJECT:

DO GARDENS LEAD TO EMPOWERMENT? A PILOT STUDY OF AN EVALUATION PROTOCOL FOR YOUTH-EMPLOYED COMMUNITY GARDENS

RUTH GEBREMEDHIN

UW EXTENSION

DANE COUNTY, WI

Objectives

GOAL: To create an evaluation methodology that can be translated into other Gardens for Empowerment (G4E) programs within the Greater Madison Area

Significance

Brentwood Background:

classified as "underserved" by the Neighborhood Resource Team (NRT)

low-income neighborhood, temporary housing, lack of natural community center,

high population of youth at risk

Why G4E in Brentwood?

Community garden employed by youth could provoke improvement by empowering youth,

their families, and the community

Significance

Why evaluation?

• Confirms that goals are met

• Generates data for grant writing

• Promotes success in the future

The Brentwood G4E program doesn't have an evaluation process; a standardized

evaluation methodology would allow easy utilization for any G4E community

Methods

Three key parts:

1. Develop a logic model

2. Develop evaluation tools

3. Interpret raw data into presentable data

Logic ModelProvides a visual flowchart for program developers by illustrating the anticipated impact of the desired inputs and activities

Data Interpretation• Observations/Interviews

• Data was reorganized by the short-term outcomes (coded)

• Within outcomes, data was separated into positive impact moments (going toward outcome) and negative impact moments (going away from outcome), if necessary

• Positive impact moments compared to negative impact moments; this allows us to determine if outcome was met

Results - Observations

Outcome Positive Impact Negative Impact Conclusion

Food Securityand Production

25 Positive Impactful Moments (93%)

2 Negative Impactful Moments (7%)

A positive impact was created

Employment Experience

13 Positive Impactful Moments (93%)

1 Negative Impactful Moment (7%)

A positive impact was created

Life Skills 17 Positive ImpactfulMoments (100%)

0 Negative Impactful Moments

A positive impact was created

CommunityService

12 Positive Impactful Moments (100%)

0 Negative ImpactfulMoments

A positive impact was created

Results – Interviews5 youth were interviewed – results showed positive gains towards short-term outcomes:

• Food Production and Security• The youth gained knowledge about gardening

and produce consumption

• Employment Experience• All want to continue their education; they believe

that they will get future jobs from working with BG4E

• Life Skills • The youth enjoyed the teamwork of the job

• Community Service• The youth expressed that the garden beautified

the neighborhood and created a positive image of the youth

Results – Methodology• Document that explains the following evaluation

protocol as used by the BG4E in 2015 (Evaluation Methodology)

• Develop a logic model

• Logic Model: Measure against short-term outcomes

• Develop evaluation tools

• Qualitative Data: Developmental assessment (observations), objective assessment (interviews), Ripple Map/ Focus, Photo voice evaluation (for future)

• Condense qualitative data into report

• Code qualitative data into short-term outcome areas

• Reorganize into positive or negative outcomes

• Draw conclusions from the presence (or lack) of each outcome

Concluding Thoughts• Impacts of NEFSE internship

• Career Field: Quality Improvement / Administration in Public Health

• Increased appreciation for community gardens + potential impact within youth development

• Grew in relationships with people of a different background

• Future Suggestions

• More time to work with Mentors before the project starts

Key Lessons and Feedback

1. Civic Engagement and Responsibility

2. Collaboration

3. Global Connectedness

4. Social Justice Leadership

5. Scientific Inquiry

6. Systems Thinking

Core Competencies

• “I enjoyed the opportunity to work with youth on various programs while enjoying the beautiful places and wonderful people at [my site].”

• “I was learning but also leading – I learned many skills, but I also was able to lead the youth and be a model for them.”

• “This was great practice for "real life" and what comes next in terms of communication skills, expectations in a working environment, and honing my personal interests and passions.”

• “The structure of the supervision and my specific role as an intern could have been made more clear”

• “I wish I would have had a better understanding that we would be working with multiple programs for shorter periods of time so I could have planned my individual project around multiple things rather than trying to focus on one”

Positive Negative

Feedback: InternsWhat Worked Well? What Could Be Improved?

PYD Category Outcome Indicators

1. Competence 100% of interns increased knowledge in each of the NEFSE core competencies 100% of interns reported satisfaction in their opportunities to learn and try new skills100% of interns reported that they will share what they learned with others100% of interns plan to continue on to graduate school, in the following anticipated fields: medical school, public health, and health care administration75% of interns intend to submit a conference abstract with their mentors

2. Connection 100% of interns improved interpersonal and facilitation skills100% of interns reported satisfaction with their internship site100% of interns learned about multidisciplinary partnerships

3. Caring/Compassion

100% of interns increased awareness and knowledge of skills necessary to be a contributing team member

4. Confidence 50% of interns taught a NEFSE lesson in their community2 NEFSE lessons were conducted

5. Character 100% of interns were satisfied with their opportunity to engage in service learning 100% of interns see themselves participating in future leadership opportunity100% interns who complete their action research project

Intern Outcomes

• “The interns provided us with concrete outputs: a curriculum that was used throughout the summer and can be adapted to other youth programming, and a logic model/evaluation protocol, plus evaluation report, that will aid in program planning and development and can also be adapted for use with other similar programs.”

• “It doesn’t seem often that an intern comes with such amazing resources and ideas to share! Their academic training allowed them to see the larger picture of our programs and suggest ways to manifest that vision during their summer with us; it was an adventure of discovery we shared together.”

• “I appreciate how flexible the program was with our needs, and how well it opened a range of participation venues to mentors (like giving us access to the online curriculum).”

• “The internship communications and requirements seemed overwhelming.”

• “It would have been helpful to have a check-in with staff mid-internship to be able to address issues as they arose.”

• “Perhaps it would make sense to have a brief (2 hour) orientation presentation for organizations that are working with NEFSE, before even submitting a proposal for an intern.”

Positive Negative

Feedback: Community MentorsWhat Worked Well? What Could Be Improved?

Discussion

Interns• Increased knowledge and experience

• Increased confidence in core competencies

• Action research experience

• Tangible outcomes for community hosts

Community Hosts• Weekly lesson plans/curriculum created

• Garden to Market videos and digital story

• Youth learned about health, cooking, and food systems

• Program evaluation of garden-based activities

Programmatic• 4 interns completed internships

• Two new internship sites hosted interns

• NEFSE lessons taught in Wisconsin communities

Achievements

Interns

• Loss of interns

• Short term work barriers

Community Hosts

• Mentor-Intern communication (investment required)

• Help setting clear expectations

Programmatic

• Distance learning and technical difficulties

• Discussion over distance

• Support staff

Barriers

Interns

• Future plans and career guidance

• Exposure to cross-sector collaboration

• Experience in professional environment

Community Hosts

• Utilization of NEFSE lessons and online curriculum

• Communication with interns and staff

• Learned about NEFSE

Programmatic

• More staff time needed

• Balance between independence and guidance

Lessons Learned

Next Steps

• Follow-up from previous year internship

• Continued communication with intern host sites/mentors

• Identification of new intern host sites/mentors

• Increased capacity for more internships

• Institutionalization of internship program

• Longer preparation process

• Integration with other campus programs and courses

• Continue collaboration with Ethiopian/international sites

NEFSE Future

THANK YOU!