EFNEP - Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program
EFNEP History
In the early 1960's, Extension closely examined new ways to reach and teach low-income families.
Government agencies and the private sector joined together to fund a series of pilot projects to identify and test
new operational concepts. The pilots demonstrated the program's feasibility and provided the program base of methods
and materials.
Three Concepts
Three basic concepts arose from the pilots and served as guidelines for implementing EFNEP:
- An existing home economics program could be modified to effectively reach low-income audiences.
- Professional home economists can teach and supervise paraprofessionals who, in turn teach low-income homemakers.
- A nutrition education program tailored to the needs, interests, competencies, and economical and
educational levels of low-income families, and delivered by paraprofessionals who are indigenous to the
target audience, can change participants' eating habits.
The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is an extension of one of these pilot projects conducted in 1968.
The Pilot Project
The pilot project involved young homemakers in low-income rural areas of Alabama and was a cooperative 5-year project(July 1, 1964 through June 30, 1969) between the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, Auburn University, and Federal Extension Service, USDA. The three primary areas considered in the Pilot Project were:
- To develop and test methods of reaching and teaching homemakers.
- To develop and test educational materials.
- To determine if paraprofessionals could be trained to teach low-socioeconomic homemakers so they could
understand and apply what they learned.
EFNEP started in South Carolina in 1969. And, EFNEP is now conducted through the Cooperative Extension System at land-grant universities in every State and U.S. Territory.