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Family & Consumer Education

Success Stories

Welcome to the Mississippi State University Extension Service Family & Consumer Education Success Stories, a practical look at key programs conducted throughout the year. County, area and state professionals provide educational programs that focus on family development, family financial management, parenting education, home based business development, food safety, housing, clothing and consumer education. These programs are based on local needs, new research, and technical information. Through Mississippi State University Extension Service, our professional staff takes that knowledge to Mississippians in the form of programming that reaches all corners of the state.

We are pleased with the dedicated work designed to assist Mississippi families and communities. The success described in these articles is the result of powerful cooperative efforts between county staff members, area and state specialists, networking with other agencies, and the desire of Mississippi citizens.

Money Management for City Employees. The Oktibbeha County Extension Service partnered with the City of Starkville and the Mississippi State University College of Business and Industry (MSU-COBI) in teaching 61 city employees how to better manage their money as they made the transition from a weekly to a bi-weekly payroll. Using the Money Smart financial management curriculum, Extension home economists trained four MSU-COBI graduate students to deliver the educational program to city employees through group workshops and one-on-one financial consultations. As a result of the program, 30 percent of the participants indicated that they planned to start using a budget to manage their personal finances.

Bright Futures. In a collaborative effort between Extension and the Department of Human Services, individuals in 12 Mississippi counties received educational information to promote positive parenting techniques. The Bright Futures program helps teen and single parents learn how to enhance parent/child relationships, reduce family stress, and understand the dynamics of child abuse and neglect. After 18 months in the program, mothers involved reduced their repeat pregnancy rate to 2 percent. Over 1,041 families have been reached through this educational program.

Child Restraint Legislation. Mississippi has the lowest seat belt usage in the southeast U.S. at 48 percent. Members of the Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers, Inc. (MHV) successfully lobbied members of the state legislature to raise the age of required vehicle restraints from 4 to 8 years. Governor Kirk Fordice signed the bill into law in May 1998 with MHV president, Doris Hunt, and Representative Rita Martinson on hand for the signing ceremony. Representatives Martinson and Mark Formby commended members of MHV for their role in passage of this important state law.

Blue Ribbon Child Abuse Campaign. At the request of the Department of Human Services, Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers, Inc. assumed leadership in 1998 for the Blue Ribbon Child Abuse Campaign, which is celebrated in April of each year. The program is designed to heighten the awareness of citizens about the problems of child abuse in Mississippi. Surveys conducted in 38 counties following the 1998 campaign revealed that over 148,000 information flyers and bookmarks and 164,000 blue ribbons were distributed during the campaign. In addition, 2,578 volunteer hours were contributed to the project, reflecting $32,427 in donated time.

Literacy Education. Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers, Inc. members in Walthall County helped first grade students increase their appreciation for reading by conducting a reading program in cooperation with local school teachers. Volunteers read to 180 children for 36 weeks during the 1997-98 academic year, providing over 125 volunteer hours. Estimated value of the time provided by volunteers to this project was $1,800.

Health Education for Women. Of the 1,900 Mississippi women diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, approximately 460 are expected to die because their cancer was found at a late stage. To increase the perceived value of breast self examinations (BSE) and mammographies among women to detect and treat breast cancer early, Extension collaborated with the Cancer Society, Mississippi Medical Association and Alliance, the Regional Cancer Information Service, and the Department of Health to form the Mississippi Partnership for Breast Cancer Control. The Partnership recruited and trained 162 women as certified American Cancer Society self-exam instructors, with 132 being Extension instructors. The Extension instructors taught 12,540 women to perform the new breast self-exams correctly and routinely, and encouraged them to get mammograms as recommended. Additionally, 12 of the Extension instructors were further trained to become BSE instructor trainers, multiplying the numbers of women reached by this program. Preliminary data from a longitudinal study of the program indicates a significant increase in breast self-examinations and mammographies among participants.

Money Management for Youth. Ninety-four Carroll county 5th graders and their families participated in CA$H TRACKS: Money Challenges for Kids, an Extension financial management program offered through the school system. Partnering with the Carroll County Extension Service in sponsoring the program were the Peoples Bank and Trust and Vaiden Bank. Through classroom lessons and take-home newsletters, the program helped students and their parents increase their money management skills in the areas of advertising, allowances, expenses, goal setting, comparison shopping, and saving. After participating in the program, 74 percent of the students reported that they developed a spending plan, while 62 percent said that they discussed allowances with their parents. Forty-four percent of parents indicated that their children became better shoppers after participating in the program.

Leadership Development. Leadership and volunteer development are an integral part of the history of Extension. Through training, leaders are taught to identify and address public issues and needs. Through such leader training the members of the Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers are able to identify local needs and meet them. Each year, these volunteers contribute $4 - $4.5 million in time and volunteer services to the state of Mississippi. One of the largest and strongest volunteer organizations in the state is the Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers, Incorporated. This group of volunteers boasts 4,300 members in 76 counties. The organization partners with the Mississippi State University Extension Service in making Mississippi a better place to live. Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers focus on the needs of Mississippians, with the overall goal of improving family well being and stability. Community service projects differ depending on local situations, but the main focus is education. This group has a long history within the state. One state has an on-going effort in this work with the University of Mississippi Children's Hospital in Jackson. Members provide handmade "Atherapy"dolls to the young patients. The dolls are used by child life specialists and doctors in helping the children cope with illness and treatment. Members provide more than 3,000 dolls per year to the patients. Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers also made sizeable cash donations toward the recent expansion of the hospital. Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers presently sponsors the Marilynn Purdie Scholarship for single heads of household and the Powell-Gray Scholarship for 4-Hers. Several of these scholarships are awarded annually to students attending Mississippi State University. Club members in Calhoun County networked with employees from the Weyerhaeuser Company by setting up a booth on child occupant protection at the Calhoun County fair. One thousand and twenty-two individuals received detailed information concerning the importance of buckling children in vehicles. Due to this collaboration Weyerhaeuser will donate actual dollars to be used by the Calhoun County MHV council towards other community service projects.

Master Clothing Volunteer Program. Over 150 volunteers in 26 Mississippi counties are participating in the Master Clothing Volunteer (MCV) Program. The program develops the leadership potential of individuals through intense skill development and program training. MCV participants reinvest in the program by teaching clothing construction, care and repair of clothing, and how to start a home-based business in their communities. The program, which began in 1998, is on target to reach at least 1,500 individuals in the first year, with over 6,000 hours of volunteer service provided to participating communities.

Food Safety for Food Service Establishments. In response to a new state law requiring food service establishments to be certified in food safety, Extension partnered with the Department of Health to offer the Serving Safe Food certification-training program on a statewide basis. The 16-hour certification program addresses critical issues such as the importance of proper personal hygiene, cross contamination, time and temperature abuse, safe preparing and serving of food, hazard analysis critical control points, and cleaning and sanitizing. Successful completion of a national standardized test following the training is required for food service participants to be certified. Forty approved Extension instructors have completed 19 classes, reaching about 475 persons with a 78 percent passing rate. Seventy more classes are scheduled, with additional classes being added daily.

Turning Flour Dough into Mega Bucks. The nutrition educators and Bright Futures staff attended a training session conducted by Mrs. Elizabeth Garth, Adult EFNEP Nutrition Educator on cake decorating. Mrs. Garth has taken her skill and turned it into a part-time job. She demonstrated how to turn a simple cake into a cake that is pretty and also tastes good. This session was provided to give nutrition educators information to take back to their homemakers. Some of our homemakers are participating in the Welfare Reform TANF Program. If homemakers were interested, this skill could provide additional income to the household. Another class is being held for EFNEP homemakers because of the great response.

I hope that this look at Family & Consumer Education success stories has provided insight into the wonderful world of Mississippi State University Extension Service programming. Your comments and questions are important to us; do write or call me at anytime.

Raygene C. Paige, Ed.D.
State Program Leader Family & Consumer Education
204 Bost
Box 9601
Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762
Phone: 662-325-3032
FAX: 662-325-8407

Program Impact

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