We offer practical information for individuals, families and communities on eating well, managing money, raising children, health literacy and staying active. The primary goal of FCS is to improve the well-being of traditionally underserved families and communities by providing research-based knowledge and principles applicable to their everyday lives.
 
Expanded Food & Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP): EFNEP is a federally funded educational program designed to assist limited-resource children and families in improving nutritional well-being and health through a series of practical lessons on basic nutrition and healthy lifestyles, resource management and food safety. Adults are taught in small groups. A youth curriculum focuses on providing food and nutrition education to contribute to the personal development of middle-school age youth. This age group is taught in after-school enrichment programs, summer camps, and during the school day in order to strengthen existing educational standards. We currently have EFNEP staff located in Kanawha and Putnam counties.
 
Health Literacy: Our patient-physician communication program, “Can You Repeat That Please?,” teaches participants how to effectively manage their health care visits and includes a comprehensive health history journal to take along. This successful program led to an expanded curriculum targeting a birth-18 audience called “My Growing Gains and Pains.” The program has been successfully administered to a variety of audiences, including a multi-state project using a health history journal targeting military families.
 
Healthy Grandfamilies:  West Virginia ranks second among all states in the percentage of grandparents responsible for their grandchildren. The WVSU Healthy Grandfamilies program offers grandfamilies information and resources through a series of discussion sessions combined with social work case management services.  Workshops are delivered through the WVSU Extension Service Family and Consumer Sciences program in collaboration with the WVSU Department of Social Work, which will coordinate the intervention’s case management component. Learn more about the Healthy Grandfamilies initiative here and also in this Journal of Extension article. 

Prevent T2 Program: One out of three American adults has prediabetes, and most of them do not know it. If you have prediabetes or other risk factors for type 2 diabetes, it’s time to take charge of your health. The PreventT2 lifestyle change program can help you make lasting changes to prevent type 2 diabetes. With our Prevent T2 program, participants receive a FREE CDC-approved curriculum to learn the skills needed to lose weight, be more physically active, and manage stress. Learn more about the program and enroll on our website.

Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching & Engagement (EXCITE): The EXCITE program is a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded program that serves all land-grant universities, addressing health disparities among rural and other underserved communities. Learn more about the program and how to enroll.
 

Our Team