The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) uses a group 24-hour dietary recall (Gr24HDR) to measure changes in diet quality. Participant perceptions of the tool can guide implementation practices used by EFNEP Extension staff. Focus group (FG) sessions were conducted in five states and transcripts analyzed following a framework…

Effectively communicating with diverse groups involved in environmental management is critical to facilitating successful projects. This five-step communication plan is designed to enable resource managers and extension professionals to successfully engage their stakeholders. This plan, which uses oyster reef management as an example, was informed…

Sense of belonging is an essential element of a high-quality 4-H program. However, little research exists quantifying sense of belonging among 4-H club members. We measured perceived sense of belonging among Florida 4-H members in middle and high school as well as seven factors that influenced continued participation in 4-H. Parental involvement,…

Collaborations between Extension and nonprofit organizations have the potential to increase programmatic outcomes and generate revenue. One challenge in establishing such collaborations is identifying potential collaborators. We organized a structured networking workshop to foster such relationships. Of 28 participants, 24 completed the…

Childhood obesity is one of the leading problems facing Americans today. As children continue to struggle with both obesity and food insecurity, many parents and doctors look to schools to be responsible for providing healthful meals. The aim of the Farm to School (F2S) program is to bring fresh, local produce into school cafeterias. Aligning with…

We explored the motivations for and psychological benefits gained from participating in the Florida Master Naturalist Program (FMNP). We surveyed 3,904 participants, and 1,983 participants responded with completed questionnaires, for a 50.79% response rate. Florida master naturalists participated to learn, help the environment, and act on…

Strategic collaboration between Extension faculty and nonprofit organizations has the potential to reduce costs, generate revenue, and improve programmatic outcomes for all involved. Through a mixed-methods pilot study, we examined how and to what extent such collaboration exists. Data sources included the National Center for Charitable…

Grandparents who take on primary responsibility for raising grandchildren face unique family challenges while helping reduce the burden on the foster care system. The GRandS (Grandfamily Resilience and Sustainability) Program was a family life education program designed with three fundamental goals: (a) increase grandparent caregivers' knowledge…

Extension provides personalized educational services collectively known as individual contact teaching (ICT), yet these services often are not evaluated. This article presents results from pilot testing of an approach for evaluating ICT. Extension representatives and clientele provided data on ICT events, primarily office consultations and…

In response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) was formed to answer oil spill-related scientific questions. However, peer-reviewed scientific discoveries were not reaching people whose livelihoods depended on a healthy Gulf of Mexico. GoMRI and the four Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant programs partnered to…

Engaging the Extension workforce in professional development is critical for learning, behavior change, and continued development. However, county Extension directors find it difficult to juggle the various demands on their time, including the need to develop the leadership competencies required to be successful in their roles. Online leadership…

Using information from precision farmer surveys conducted in the southern United States in 2005 and 2013, we evaluated changes in the use of precision farming information sources among cotton producers. Although Extension remains an important source for producers interested in precision farming information, the percentage of cotton producers using…

Return on investment (ROI) is a commonly used metric for organizations concerned with demonstrating the value of their investments; it can be used to determine whether funds spent providing professional development programs for Extension professionals are good investments. This article presents a method for calculating ROI for an onboarding…

Florida's Strategic Plan for Extension in Metropolitan Regions reflects an adaptive management approach to the state's urban Extension mission within the context of establishing essential elements, performance indicators, key outcomes, and suggested alternatives for action. Extension leadership has adopted the strategic plan, and implementation…

Extension educators can help the public learn about critical issues that contribute to existing problems in communities. Water is just such an issue in Florida--in fact, water is the top issue in Florida. The purpose of the study reported in this article was to identify Florida residents' opinions about clean water and their preferred modes of…