The CalFresh Healthy Living UCCE Central Sierra program serves people across El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties. We focus on improving community health for all, and on serving individuals who have limited financial means. Our main activities this past year included:
- Providing evidence-based nutrition and physical activity education in schools
- Supporting school gardens, Harvest of the Month, and other farm-to-school initiatives
- Facilitating collaborative youth engagement projects
- Supporting organizational wellness policies and community activities
Our education is offered at 39 different sites, including 25 schools, 5 preschools, and 12 adult education sites and family resource centers.
Across the Central Sierra in federal fiscal year 2020, the program made 5,310 educational contacts (5,076 youth and 234 adult), teaching 210 series of workshops and 53 single-session classes for a total of 1,127 instructional hours. An additional 39,631 indirect education contacts were also made, with a focus on promoting fruits and vegetables and normalizing healthy living during the first half of the year, and shifting to food access and physical activity during the second half of the year. Also, by working with 34 organizations to implement 110 changes to their policies, systems, and physical environments, an estimated 13,579 people have greater opportunities to make healthy choices in their lives. These activities were delivered and supported by 13 dedicated professionals (10.6 FTE funded) and many volunteers who implemented dozens of different educational strategies and curriculum to improve the health of the most vulnerable Central Sierra residents.
Our team responded to the challenge of COVID-19 by moving to virtual delivery of nutrition education, and by creating take-home nutrition and gardening education kits that have reached over 1,000 families. Together, virtual education and take-home kits create a more comprehensive approach to providing services at a physical distance. While we look forward to resuming in-person educational activities when possible, we continue to pursue our mission despite current challenges.
We thank all of our partners throughout the Central Sierra who have also worked tirelessly to improve the health of our communities, and invite anyone who would like to partner with us, volunteer with our program, or learn more about receiving our services to contact us: ckrjohnson@ucanr.edu.
