Expanded Food and Nutrition
Education Program-EFNEP
SDSU Department of Health & Nutritional Sciences
2 015
I M PA C T S TAT E M E N T
Public Value
The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP)
teaches participants how to make healthy food choices for their
families, how to be physically active and how to stretch their
food dollars. This leads to savings for the community on food
assistance programs, lowered health care and public assistance
costs and a decrease in the burden on social healthcare resources
such as Medicaid.
The Issue
Today, some South Dakotans face difficulties feeding their
families. Parents with limited financial resources experience
challenges trying to provide their children with a healthy and
adequate diet. Regardless of gender, family size, employment
status or geographic residence (urban, rural, or reservation area),
participants identified a need for food preparation and food
resource management skills. National studies show that for every
$1 spent to implement programs such as EFNEP, up to $10.64 is
saved in health care costs and $2.48 in food expenditures. For
South Dakotans, that could mean an average health care cost
savings of $9 million dollars and $2 million dollar savings in food
expenditures.
What We’ve Done
SDSU Extension provides an educational program to help people
with limited financial resources gain knowledge and skills to
stretch their food dollars and have a healthier, more adequate
diet. EFNEP has been available to South Dakota families since
1969. Its primary audience includes youth and children, pregnant
teens, and parents or other adult caregivers of young children.
EFNEP is available in 15 county/reservation areas, including both
urban and rural sites where there are pockets of populations with
incomes at or below the poverty threshold and resources are often
limited. Those counties include: Charles Mix, Corson, Codington,
Davison, Dewey, Hanson, Minnehaha, Pennington, Roberts,
Sanborn, Oglala Lakota, Stanley, Todd, Yankton, and Ziebach.
EFNEP networks with more than a hundred organizations across
the state to find and teach potential program families. Some
cooperating partners include WIC, Social Services, Head Start,
school districts, after school programs, congregate meal sites,
food pantries, low-income housing complexes, hospitals, clinics,
tribal health and ministerial associations.
Impact
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Youth participants learn to develop healthy
eating habits, choose healthy snacks, be
more active, and practice safe food handling.
Nutrition assistants use experiential evidencebased curriculum with youth in a variety of
settings.
o In federal fiscal year 2015, 6,042 youth
attended EFNEP classes in SD.The majority
of participants reported improvement in
behaviors related to diet quality (81%),
food safety (47%), budgeting and food
resource management (45%), and physical
activity (40%).
Adult participants learn to plan nutritious
meals, be more active, stretch their food
dollars, practice safe food handling, and
prepare healthy recipes. Nutrition assistants
deliver experiential evidence-based curricula
in a 6 to 8 lesson series through hands-on
activities.
o In federal year 2015, 415 adult participants
were taught the EFNEP series of classes
in SD by 11 FTE staff. The majority of
participants reported improvement in
behaviors related to healthy eating (84%),
budgeting and food resource management
(80%), and food safety (46%). These
improved behaviors will help participants
to eat healthier and stretch their food
dollars.
| healthy families
Quotes by Participants
“Because of our time together, I am more confident in my food preparation skills.” stated a mother who had limited nutrition
knowledge and food preparation skills. After participating in EFENP she has started to include the recipes as a part of their
routine meals.
Through EFNEP participants are able to sample and learn how to prepare healthy recipes using items such as fresh apples
and blue potatoes. After one sampling a young pregnant woman stated, “For the first time in a long time, I am eating all
my fruits and veggies.”
After a presentation focusing on thinking about sugar in drinks a participant stated, “I went to the gas station with my
girlfriend to get a Mt. Dew, and while standing there we both looked at the bottom of the cup and remembered how the
sugar filled the cup. I poured out the Mountain Dew and got an unsweetened Ice tea with some lemons instead.”
Participants practice constructing a menu to help everyone in the family eat healthy while still staying within the food
budget. Participants are provided with instructions and the tools to plan menus according to the local grocery sales flyers
and price comparison techniques. At the end of the session participants are encouraged to write out a menu plan and follow
it for the week. At the next session each participant has the opportunity to share their experience a mother of three stated,
“I was determined to prove you wrong! So when I got home from our class last week I sat down and wrote out a menu
plan for the week. The next day I went grocery shopping and bought only what was on my list. I failed! I didn’t prove you
wrong! I proved it works. I couldn’t believe the money I saved and how healthy my children and I ate this last week. It was
so easy to do! I will now be menu planning and I encourage everyone else to plan along with me.”
For more information contact: Kimberly Wilson-Sweebe, SDSU Extension EFNEP Associate | [email protected]
South Dakota State University, South Dakota counties, and USDA cooperating. South Dakota State University adheres to AA/EEO guidelines in
offering educational programs and services.
Publication: 04-3014-2016