The Creative Excellence Award was presented to the Food Team, which is composed of Extension Nutrition Specialist Lisa Franzen-Castle and Extension Educators Alice Henneman, Cami Wells, and Kayla Colgrove by The Joint Council of Extension Professionals in coordination with the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences in September 2016. The award is presented in recognition of individuals or small teams and their unique contributions to Extension programming by being innovative in their approach to addressing emerging issues or existing issues in exceptionally creative or novel ways to obtain desirable results and outcomes.
In August 2010, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Extension launched a statewide Food website with the goal of developing Internet-based content that reached and was relevant to the general public, as well as multiplier groups, such as educators, health professionals, and media outlets. The Food website houses information on food and nutrition, health and fitness, food safety, home food preservation, local foods, youth/4-H, and the Nutrition Education Program. Website information is personally developed by Extension staff or provided predominately by links to government agencies and other Extension websites nationwide.
Educational delivery methods include newsletters, blogs, podcasts, calendar, videos, web articles, downloadable education materials (e.g., PowerPoints, handouts), posters, and access to subject matter experts. Since the development of this website, a small core group has formed (the Food Team) that meets monthly to work on content curation and creation with the larger, statewide team, developing promotion and marketing strategies, and evaluating and documenting impacts of efforts. The team uses a multi-modal approach to information delivery through increases in and changes to content, electronic mailing list creation, and social media posting. Social media is used collaboratively to increase outreach and effectiveness and thereby lessen the amount of work for individual team members at large.
The Food Team has successfully adapted materials and presentations to digital formats, repurposed content for the Internet, and posted on social media sites to maximize programming efforts. The team also developed coordinated efforts regarding posting blogs, newsletters, and social media posts that involved Extension specialists, educators, and assistants. The Food website connects Nebraskans and the world to the exciting food research and information generated at UNL and how it can help in their daily lives.
More details at: http://food.unl.edu/