Making a Difference
Impact of Program
Employment and Outreach:
At the state level, we have two professional positions, while there are twelve professional EFNEP agents at the county level.
In addition, EFNEP employs 70 paraprofessionals who work directly with the clients. With this number of employees,
EFNEP reached 27,923 families through the adult program and 58,351 youth during the
2008/2009 fiscal year.
Adult
Adult EFNEP clients attend at least 6 nutrition education lessons to graduate from the program. Dietary intake habits and behaviors related to nutrition, food safety and food resource management were assesed. A sample of 3,069 adult clients who graduated during FY 2008/2009 showed the following changes in dietary intake behavior related to consumption of specific foods in each food group.
| Food Group |
Pre-Test |
Post-Test |
Grains (ounces/day) |
5.3 | 5.5 |
| Fruits (cups/day) |
0.8 | 1.1 |
Vegetables (cups/day) |
1.2 | 1.6 |
Milk (cups/day) |
1.1 | 1.6 |
Meat & Beans (ounces/day) |
5.1 | 5.2 |
- 97.6% with positive change in any food group at exit (Grains-Fruits-Vegetables-Milk-Meat&Beans). Positive change means exit intake was nearer recommended amount for age, sex, and level of physical activity.
The following behaviors related to dietary intake, food purchasing, and food safety were found to have increased among adult EFNEP clients graduating from the program:
- 82% improved in one or more food resource management practices such as planning meals in advance.
- 62% improved in one or more food safety practices such as thawing foods safely.
- 87% improved in one or more nutrition practices such as using the “Nutrition Facts” on food labels to make food choices. In addition, statewide scores showed that adult clients’ intake of fruit, vegetable, and milk foods increased after participation in the program.
- 36% improved physical activity behavior or attitude. In fact, EFNEP participants reported walking 87,165 miles during the 2008-09 reporting year. As a result of this physical activity, an estimated 22% of program participants could prevent the onset of diabetes over their lifetime through increased physical activity. Including the cost of lost wages and annual health care costs, the total potential economic impact for these participants is approximately $15 million.
Youth
Youth enrolled in EFNEP also attend a series of lessons. A sample of youth 2,924 who graduated during FY 2008/2009 were surveyed and as a result of participating in EFNEP:
- 75% now eat a variety of foods.
- 81% increased their knowledge of the essentials of human nutrition.
- 80% increased their ability to select low-cost, nutritious foods.
- 89% improved practices in food preparation and safety.
- 93% improved physical activity behavior or attitude.
During the 2008/2009 fiscal year, EFNEP had a total of 4,005 volunteers working with us. Of these, 2,260 people volunteered with the youth program, and 1,745 volunteered with the adult program. The ethnic component of these volunteers was Hispanic (64%), Black (17%), White, Not Hispanic/Latino(16%), and Asian (1%). The volunteer hours equaled to 11.4 FTE (23,712 total hours).
Cost-Benefit Analysis of EFNEP
- A study with EFNEP clients in Virginia showed for every $1 spent to implement EFNEP, $10 was estimated to be saved in health care costs.
- Another study performed in Tennessee showed that for every $1 spent to implement EFNEP, clients saved $2 in food costs.
- This means for Texas that over $44 million was saved in estimated health care costs and over $8.7 million in food costs last year.
Selected Success Stories
El Paso:
Returning to give another class at Sambrano Elementary School in El Paso County, Martha B., Nutrition Education
Associate, was approached by Mrs. C., mother of a 10-year old girl who is taking the EFNEP classes for youth. Mrs. C.
told Martha that while preparing sandwiches for dinner, her daughter stopped her to make sure that she had
ingredients from all food groups. The daughter took the bag from the bread and looked at the Food Guide Pyramid, and
checked to see that she had one of each food group in the sandwich. Mrs. C. was overjoyed because her daughter is
changing her eating habits and is pulling the family with her.
Bexar:
“The other day while I was at work, a fellow co-worker had purchased some juice that was only 5% juice. While I was looking at the bottle, another co-worker asked what I was doing and I told her that the juice was a drink and not a juice. This co-worker asked me how did I know. I told her that I learned from my nutrition class about 4 weeks ago that to be considered juice, it must be 100% juice to be good and healthy for you. My co-workers were really shocked when I told the information. I just wanted to tell you about the event that occurred and how much the information that I received from EFNEP came in handy. Thank you!”
-EFNEP Adult Client
If you would like to read more success stories from our participants please visit the county pages through the following links: Bexar County, Cameron County, Dallas County, El Paso County, Harris County, Hidalgo County, Nueces County, Tarrant County, Travis County, Webb County, and Willacy County.
