1998 Ohio EFNEP Annual Report

What is EFNEP and How Does it Teach?

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is a federally funded nutrition education program administered by the US Dept. of Agriculture and Ohio State University Extension. It operates through the OSU Extension office in 28 counties in Ohio.

EFNEP nutrition education is free to low income families with young children who want to learn and improve the quality of their life. EFNEP participants are taught in individual or small group situations basic nutrition concepts, food buying skills, proper food storage, sanitation, and management of available resources, including use of food stamps. Instructors are paraprofessionals and volunteers who have been trained by Family and Consumer Science professionals. The instructors use Eating Right is Basic, a competency-based foods and nutrition curriculum, for adults and beginning level 4H food and nutrition project books for youth. The 4H project books and supplemental materials used by the educators give the EFNEP youth active, hands-on learning.

Ohio EFNEP operates with the help of many volunteers. Nearly 10 full time people would have to be hired to replace the 1453 volunteers who helped Ohio EFNEP nutrition educators this year. Seven hundred fifty eight (758) volunteers contributed 5200 hours to the youth program and 709 people contributed 14,976 hours to the adult program. Many of the youth program volunteers are classroom teachers and community center or parks and recreation department workers. Adult program volunteers come from the agencies with whom EFNEP cooperates, with a few coming directly from the program audience.

EFNEP complements services provided by other agencies. We network with WIC (the special supplemental food program to Women, Infants, and Children), GRADS (a program to keep pregnant teens in school and help them graduate), social services, Head Start, the court system, homeless shelters, food pantries, public health, and youth programs like boys and girls clubs, schools, learning readiness and low-income housing to bring in-depth nutrition education to clientele.

Families enrolled in EFNEP are healthier after our classes. Ohio EFNEP educators taught 8835 eligible families in the ‘97-’98 program year. Eight thousand one hundred sixteen (8116) homemakers completed the 12 lessons of the Eating Right Is Basic curriculum and completed the pre- and post food recall to 'graduate'. Why is this important?

Five out of ten major causes of death and disability in Ohio can be linked to a poor diet. If the head of the household eats a better diet, the children in the family will eat better also. A review of the food recalls shows that 90% of the EFNEP graduates showed a positive change in their eating behavior.

A survey of specific behaviors of selected EFNEP graduates shows that acceptable practices in the area of resource management (meal planning, comparing prices, use of grocery lists, and/or having adequate food for more of the month) went from 22% of clientele using them at the time of entry into EFNEP to 34% upon graduation. The percentage of people reporting acceptable nutrition practices went from 15% at the time of enrollment to 25% when people graduated. Forty seven percent (47%) of clientele used acceptable food safety practices (thawing and storing foods properly) at time of program entry, and this had risen to 62% upon graduation. All these improved practices can have a positive impact on health.

u 44% of participants were African-American, 47% white, 6% Hispanic or Latino, 2% Asian, and 1% Native American.

u 37% received food stamps, 44% took part in WIC or Child Nutrition programs.

u 8835 families with 16,304 children were enrolled in EFNEP

u 12 % of families were from rural areas and small towns; 64% from the central cities.

u 21,267 youth were reached through 4H EFNEP

u 80 nutrition educators were employed

It costs less than $210 to reach one EFNEP family with 3 to 6 months of intensive, practical nutrition education classes. Preliminary results of a Cost Benefit Analysis in Virginia show that for every $1 spent on EFNEP, there is a potential health care savings of $2 to $17 due to the prevention or delayed onset of nutrition-related chronic diseases and conditions among participants. Thus this is a proven program that clearly works for the benefit of families and the nation.

The EFNEP youth program reached 21,267 youth this program year with nutrition, food safety, and food buying information. The cost to reach each child was $15. A majority of youth (15,045) were taught through school enrichment programs, but 6065 children received their nutrition education through short term programs and day camps, and 154 youth were in a more traditional, organized 4H club setting.