Puerto rico, a caribbean island and a united states commonwealth, implements efnep through the puerto rico agricultural extension service, part of the university of puerto rico (UPR) system, which…

Puerto rico, a caribbean island and a united states commonwealth, implements efnep through the puerto rico agricultural extension service, part of the university of puerto rico (UPR) system, which includes 11 campuses. In 2022, the U.S. Census bureau estimated puerto rico's population at 3,221,789. About 40% of the population lives below poverty levels (zollinger, 2022), and 57% of children lived in poverty in 2020 (annie E. Casey foundation, 2022). Food insecurity affects around 40% of the population, and approximately 42% receive benefits from the nutrition assistance program (NAP), with many also benefiting from WIC and other assistance programs. Efnep puerto rico is at the forefront of providing nutritional education to low income families vulnerable to economic changes and environmental events. The program's objective is to achieve improvement in four core areas: O diet quality and physical activity: improved diets and nutritional and physical well-being through the adoption of federal food and physical activity recommendations. O food resource management: increased ability to buy, prepare, and store food that meets nutritional needs. O food safety: improved household food safety and sanitation practices. O food security: increased ability to get food directly-and from food assistance programs where necessary-to ensure having enough healthy food to eat. Paraprofessionals provide nutrition education in municipalities through five regional units: SAN juan, caguas, coamo, arecibo, and TOA baja. The primary target audience is low-income adults with children and youth. Programming efforts focus on parents and caregivers responsible for food planning, buying, preparing, and feeding children and youth. Paraprofessionals serve them in their communities with the support of volunteers, agencies, community organizations, and leaders. Another target group is low-income children and youth, from third to twelfth grade, served in schools, homeschooling organizations, summer camps, and other community groups. For adults, we use the eating smart - being active curriculum, spanish version, developed by colorado state university (2023). The curriculum, designed for paraprofessionals to teach limited-resource adult learners, includes lessons on food groups, preparation, physical activity, food safety, and selecting healthy options. For children from third to fifth grade, paraprofessionals implement the live healthy and active (vive saludable Y activo) curriculum, and for youth from ninth to twelfth grade, the nutrition challenge curriculum. Both include six lessons teaching low-income children and youth healthier lifestyle choices. Through delivering nutrition education, food resources management content, and other healthy lifestyles activities (i.e., healthy recipes demonstrations and physical activity) we have a valuable opportunity to improve the nutritional health of the most vulnerable puerto rican families. Given high poverty levels, efnep paraprofessionals can teach skills to guide participants in making better decisions and increasing their ability to secure enough food for their families