Latest / Talking FACS / Celebrating 90 Years of NEAFCS: Building Leaders and Recognizing Excellence

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Celebrating 90 Years of NEAFCS: Building Leaders and Recognizing Excellence · Talking FACS

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Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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food, finance, and fitness.
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This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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and communities to improve quality of life.
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Hello, and welcome to Talking FACS. Where we share news you need to know to
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strengthen your family, your community, and our state.
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I'm your host, Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support
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with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
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We are housed in the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.
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The National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences,
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also known as NEAFCS, is the professional organization for family and consumer sciences.
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With affiliates in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, I am delighted to have as
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my guests today, Jennifer Bridge, who is the NEAFCS President-Elect,
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and Christy Stearns, our Kentucky Affiliate President.
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Welcome to you both. Thank you, Mindy. As NEAFCS celebrates its 90th anniversary,
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Christy and Jennifer have joined me to share a little about the vision of NEA
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FCS and its five key tenets.
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Today, we're going to focus on each of those keys and discuss what is being
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done locally for our FCS professionals and how that translates to the national organization.
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So first, our professional organizations are building leaders for the future.
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Christy, what are some of the ways KEAFCS, the Kentucky Extension Association
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of Family and Consumer Sciences, is building leadership capacity for its members?
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Well, we really encourage all family
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and consumer science extension agents throughout our state to join our professional
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association and commit time in their schedules each month to interact with their
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colleagues at an area level where they can participate in regularly scheduled
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professional development opportunities with each other,
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take on leadership to learn more about the structure of our organization,
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how we function in officer and committees at an area level so that they are
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learning and grooming themselves for future positions at the state level.
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FCS Extension partners well with youth programs like 4-H and FCCLA to build
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leadership capacity of our youth so that they are prepared to step in to involvement
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in professional organizations like KEAFCS.
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So, Jennifer, on the national level, how is NEAFCS working to build leaders from within?
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We have a program called Leadership Experience, so it's a really good introduction
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to the overall structure of NEAFCS, the different committees,
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the different positions, and how they work.
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They also get leadership opportunities.
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They get to interface with a lot of people from across the country,
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so it's a really, really good growing experience for those that participate in that program.
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We also have an ambassador program, which is also a way to connect with people.
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It's not as detailed as far as learning, but it is a good way to meet people
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and learn about others' programs and things that are going on across the nation.
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And then, of course, being on our board is phenomenal.
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You can't just automatically be president. You have to at least serve as an office on that board.
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And during that office, most offices have committee structures under them.
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I know, Mindy, you serve as chair of the marketing committee,
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which is under public affairs. And I was VP of Public Affairs a couple years ago.
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So it's a really important committee, a lot of great work. But every component
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has people that work under them to learn and grow.
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It really takes a village, doesn't it? It does. And not one person can do it
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all. That's exactly right.
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So innovative professional growth and development opportunities are important
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components of both the state and national organization.
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How do you see these opportunities benefiting our members?
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I think from a state perspective, so many of the things that we do together
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in either area meetings or at our state meeting,
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even preparation for our members who attend the national meeting,
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our members can participate in a variety of professional development things
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that help them within their program area, but for extension as a whole,
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as well as other things that they may be involved with in their local communities.
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And so, whether it's a professional development experience about marketing yourself,
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marketing your programs, or, you know, how to think about building your own
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leadership capacity and what
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that means for advancement within the association or within your career.
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I think those are some of the key things that we have worked to make sure that
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our, you know, with a lot of new members within our Kentucky affiliate,
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it's important that we do a lot of the basic professional development things, I think.
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And then, you know, there's always unique opportunities to gain training in
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content areas, whether it's something about financial management or parenting,
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child development, substance use, workforce development.
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Just to name a few. Nationally, you know, that's why they started really 90
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years ago with NEAFCS. A group of states came together.
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Kentucky had started their local chapter affiliate group prior to that,
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10 years prior to that, but they did not attend that initial organization.
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So they met together over breakfast in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
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and thought, you know, we need an organization that we can all come together
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and learn from each other. So Kentucky eventually joined that national organization.
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And we've been doing that ever since. And it's really important that we get
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cutting edge information, that we learn about what other states are going through
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or what they're also their focus.
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And we found over the years, and I serve on a national work group,
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health metrics work group, we look at things that people are doing that are
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very common across the nation.
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And how are we measuring that to measure impact? And how are we showing those
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who are key decision makers when it comes to funding and to making sure that
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we are supported in our efforts, that we are actually doing the work?
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So it's very important that we communicate and come together to do that.
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And professional development is just such a vital piece to our continued success as professionals.
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We had a university president in the past that liked to refer to some of our
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challenges as the Kentucky Uglies. and what we found out from the national perspective
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is that we're not alone, that there are uglies in every state.
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And so that gives us camaraderie, doesn't it? It sure does.
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So we all know that great work happens in extension.
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So one of my favorite things that our organizations do and our third key component
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is recognize and promote excellence.
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How does this tenet inspire our professionals to greater excellence?
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Well, I think, you know, for some of our members, And they get encouraged and
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motivated just through simple types of recognitions.
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You know, the opportunity to share a program that's been highly effective and
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impactful in their communities.
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You know, whether that's doing a presentation or being recognized in a newsletter
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or on social media and those types of things for just a job well done and being
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a creative innovator within different content domains. means.
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I think, you know, we've had a lot of success in Kentucky with our awards recognition
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program as well over the years.
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And so, I think members are encouraged when there's an opportunity to be recognized
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in an award capacity for the projects that they do,
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both individually in teams with members within their areas,
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or perhaps collaboration between county-level agents and and state specialists,
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or even partnerships that agents have formed through involvement in NEA FCS
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to do projects with colleagues in other states.
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Yeah. And nationally, if you're a national award winner, it's a big deal.
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We have a nice banquet that we celebrate people.
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If you're a national award winner, you usually end up getting like free registration
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to go to the meeting or a partial scholarship to help pay for that.
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So it supports it financially, which takes a burden off the member,
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but also off the state that they're not having to put funding out for that person
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to go get professional development.
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And it's also an opportunity to present nationally to a large audience.
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And when you're trying to grow professionally, to be able to put that down on
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your VITA that, you know, hey, I presented at any NEAFCS conference,
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some of the outstanding programs that we've done from your affiliate.
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It just makes it that much more valuable.
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So there's different ways to be recognized. And nationally, we do look at those
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national awards, but it's also serving on those committees and being out there
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making those connections and relaying information.
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You know, I do that a lot for Kentucky. I'll say, you know, well,
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in Kentucky, we do it this way.
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And Kentucky is a leader nationally when it comes to NEAFCS in very different ways.
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But we've always, we've been there and been an integral part.
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And we win awards every year in Kentucky, so it's good to see Kentucky co-workers
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being recognized nationally.
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So, the fourth key component is to serve as a resource for education,
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information, networking, and partnership building.
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I know that on the national level, this key looks very different than it does on the state level.
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And it really looks different as you go from state to state.
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So, how do each of you see this playing out on the state and national level?
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Well, I think from a state perspective, I mean, we look at partners throughout
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the Commonwealth who work in some of the same subject matter content that we
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do as family and consumer sciences professionals.
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We have a strong relationship with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture,
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with the Kentucky Department of Education, through career and technical education
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and particularly as we referenced before like those students who are.
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FCCLA members and pursuing you know degrees within family consumer sciences
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education at the collegiate level as well.
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I think our state is very fortunate to have a strong partnership also with UK
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health care to to make sure that we are delving into additional health related
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content information to support local programs and I think local is the key to
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to where we look at sharing resources,
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education, and partnership building, because it varies from state to state,
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just like it varies from county to county.
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And so a lot of times it is in order to strengthen an extension program to meet
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an identified community need across multiple sectors, you have to have those
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partnerships with other groups.
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And so perhaps it's, you know, reaching out and partnering with a United Way
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or a local hospital, health department, arts council,
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you know, high school departments, it looks quite different,
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but I think it is a very strong tenet of what we do is share our education,
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our information, and build those partnerships.
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Nationally, I think we had 121 members submit proposals for in-depth session
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this past year, and they selected 80 of those.
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So to get 80 different perspectives of programs that are going on nationally,
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you're just not going to find that anyplace else.
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And that's the beauty of the National Association is that we learn and grow from each other.
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And I mean, I've came back and done some outstanding programs based on what
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I learned at a national conference, or it stimulates It's all these ideas of
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like, oh, well, you know, or we do that in Kentucky already and we just don't promote it.
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So nationally, that's great that we get professional development that way.
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That's traditionally during our conference, their once a year annual session.
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But also we have webinars every month that people have submitted and they're
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doing educational programming and sharing results and programs monthly.
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And then we do other activities throughout the year that help us build professionally.
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To be at that conference with companies such as Newell Brands,
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which is Ball Canning Company now, it's Newell Brands. They do a lot of different things.
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Presto is there, American Heart Association.
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We have partnerships with them to do certain programming. They don't influence
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our buying habits or what we do, but they do provide valuable resources to us.
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And in Kentucky, and we'll bring it back to Kentucky, and, you know,
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a lot of other states. Food preservation has been really big the last two or
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three years, especially coming out of the pandemic.
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And they were trying to preserve food at home because they were afraid they
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wouldn't get it off the grocery shelf.
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And they started doing gardening and several different things.
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Well, to have Newell there or Bald with their latest research on food preservation,
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especially coming from their company.
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And they partner with the National Home Food Preservation Organization that's
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actually housed at Georgia Extension.
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So we all work together to advance the work that we do.
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Kind of like the old song goes, if you don't want to hide your light under a
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bushel. And we are certainly not doing that.
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We're letting those partnerships let our light shine.
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Not as much probably as we should because we're so busy doing our job that we
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don't always take time to really let people know what we do.
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But we are there and we are a valuable resource to a lot of people throughout this country.
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What we're reminded of when we attend those national conferences is we have
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lots to offer. or we just may not have thought about it until we hear it at
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a concurrent session that's presented or an award entry for something that we
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know our Kentucky affiliate members are doing.
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Great work in those areas too, but it's probably gotten hidden through other demands of the job.
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And finally, we promote the promotion and the mission and goals of the land-grant
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university extension system.
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So how does that look different on the state and national level?
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I think in Kentucky, we've spent a lot of work over the last few years building
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a stronger, a more collaborative partnership between our two land grant institutions
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through the University of Kentucky and Kentucky State University.
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And I think that's something that our members are beginning to benefit from.
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I think, you know, we do lots of programs in each of our communities that are
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all designed on a research basis provided by the university.
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Offered in a way that folks in our communities can really practically absorb
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some of the information.
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And so I always say, you know, what I do is take the research to the university
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and I present it to you all in a way that makes sense so that it can improve
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the quality of life for you and for your family.
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And I think that's what we strive to do as FCS Extension professionals.
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But I think that's a big part of what we want to do through our association as well.
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I know Kentucky's had a lot of success in the past during the Living Well campaign,
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pain which is the national initiative for that and
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you know just trying to think about ways that we can
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continue to strengthen the promotion of our
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our missions of our the land-grant institutions in
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our state but staying in touch with what others are doing throughout the country
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and promoting those things that if we don't have expertise in a certain area
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you partner again with those who do and and work to make an impact so that you're
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taking trusted research-based information and sharing it in our local communities.
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Originally, the land-grant system included what we call 1862 institutions,
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which in Kentucky would have been the University of Kentucky.
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And then in 1890, they included, which are historically Black colleges and universities
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in Kentucky, that would be Kentucky State University.
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And then most recently nationally, especially out West, they added what we
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call 1994 institutions, which include the tribal colleges and universities.
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All of these universities or institutions were founded on the same three pillars
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of teaching, research, and extension.
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So that's what makes land-grant universities so unique.
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And then so no matter where you're going across the country,
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you're going to find basically extension teaching and research programs.
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So you just have to look up that land-grant university and discover what they have.
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You know, we have a broad sense. I mean, we even have affiliates in American
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Samoa, and in Puerto Rico.
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So it's not just the 50 states. It's well beyond.
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And they bring us such great knowledge as well when they're able to attend those
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meetings. We are all different.
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Every state is different. Every university is different.
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It's amazing to me in Kentucky that we do have an office in all 120 counties.
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And to me, that would be the standard, but it's not. Unfortunately,
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it's not across the nation.
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As people make decisions and they choose to cut extension, I had a lady that
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came to a program that I did back in the summer on food preservation.
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She was here visiting her daughter, who's in the military, and they came to
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this program and she said, we used to have this in South Dakota, but we don't anymore.
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It's on a regional basis and it's too far for us to travel to get this information.
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So what is valuable, we hear other people wanting that back again because they see the need for it.
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We've had some universities slash their FCS program.
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It didn't take them very long to realize, hey, we probably shouldn't have done
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that because we did not realize the impact.
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And that's why it's so important for us to really share what we do and the importance of our work
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And to, you know, not lose ourselves in the whole entire system.
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But it's everyone working together, you know, whether that's community development,
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agriculture, youth development, horticulture, whatever.
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We all have a purpose with our universities and we just go forward and try to
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make people's lives better.
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We are a grassroots organization and we all work together.
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And it's really important that we continue to maintain those grassroots and
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that we continue to listen to the people that we serve.
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Someone once said that Extension is the original Google, except you don't have
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to fact check the information you get from us because we've already done that
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for you. We are research-based.
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Yes. So as NEAFCS celebrates 90 years, Kentucky is celebrating 100 years of
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bringing Extension Family and Consumer Sciences programming to our citizens.
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And we believe that we are always on the cutting edge because we are fortunate
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to have great professionals like Christy, who is the FCS agent in Clinton County,
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and Jennifer, who not only is serving in a national capacity,
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but also serves as the FCS agent in Meade County.
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So, I thank you both for taking the time to visit with me today.
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Thank you, Mindy, for having me. If you are just tuning in, you're listening
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to Talking FACS, and you can find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
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Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
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health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
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If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question, or a show topic idea,
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leave a like and a comment on Facebook at UKFCSExt or send us an email at UKFCSExt@uky.edu.
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Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu to learn more about the University of Kentucky
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Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program or contact your local extension
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agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
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We build strong families. We build Kentucky. It starts with us.
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Music.