Texas a & M agrilife extension service's, expanded food and nutrition education program (EFNEP), assists underserved families and youth in acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and changed…

Texas a & M agrilife extension service's, expanded food and nutrition education program (EFNEP), assists underserved families and youth in acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and changed behaviors necessary for nutritionally sound diets and contributes to their personal development and the improvement of total family diet and nutritional welfare. Program series are delivered using research?based curricula and evidence?based approaches to learning. Each educational series is facilitated by ethnically diverse paraprofessional (PEER) who speak languages other than english. EFNEP graduates will: improve their diets, improve their nutrition practices, stretch their food dollars farther, handle food more safely, and increase their physical activity levels. Texas a & M EFNEP audiences include low?income parents and other adult caregivers (such as grandparents and guardians) who have primary responsibility for caring and preparing food for their children, with emphasis on families and caregivers of young children. Limited resourced pregnant women and teens are another key audience for programming. Currently, EFNEP is operating in 11 texas urban counties including bexar, cameron, dallas, EL paso, fort bend, harris, hidalgo, nueces, tarrant, travis, and willacy. The combined population in these counties represent approximately 53% of the state's total population.