Expanded Food & Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP)

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Online learning can help make healthy eating affordable! CCE Ulster's EFNEP Program offers nutrition education classes for families and youth. Do you have an hour a week to learn new ideas to stretch your grocery dollars and make healthier choices for your family? EFNEP could work for you! Let’s talk about low-cost quick and healthy meals, and how to keep your family healthy and active. All you need is a reliable internet connection and an hour a week!

Day and evening classes are available on a rolling schedule beginning January 19, 2021. Classes will be taught by Marsha Sebro, Nutrition Educator of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County. Sebro has a background in promoting holistic health and wellness. She has worked with adults and youth seeking to make positive changes through challenging life transitions. She supports participants by helping them to set goals and build their decision-making skills. “I am excited to engage participants in conversations and address their concerns that relate to healthy eating and affording healthy food for their families,” says Sebro. “The nutritional awareness gained through our 6 and 8-week programs helps participants make small changes that can have long-term benefits.”

The program offers a series of virtual, interactive lessons to resource-limited families and youth free of charge. “We will engage in conversation and discussions that relate to the concerns of families at every session,” Says Sebro. “Participants will meet once per week either in a group or one-on-one setting. Classes will be available through Zoom, phone, or face-to-face, when possible.”

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Program (EFNEP) utilizes evidence-based resources and has been proven to help families with limited income make healthier nutrition and lifestyle choices. Topics include stretching food dollars, food safety, reducing salt and sugar intake, and making simple, healthy meals for the family. New recipes and ways to incorporate physical fitness into daily routines are included in every class.

Participants who graduate from the program receive a Certificate of Completion, an EFNEP Cookbook with delicious and affordable recipes along with kitchen tools to support healthy eating.

Agencies and Community Programs

Agencies and community programs can refer participants, too. Click here for our online referral form.

More About the Program:

EFNEP is a free program designed to assist limited-resource families to learn how to eat healthy meals on a budget, make better food choices, and increase physical activity, thereby improving nutritional well-being.

• Sessions are one hour, once per week (does not have to be consecutive) for six to eight weeks and can be held at a community center, school, place of worship or in a home
• Participants earn a certificate upon completing at least six sessions
• Topics include stretching food dollars, food safety, reducing salt and sugar intake and making simple, healthy meals for a family, among other topics.

As a result of EFNEP education, graduates of the program

• Improve their diets
• Improve their nutritional practices
• Stretch their food dollars further
• Handle food more safely
• Increase their physical activity level

Since 1969, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) has successfully addressed critical societal concerns by employing paraprofessional staff and influencing nutrition and physical activity behaviors of low-income families, particularly those with young children. Through a community-based, relationship-driven, hands-on educational approach, EFNEP has directly impacted economic, obesity, and food insecurity challenges that hinder the health and well being of this nation. The EFNEP program is funded by USDA through Cornell University.

Last updated July 28, 2021