NEAFCS-AR Conference Information

Special Thanks to:

Sponsorship from State FCS Department

Dr.Anderson for approving us to have this conference. 

Rev-Up Your Leadership! From "Me" to "We": A deep dive into Values, Trust & Teamwork!

Values: Discover the immense value of your core values!

Trust: If you want high personal and organizational trust, be trustworthy!

Teamwork: Discover the 5 aspects of highly effective teams to unleash the power of great teamwork!

https://extension.org/member-services/leadership-development/

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Karl Bradley connects with people through many roles—as a teacher, musician, football coach, yoga instructor, veteran, and leadership junkie. Originally from Branson, Missouri, Karl holds a bachelor’s in education from Arizona State University and a master’s in education from The University of Northern Colorado. Over his career, he has led teams ranging from 5 to 250 and held leadership positions in public relations, operations, fundraising, finance, human resources, corporate training, and procurement.

He has worked in 49 states and 20 countries supporting alliances, strengthening partnerships, and improving diplomatic relations. He brings expertise in strategic thinking, leadership development, public speaking, team building, community engagement, and ideation to serve all 112 Land-grant institutions.

Be sure to visit posters & displays near room 7 during snack breaks.

 

Partnering for Health: Middle School Health Classes Connect with UADA SNAP-Ed

by Tristin Bolton

SNAP-Ed Program partnered with two middle schools with an average free and reduced lunch rate of 63.4% to support their 7th and 8th grade health classes. When this program was implemented, there was no standard health curriculum that included nutrition education. With the objective to implement a nutrition component for middle school health classes, the Teen Cuisine curriculum was introduced to teachers by the FCS County Agent.1 The program began in fall of 2022 and is ongoing with an additional school being added in 2024.

 

Kids AR Healthy

by Mishanna Lanes

Kids AR Healthy is a kid’s curriculum that is adopted from Kids 4 Health. It is 12 lessons of life skills including: nutrition, physical activity, safety, and life skills. This would be an opportunity for me to introduce this project to the agents in hopes of interest in teaching the curriculum to youth.

 

Celebrating 90 Years of NEAFCS

By NEAFCS-AR 90 Year Committee

Learn more about NEAFCS 90 year history and how you can celebrate in your county, state and at the National meeting.

 

Tricks for the Trade Display

By: Rachel Chaney, Leigh Ann Bullington, Carla Due, & Terrie James

Share your tricks of the trade to various topics related to being a Family and Consumer Science Agent and Staff. This interactive display will be put up after the concurrent session. 

Stay up to date on the NEAFCS Conference and engage with your fellow members! 

Click here to join. 

Participants can view handouts and powerpoints from the different sessions! 

NEAFCS-AR Conference Folder 

This is a hybrid business meeting. Join us in Room 7 or via Zoom.

Register Zoom Meeting

 

Little Rock Dining

The Promenade at Chenal Restaurants

Pleasant Ridge Town Center

If you would like to eat with a group, please let us know in the group chat. 

The NEAFCS-AR Conference planning committee will be hosting a game night for conference attendees. Bring your favorite game, favorite snack and join in on the fun! Endless beverages will be available in the cafeteria. 

Presenters: Rachel Chaney, Leigh Ann Bullington, Carla Due, & Terrie James

Track: Job Skills

Description: During this facilitated group discussion, agents will share their tricks to the trade for conducting workshops, working with EHC, and so much more.

Presenter: Christine Sasse

Track: Programming

Description:

For nutrition education to appear relevant to today’s audiences, timely translation of research is essential. Translation of nutrition science, however, presents unique challenges.  Human clinical trials are often contradictory, and progression from clinical trials to population-wide recommendations is slow. Family and Consumer Science professionals are hesitant – justifiably -- to address topics that have not been verified by large-scale randomized controlled trials. Unfortunately, the silence of FCS professionals can leave an information void that marketers and online influences fill. However, careful and deliberate provision of early research findings can debunk misinformation. Using MIND Your Diet as a case example, this presentation explores the development of a nutrition curriculum based largely on correlational findings about the protective role foods may play in cognitive function. 

*This presentation can be used as a substitute for the required FCS County Agents training that is required to deliver MIND Your Diet within UADA Cooperative Extension. 

Presenter: Melissa Johnson

Track: Job Skills

Description: Get our latest recommendations on social media for Extension agents! We will cover branding, style, audience, content, and more.

Presenters: Alison Crane & Grown Up U Podcast Team

Track: Programming

Description: Learn how meeting a need for "adulting" classes became more than a podcast. The Grown Up U team will share the resources developed for each podcast and how they can be used to aid students, parents, teachers, 4-H leaders, and agents. Tips and techniques for making quality recordings and how to edit sound using Audacity (an extension approved computer program) will be presented that can be utilized to make your FCS and 4-H programs sound better than ever!

Presenter: Tristin Bolton

Track: Leadership

Description:  Participants will learn about the 5 languages of appreciation. They will take a self-assessment to learn their own style. Participants will also work in groups to discuss methods that can be used within their office environments to show the language of appreciation. Participants will receive information to take home so they can replicate the program with their own colleagues if they would like.  

Presenter: Anna Goff

Track: Job Skills

Description: Often FCS programs are adapted to meet the needs of the audience.  Despite this, we must maintain the validity and reliability of our evaluations to verify the impact achieved.  While considering these factors, learn how committees cna be utilized to enhance programs.

Presenters: Anna Harlan & LeAnn Blevins

Track: Programming

Description: Discuss different delivery methods of teaching sourdough classes. Sourdough that is more for homesteading or sourdough that is for food bank or food benefit recipients.

Presenter: Joy West

Track: Leadership

Description: Interested in doing more at the national level? Find out how you can participate with programs at the national level including Leadership Experience, 90th Anniversary reporting recognition, and more. 

Presenter: Kaitie Golden

Track: Programming

Description: Soft skills are essential in education as they enhance students' overall development and prepare them for success in both academic and professional settings; however, in today's world soft skills are not taught in most schools. Clover Etiquette Academy was developed by six county extension agents to help teach basic life skills. The Objectives of Clover Etiquette Academy was to teach teens/preteens the non-technical, or "soft skills," that describe how you work and interact with others, which allows teens/preteens from any economic background to gain knowledge in these essential skills. It also boosts leadership qualities in youth. Topics covered include writing thank you notes, starting and ending conversations, introductions, dining etiquette, and phone and social media etiquette.

Presenters: Anna Goff & Trudy McManus

Track: Programming

Description: Mental Health Moments lessons and Family Time Tips provide short, 10-minute grab & go lessons for multiple audiences.  

Presenters: Rebecca Simon, Mary Beth Groce, & Valerie Turner

Track: Leadership

Description: Participants will learn more about the Division of Agriculture Internal Leadership Education and Development program (iLEAD) that will support & deepen the development of the leadership talent pool within the Division of Agriculture.

Presenters: Katie Cullum 

Track: Job Skills

Description: Do you want to learn more about program evaluation? Learn the basics of program evaluation and design, including challenges and benefits. Examine evaluation designs that will meet Extension’s needs and learn ways to create surveys to show your impact. 

Presenters: Emily Smith & Dr. Jeantyl Norze

Track: Job Skills

Description:

In this era of accountability, Extension professionals are expected to report and evaluate their programs. If they lack standardization and capacity, this scenario can contribute to frustration and burnout. Therefore, it is paramount to explore Extension professionals' reporting/evaluation challenges and obstacles to standardize reporting practices and to find ways to help them build evaluation capacity. 

As in any organization, effectively building reporting and evaluation capacity in Extension requires clear expectations for reporting and evaluation among Extension professionals (Preskill & Boyle, 2008; Volkov & King, 2007). Individual Extension professionals should be given clear requirements, guidelines, and expectations for reporting and evaluation efforts. 

To help with this endeavor, we invite session participants to engage in a facilitated listening session. During this session, participants will be encouraged to reflect on their AIMS reporting process to generate questions, identify challenges, and provide examples/scenarios. By collecting common questions directly from the users themselves, we can uncover patterns and illuminate hidden problems—ones that can be easily fixed and ones that require more collaborative approaches.

Information gathered during this session will inform a new course to help standardize the AIMS reporting process along with other evaluation capacity building pursuits. 

Presenters: Darby Treat & Julie Goings

Track: Job Skills

Description: Policy, System, and Environmental (PSE) Changes can increase the impact and reach of educational FCS programming. By working to change the built environment, adopt policies, and create positive system change, you can enhance your programming- specifically in areas related to nutrition, physical activity and well-being. This session will show real life examples and a “how to” guide of PSE work and programming in Phillips County. 

Presenters: JoAnn Vann & At Home with UAEX Team

Track: Programming

Description: Arkansas Extension Agents virtual learning project reached clients during COVID19 pandemic & beyond.  The At Home with UAEX project has positively impacted clients, FCS Agents, and Extension visibility. The remaining core team is looking for new team members to assist with revisioning the project implementation for continued impact. If you are interested in FCS subject matter, strengthening the visibility of Extension, and reaching new clients through the use of technology, we have a spot for you!