Healthy Food Systems, Healthy People Focus of Joint COPs – Key leaders from the all sections of the Board on Agriculture Assembly meet in mid-July in San Diego to consider integrated research, education and Extension work related to the nexus of food production and healthy people. The Administrative Heads, Academic Programs, Cooperative Extension, Experiment Station, and International Agriculture sections, together with the Board on Human Sciences, will consider questions related to central themes, feasible priorities given funding availability, and expectations of the Policy Board of Directors and others. Tammy Bray, Executive Dean, Division of Health Sciences, Oregon State University, is the keynote speaker. Delbert Foster, ECOP chair-elect, South Carolina State University, represents Cooperative Extension on the planning committee in cooperation with Michelle Rodgers, chair of the ECOP National Task Force on Health, University of Delaware.
Smart Choice Health Insurance© Training – University of Maryland Extension announces training for Extension educators and community partners July 8-9, 2014 in Beltsville, MD. The framework developed by the ECOP National Task Force on Health includes health insurance literacy as one of six priorities. Participants will 1) understand the theoretical framework and guiding principles of the Smart Choice Health Insurance© curriculum, 2) understand evaluation expectations and ideas for marketing, 3) receive an educator’s toolkit with updates over time, and 4) join other educators via a list-serve. For a testament from a Certified Educator, view the following video.
Register through June 30, 2104 at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/smart-choice-health-insurance-certified-educator-training-tickets-11480174511. For more information, contact Amanda Ginter at aginter@umd.edu.
USDA-NIFA Seeks Nominations for Partnership Awards – USDA-NIFA invites all Land-grant Universities to submit nominations for the 2014 NIFA Partnership Awards Program. This program recognizes outstanding contributions, aligned with NIFA strategic goals, in support of the USDA mission. Awards recognize excellence in mission integration of research, education, and Extension; multistate efforts; innovative programs and projects; effective and efficient use of resources, and program improvement through global engagement. Nominations must be submitted via the NIFA Partnership Awards Nomination Form. All signed nomination forms must be submitted by July 15, 2014, via email using scanned files that have been saved as .pdf or .jpg files to performance@ars.usda.gov according to instructions in the following documents.
Questions can be directed to Kimberly Whittet at kwhittet@nifa.usda.gov. Winning nominations will be recognized at the NIFA Day of Appreciation this fall.
4-H Reviews Health Living Programs – Mississippi State University conducted an environmental scan of 4-H Healthy Living Programs in healthy eating, physical activity and alcohol-drug-tobacco intervention in 2013, identifying 78 programs. Of these, 20 were named as having strong evidence for national replication as indicated in the full report released in May 2014. The goal of the assessment was to identify promising programs that were ready for more in-depth evaluation or replication. The assessment was funded by Molina Healthcare in cooperation with the National 4-H Council.
Resources from USDA Economics Research Service (ERS) – Mary Bohman, USDA-ERS Administrator, recommends the following resources: Charts of Note – daily snapshots of ERS findings of current interest; Amber Waves magazine – a window into ERS data and analysis; and Charting the Essentials – the big picture on farms, food, rural communities, and conservation in over 70 charts and maps. You can sign up and to receive Charts of Note daily and notifications of new Amber Waves content via email. The signup icon is the little envelope near the top of all ERS web pages. Charting the Essentials is at http://ers.usda.gov/essentials. Web visitors can also view the full collection of Charts of Note, organized by topic, at http://ers..usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note.aspx. Amber Waves is accessible directly on the web at http://ers.usda.gov/amber-waves.aspx, and can be delivered quarterly via tablet in iTunes or Google Play using a free application downloadable in the Newsstand search for Amber Waves.
