2025 National EFNEP Coordinators' Conference

NCPC Meeting

As families with limited financial resources face rising food costs and limited food preparation time, frozen foods may serve as a cost-effective and convenient way to ensure adequate household diet quality. Preliminary research has concluded that families of all income levels, including those who utilize SNAP, shop for frozen products, including frozen fruits and vegetables. To inform how nutrition education programs like EFNEP and SNAP-Ed could better promote frozen foods with minimal fat, added sugar, and sodium in program delivery, a cross-sectional survey was implemented from November 2023-September 2024 to gauge how EFNEP/SNAP-Ed participants currently perceive and utilize frozen foods. A sponsored research opportunity from the Frozen Food Foundation funded this research. Participants from 14 states (n=421) completed the survey; preliminary analyses are described hereafter (n=309). The participant demographics were comparable to other studies of EFNEP participants: the majority of the sample was female; the three most common reported races and ethnicities were White, Hispanic/Latino, and Black/African American, respectively; and over 40% earned less than $15,000 annually. Sixty-three percent of participants reported that their households consumed frozen foods at least weekly. Almost three-quarters rated being able to purchase frozen foods with SNAP as moderately, very, or extremely important. Forty-six percent reported that they would purchase more frozen fruits and vegetables if they were available at convenience stores; 64% would purchase more frozen fruits and vegetables if they had more freezer space. Full study results, with implications for EFNEP programming, will be discussed by the researchers at this session.

Living the Life we are teaching: We have a lot of paraprofessional that has or is currently living what the community is experiencing. When we teach from experience we will deliver with love and care.  By teaching from lived experience we believe our educators will have a huge success in reaching and keeping their targeted audience.  During this presentation I will show how lived experiences can help EFNEP and our community.

The lived experiences can help bridge the gap between the community and the educators. It can help with retention within the program and it will also build partnership. AS our educators lived or is living what our community is experiencing we have to let our educators know we care and appreciate them. Show your paraprofessionals that EFNEP cares by asking and doing. Once a week hold a all hands meeting where you listen to the educators needs and wants. Recognize a new educator at different staff meetings to applaud them. Help your educators learn how to engage members of different communities by learning about those communities. I believe that before we teach a Latino community on healthy eating we should research the Latino community to learn what they eat and why. Doing the research on different diversity will put the educators at a huge advantage. How EFNEP can support Programming Strategies & Real-Life Examples is knowing your educators. Show you educators support by encouraging them to share how they navigate shopping on a budget or how they get his or her youth to eat different fruit and vegetable. Be the support your educator need to deliver the lessons and retention within the community.


There’s No Place Like Home: Embracing Lived Experience in Multigenerational Nutrition Education:
Historically, EFNEP provided by the paraprofessional model has been offered through lessons in community groups or one-on-one settings, allowing participants time to apply the concepts taught. However, over time, one-on-one and in-residence teaching for EFNEP has decreased nationwide. Like the rest of the country, Missouri has reduced support for teaching in residences. Nevertheless, in-home settings have provided multigenerational education opportunities for program participants new to the US. This approach is especially beneficial for those without transportation and childcare, as it allows their whole family to engage in food and nutrition education and learn new skills for managing their family food budgets. In Sedalia, Missouri, the University of Missouri (MU) EFNEP Nutrition Program Associate (NPA) has been instrumental in helping English-as-a-second-language participants develop skills and confidence to make informed decisions about low-cost, healthy foods. The NPA utilizes a multigenerational in-home model that has successfully retained and recruited participants. This session will explore the best practices and the importance of offering the option of multigenerational programming, explaining why a multigenerational approach for EFNEP can succeed and why it is necessary for building relationships and educating certain demographic groups. The NPA will share what the participants gain from emphasizing a learning model that engages the entire family and promotes lasting behavior change.