By Amorette Payment
This has been a year full of changes and challenges. For the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program or EFNEP, the greatest challenge has been providing programming in this digital era.
EFNEP has five nutrition educators around the state— Lesley Jones in Fairbanks; Cindy Jackson, Palmer; Taylor Sharman, Anchorage; Amorette Payment, Soldotna; and Audra Henderson, Juneau. These educators are responsible for teaching individuals with limited resources how to eat healthier, become more physically active with their families, and learn how to stretch their food dollars. In-person group cooking lessons have always been an integral — and popular — part of each educator’s nutrition series.
Now though, social distancing means a large percent of the population is working and learning remotely. We may be physically isolated, but technology has provided opportunities for us to be more connected than ever before. EFNEP educators, like so many others in the Institute of Agriculture Natural Resources and Extension and the university, have developed innovative solutions.
Beginning this spring, when staff and faculty began to work remotely, EFNEP State Coordinator Adrian Kohrt scheduled biweekly team strategy sessions over Zoom. As the weeks turned into months, these meetings evolved from planning, to curriculum development, to practice teaching and implementing new lessons. Collaborating on multiple projects molded the EFNEP educators, most of whom had never met, into a cohesive team.
The team uses Zoom to teach livestreamed lessons to participants of all ages. Educators are working with parents, residents of drug and alcohol rehabilitation homes, foster parents, food banks and food distribution programs, women’s shelters, homeschool groups, and elementary, middle and high school students across the state. Supplementary science kits for home or classroom use have been designed for students, an informative commercial is in the works, and those popular cooking lessons? Now, they’re virtual! Every educator has tailored her approach to fit the needs of each audience. All along, those regular meetings have continued, becoming a place to commiserate over challenges, brainstorm solutions, and to share and celebrate successes as a team.
Amorette Payment is a nutrition educator for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, which is part of the Family Nutrition Program offered by Extension in Alaska. Extension also administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP-Ed, with five other nutritional educators in Alaska communities and a coordinator.
