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Family and Consumer Sciences
Addressing Community Needs Via Sessions, Conferences, and Workshops
Cooperative Extension is a nationwide, non-credit educational network. Each U.S. state and territory has a state office at its land-grant university and a network of local or regional offices.
The vision of the Tennessee State University Cooperative Extension Program is to be leader in outreach educational programs.
Family and Consumer Sciences
- Child Development – addresses physical, social, emotional, and intellectual aspects of children and adolescents
- Parenting – teaches effective communication and parenting skills
- Grandparents and Relative Caregivers – targets grandparents and other relatives caring for children
- Nutrition Education and Food Safety – helps individuals acquire knowledge, skills and behavior changes necessary to maintain nutritionally sound, safe diets.
- Health Education – addresses individual and community health issues and promotes healthy living
- Gerontology – highlights factors related to the aging population
Using a variety of program delivery strategies, we offer practical and useful research-based programs, resources, and publications in agriculture and natural resource, family and consumer sciences, 4-H youth development, and community resources and economic development.
Specialists on the main campus and county extension agents conduct education sessions, conferences, and workshops to address community needs.
TSU Cooperative Extension is entering a new partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated by the ECOP Health Innovation Task Force to address vaccination hesitancy around COVID and other adult immunizations. The program is designed to help increase connections and communication between the community and health care practices, as well as increase accessibility and acceptability of local vaccination clinics and opportunities with the goal to mobilize communities to implement public health programs to reduce health disparities, especially in rural areas.
Through our data assessment of the underserved population, we have identified 3 counties (Davidson, Shelby, and Haywood) to focus our immunization education. Counties were chosen to reach African American communities experiencing disparities in access and hesitancy to accept the vaccine due to historical and ongoing trauma. The project uses social marketing and social media platforms to encourage vaccine acceptance, specifically targeting each community using local people to provide encouragement and messaging.
With the support of stakeholders, the project allows the CDC and the Cooperative Extension System to address health disparities among rural, diverse, and other underserved communities by facilitating discussions at the community level to address barriers and concerns about COVID-19, flu, and other adult vaccinations
Nutrition Security and Healthy Eating
The TSU Nutrition Education and Food Safety team delivers evidence-based programming to help address nutrition insecurity in Tennessee and help Tennesseans make healthy food and lifestyle choices to prevent and improve diet related chronic disease. From learning to eat healthy on a budget to providing information regarding physical activity, we aim to assist Tennesseans to develop and maintain healthy habits.
Our team offers several resources including in-person and online programs, nutrition and physical activity fact sheets and other resources to local schools, community organizations, and many more.
Resources
The Following is a List of Food and Nutrition Resources
The TSU Tiger Pantry is aimed at providing food to students facing temporary hardships. You can also support this mission by donating to this cause. Please contact Dawn Griffith at dgrffin3@tnstate.edu or 615-9632261.
Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle TN
Government Food and Nutrition Assistance
Healthy Eating
Nutrition Fact Sheets (Coming Soon)
USDA and CDC resources
Maternal and Infant Nutrition
Maternal and infant nutrition is important for the health of the mother and the optimal growth of the child. Please click the link below to find more information about breastfeeding and nutrition education.
webpage contact:
Cooperative Extension