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Champaign County Annual ReportFY

201

4

Local Funds FY 2014 County Board (Levy) and Local Partners

Unit Budget Sources

Director’s NoteI am happy to report that U of I Extension experienced continued growth in FY 2014. We engaged volunteers who provided over 25,000 hours of service in youth, financial literacy, environmental, and horticultural/community gardening programs. It is my pleasure to represent Extension professionals who strive to positively impact the lives of the citizens of Champaign County. The staff does a superb job developing and presenting educational programs that address urban and rural

issues in the County. This annual report provides insight into various types of programming presented throughout FY 2014 (July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2014).

Consumer Economics Educator, Kathy Sweedler (far right, back row) and Program Coordinator, Cayla Waters (far right, front row) celebrated the graduation of a new class of Money Mentors. As of the end of FY14, there are 31 trained Money Mentors in Champaign County.

University of Illinois/U.S. Department of Agriculture/Local Extension Councils Cooperating. University of Illinois Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment.

Champaign County Representatives

Extension Board

Alan Kurts – ChampaignStanley Harper – Ogden Diana Herriott – Council Rep. Eric Rund – Council Rep.

Extension Council

Deb FruittDianna HerriottEric RundJames TalleyMaggie Maxstadt (Youth)

Impact by the Numbers

Educators hosted10 150

In-person programs which reached more than

Individual residents.10,000

Byers’ programming on brain health impacted all four counties by giving residents a better understanding of the brain as it ages and provided tips and strategies to improve and maintain brain function. In addition to this programming, Byers contributed monthly to Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette to reach various individuals and families through the Extension Connection to help make lives better, healthier, and safer.

She also served on the Champaign County Council on Aging Committee to collaborate with social service agencies to serve seniors in the community and she developed three new curriculum, “De-clutter De-Stress Simplify your Life,” “How to make a Meaningful Nursing Home Visit” and “Building Bridges across the Generation Gap” to reach local and state requested concerns. Finally, Byers partnered with a multi-disciplinary team from University of Illinois to develop a website dedicated to the Affordable Care Act and how that impacts individuals.

Family Life — Chelsey Byers

Leia Kedem covers a broad range of wellness topics, including food safety, home food preservation, chronic disease management, healthy cooking, and more. In 2013, Kedem reached over 1500 Champaign County residents with in-person workshops and events. These have included “I on Diabetes,” “Meals for a Healthy Heart,” “Serve it Safely,” and others.

Beyond in-person programming, she reaches thousands of residents each week with her media outreach efforts. She recently relaunched her weekly television segment on WCIA/WCIX as “Recipe Rescue,” in which she makes healthier versions of viewer-submitted recipes. She also writes the bimonthly column, "To Your Health," in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. Kedem also uses social media as an outreach tool, and in 2013, started the “Moderation Maven” Facebook page. In a little over a year, the page has gained nearly 450 followers and posts are regularly shared by other dietitians and other Extension entities.

The Nutrition and Wellness program works with other content areas within Extension (Community and Economic Development, Consumer Economics, Family Life, Horticulture, Local Foods) as the issues of healthy eating and wellness are interdisciplinary in nature. Kedem also provides guidance, expertise, and technical assistance to 4-H/4-H Metro on health-related initiatives.

Nutrition and Wellness — Leia Kedem

Money Mentors is a national initiative that matches trained volunteers with mentees who seek help with basic money management. As people struggle to recover from the national recession, this is an especially timely need. University of Illinois Extension began piloting the program locally last fall. Twenty-five Mentors were trained initially and another 13 Mentors completed a training session June 2014; 31 of the Mentors are from Champaign County. Since the program began, 44 Mentees have enrolled and met with a Mentor; 32 are from Champaign County.

Our Financial Wellness for College Students program continues to reach students living in Champaign County. During the 2013-14 school year, Financial Wellness Peer Educators engaged with approximately 2,000 students during presentations, workshops, and displays. Financial education outreach was also conducted through e-newsletters (over 1,500 subscribers) and social media.

This year we have increased our youth outreach efforts significantly in Champaign County. Working in cooperation with CU Scholars and community volunteers, 135 juniors at Urbana, Central, and Centennial High Schools participated in a 6-week financial literacy series. Pre and post-test results showed that overall, students increased their financial knowledge. Another 200 students at Champaign Central High School participated in the Welcome to the Real World simulation. This is a capstone event for students in Career and Technical Education as well as Family and Consumer Sciences courses.

University of Illinois Extension continues to provide leadership in community campaigns and events to increase the financial literacy and capacity in Champaign County. Kathy Sweedler is the co-chair of Champaign County Money Smart Week – a coalition that organized over 50 financial education events in April 2014. For the past two summers, U of I Extension has hosted financial summits (Closing the Racial Wealth Gap: Champaign Community Roundtable 2013 and Financial Empowerment Resource Summit 2014) to bring together people from different organizations and walks-of-life to network and improve our community. This summer over 60 people attended the Summit.

Consumer Economics – Kathy Sweedler

Nutrition and Wellness Educator, Leia Kedem, samples one of her healthy recipes with local TV personalities on WCIA/WCIX.

Zach Kennedy has represented Extension on the Champaign County Local Foods Policy Council. The council seeks to serve as a forum for discussing local foods, fostering coordination between actors in the food system, evaluating and influencing policy, and launching and supporting programs and services that address local needs. Among other council work, Kennedy took the lead in presenting the council’s progress to the Champaign County Board.

Kennedy worked on a number of interdisciplinary programs and projects with his fellow educators. As an example, he partnered with Consumer Economics Educator, Kathy Sweedler, to lead 30 Urbana Middle School students through the financial literacy program “Welcome to the Real World.” Additionally, he partnered with Horticulture Educator, Sandy Mason, and led Champaign-based non-profit, Prosperity Gardens, through a strategic planning process.

Fifty-two participants enjoyed learning about Backyard Chickens at a workshop in Champaign on April 2. In partnership with Champaign Soil and Water Conservation District , a successful Cover Crop Workshop was held at an airfield west of Flatville on June 19. A demonstration of aerial seeding of cover crops was a highlight of the workshop for the 47 participants. A program on Healthy Ponds was held on July 22 at the Urbana Sportsman’s Club with 48 participants. A highlight was the fish shocking demonstration by Mike Garthaus of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources identifying the fish in the pond.

The Champaign County Corn and Soybean Marketing Club meets monthly for a corn and soybean outlook presentation. Ayers is active on the Rantoul Food Hub Steering Committee working with the City of Rantoul to provide land for specialty growers on the former Chanute Air Force Base. He appears weekly on News Channel 3, WCIA where he discusses current ag topics. Ayers also serves as a Cropwatcher for Champaign County in the Illinois Farm Bureau FARMWEEK, and does a monthly “Crop, Stock & Ledger” column for the News-Gazette.

Local Foods and Small Farms — Steve Ayers

Community and Economic Development — Zach Kennedy

Horticulture — Sandy Mason and Diane PlewaChampaign County Master Gardener and Master Naturalist volunteers continue to be active throughout the county and impact their communities through a variety of projects. In 2013, 35 new Master Gardeners were trained in Champaign, bringing the total number of Master Gardeners in the county to 281. One hundred fifty Master Gardeners reported a total of 11,519.63 hours for 2013. Master Naturalists gained 29 new, trained volunteers for the East Central region bringing the total to 195 volunteers for the Champaign, Ford, Iroquois, and Vermilion Unit. One hundred fourteen Master Naturalists reported 8812.75 hours of service within the Unit. Together, Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists contributed $450,128 worth of volunteer time to Champaign County.

Master Gardeners participated in numerous community sites, continued to develop and tend the Idea Garden, and hosted the annual Garden Walk which drew over 1200 participants. In addition, volunteers addressed food insecurity issues through their programs including: Plant-a-Row for the Hungry; Grow Boxes for low income seniors; First Street Prosperity Garden; Salvation Army Garden and Wesley Foundation Food Pantry.

Master Naturalist volunteers were involved in activities including natural areas restoration, seed collecting and planting, school tours, and displays at environmental events in collaboration with the Urbana Park District, Champaign Park District, Grand Prairie Friends, City of Champaign, and Champaign County Forest Preserve District, Illinois Prairie Research Institute and Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Master Naturalists planted and managed the school prairie plots at Jefferson Middle School and Booker T. Washington schools. Plots are now fully planted with over 1700 plants and 28 different species for students and teachers to learn about plants, prairies and the wildlife that use them.

The Horticulture program continues to be active with a variety of media outlets. Mason conducts twice weekly TV programs on WCIA TV, serves as substitute host and panelist for WILL TV Mid-American Gardener, and writes weekly newspaper column for The News-Gazette that also appears on the Unit website. Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists have bimonthly newsletters and active Facebook pages.

Champaign County Master Gardeners staff an information tent at one of the homes on the 2014 Garden Walk.

4-H continues to expand its impact by reaching out to engage new audiences. This past year, Alvarez Dixon collaborated with a Parent Teacher Organization from the two Dual Language Elementary Schools and the Society Devoted to Advancing Hispanics, Chicanos & Native Americans in Science ( SACNAS), a student group of student scientists at U of I. Together we developed monthly science education program called Cena y Ciencias (Supper and Science) where parents and students are engaged in fun hands-on learning and where Spanish is the language of power and instruction.

This year we have strengthened existing partnerships and cultivated new ones. The list continues to grow and now includes the Urbana School District, The Champaign Urbana Community Fab Lab, the Champaign County Public Health District, the Society of Women Engineers, and the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club. We continue to observe strong interest in content relating to STEM and cooking. Additionally, there is a growing interest in incorporating the arts and leadership opportunities into the cadre of programs offered.

A particularly successful project this year was our collaboration with Urbana Middle School were more than 30 girls and boys learned to use soldering irons, microcontrollers, and conductive thread to create digital watches, electronic games, and wearable electronics. This single club has inspired more parents to engage their children in 4-H and has elicited the commitment of the school district to invite us to plant new clubs in three other schools in Urbana.

Champaign County 4-H has over 750 members county-wide and 4-H Youth Development programming in Champaign County impacts the lives of approximately 2700 young people annually. During the 2014 Fiscal Year, programming focused on STEM including robotics, water quality, and wind energy reached over 400 youth at five elementary and two middle schools. Staff held programming focused on agriculture including animal production, vet science and careers at four libraries and two community events and reached over 650 youth. Special Interest (SPIN) clubs continued to grow this year. There are now over 400 members in 30 clubs, a 296 percent increase over last year’s numbers. Summer Shows had over 800 exhibits showing clothing and textiles, food demonstrations, public presentations, dog show including obedience and care, general projects at Expo, and livestock at the Champaign County Fair.

Changing lives.

Top: Members of the 4-H SPIN Photography club pose with their cameras.Bottom: A 4-H-er grooms her goat the morning of the 2014 Champaign County 4-H Livestock Expo.

4-H Youth Development — Jamie Boas

4-H Metro Youth Development — Alvarez Dixon

The healthy choice isn’t always the easy choice, especially on a limited budget. Illinois Nutrition Education Programs (INEP) staff provides practical tips to help low-income individuals and families prepare safe and healthy meals while staying active every day! Over 4000 adults and children were reached by INEP programs this year.

INEP staff work with a variety of Champaign County agencies, schools, and community organizations to ensure that low-income families have access to information on good nutrition and physical activity. Some of our partners include: Area school districts, Head Start, Champaign County Health Department, WIC, Living Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center, the Douglas Center, emergency shelters, food pantries, Boys and Girls Club, Stratton After-School, Anabel Huling, Cunningham Children’s Home, Champaign Prosperity Garden, Rantoul Migrant Head start, local grocery stores, community centers, and food pantries.

INEP staff provides classes that teach participants how to use their food dollars wisely, select healthy foods for their families, prepare and store food safely, and balance food intake with physical activity. 150 families completed a comprehensive six session Eating Smart, Being Active Program where they learned use their food dollars wisely, select healthy foods for their families, prepare and store food safely, and balance food intake with physical activity. In addition, 1200 preschool children and 1600 youth in Champaign County schools and after-school programs participated in programs showing how good food choices and physical activity can keep your body healthy.

Illinois Nutrition Education Program (INEP)