December 5, 2017
USDA NIFA Supports Development of Master Health Volunteer Program in Kansas
Drs. Erin Yelland and Elaine Johannes were recently awarded a Rural Health and Safety Education grant from USDA NIFA to support the implementation of a Master Health Volunteer program in Kansas. Similar to the Master Gardener approach, volunteers will be provided with 40 hours of training in return for 40 hours of service to their community. The training provided by KSRE will distinctly focus on community health, community leadership, facilitation, policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes, and coalition development and sustainability.
Counties/districts engaged in the pilot funded by USDA NIFA are: Central Kansas District, Dickinson County, Marion County, McPherson County, Cherokee County, and Cowley County.
To learn more, please contact Dr. Erin Yelland, erinyelland@ksu.edu.
The complete press release from USDA NIFA is below:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 2017 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced support for health education projects for individuals and families living in rural areas. Funding is made through NIFA’s Rural Health and Safety Education (RHSE) Competitive Grant Program.
“Cooperative Extension is a key partner in supporting the health of rural communities,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “Through these investments, we help extension agents and land-grant universities reach rural communities with evidence-based education that can help people improve their health and quality of life.”
The Rural Health and Safety Education Competitive Grant Program seeks to address the needs of rural Americans through individual and family health education programs delivered via cooperative extension. The program supports effective, evidence-based, non-formal education programs and services informed by the human, social, and behavioral sciences to promote and enhance rural health, strengthen economic vitality and, in the long run, mitigate the effects of rural poverty. Projects are funded to develop or implement individual and family health education programs that help rural communities address significant health issues. The priority is prevention and reduction of opioid abuse. Chronic disease prevention and management is also an area of focus.
Overall, nine grants totaling $2.8million were awarded in FY2017. They are:
· University of Arkansas Agricultural Extension Service, Little Rock, Arkansas, $321,912
· University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, $318,575
· Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, $322,000
· Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, $321,946
· Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, $317,383
· Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, $310,183
· North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, $322,000
· Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, $322,000
· Virginia Polytechnic Institute Cooperative Extension, Blacksburg, Virginia, $321,638
More information on these projects is available on the NIFA website.
NIFA’s mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges. NIFA’s investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural sciences, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/Impacts, sign up for updates, and follow us on Twitter @USDA_NIFA, #NIFAImpacts.