Overview
NIFA hosted a listening session on February 23, 2024, to collect oral and written comments regarding all aspects of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), the nation’s first nutrition education program for low-income populations. Since 1969, 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 nutrition security challenges that hinder the nutritional health and well-being of our nation.
NIFA greatly appreciates the time and thoughts shared through this listening session, among other mediums. We are using the feedback to enhance existing program strengths, improve federal and community partnership(s) and identify critical gaps in EFNEP that, when addressed, will further advance food and nutrition security for our nation’s vulnerable populations.
The information below summarizes the 2024 EFNEP listening session. NIFA’s next steps, as well as future ways for the community to participate, are also included.
About the 2024 EFNEP Listening Session
More than 150 attendees participated in-person, and 191 joined online. Participants included EFNEP Coordinators representing 76 Land-grant Universities, as well as university administrative personnel, paraprofessionals, program participants and others related to EFNEP programming. Written statements were collected, as well as comments delivered verbally, either in-person or online. All feedback was transcribed and analyzed using topic modeling and natural language processing. Graphical representation, as well as summary descriptions of stakeholder feedback and input, are provided below. Notable themes from the written and oral comments were manually grouped into categories and are shared below.
Theme Categories
Historically flat funding limits program implementation and expansion to address growing concerns of food and nutrition insecurity among families and individuals with limited financial resources.
Fair and just compensation and appreciation would improve staff retention and program outcomes.
Data collection requirements take away from valuable program delivery time.
EFNEP must be modern, evidence-based, inclusive and flexible.
Educator training needs to be expanded through career development opportunities (e.g. onboarding, credentialing, certifications, community health and other).
Community relationships and alignment with federal initiatives from planning to implementation are essential.
Graphical representation
The graphical representations below were created using natural language processing and topic modeling based on word frequencies of all submitted comments (emails and the transcript of the listening session). The graphic highlights that educators occurred 89 times, program occurred 65 times and community occurred 62 times. Additional notable text clusters include, participants, paraprofessional and support. Funding is a frequently occurring subcluster.
Next Steps
NIFA greatly appreciates the time and thoughts shared. The emerged themes are central to our multi-phased effort to modernize EFNEP and foster innovation. An example of an early adaptation based on feedback is NIFA’s decision to remove the 51% or more budget requirement for paraprofessionals and their support costs starting in FY2025. Removing this requirement reduces administrative burden without reducing EFNEP’s emphasis on providing for the employment and training of paraprofessionals to enable EFNEP participants to engage in nutritionally sound food purchasing and preparation practices through direct education. We will continue to make changes and offer flexibilities for EFNEP in response to what was shared, while accounting for other programmatic, agency and legislative considerations.
We encourage the community to continue to share feedback and check in for updates. Additional announcements will be shared at future EFNEP conferences and through other venues. Continued dialogue and engagement with EFNEP stakeholders will ensure EFNEP, the nation’s first federal nutrition education program, remains at the forefront of effective nutrition education and improves the nutritional health and well-being of families and youths.