Jennifer McCaffrey is the Assistant Dean for the Family and Consumer Sciences programs at University of Illinois Extension. In her position she focuses on providing statewide leadership for Extension programs in nutrition, family relationships, and personal finance. She has extensive experience implementing programs for limited resource families and currently oversees, EFNEP and SNAP Ed in Illinois. McCaffrey earned a PhD in Public Health from the University of Illinois Chicago, Masters in Public Health from University of Minnesota, and is a registered dietitian having earned her degree in Dietetics from the University of Wisconsin.
Sherri Ambrose is the EFNEP Educator for Chicago North team at University of Illinois Extension. She has supervised a team of nine frontline staff for the past seven years. Her team works with families across a diverse spectrum of different neighborhoods on Chicago’s north and west sides. She earned her Masters in Nutrition Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to coming to EFNEP, she had extensive experience working with community-based adult education including program development, teacher training, and community assessment.
Presentation Description:
Last fall, Illinois hosted a professional development conference for the North Central Region to equip peer education staff for networking, building health and strengthening relationships. The workshops focused on deepening the skill set of the staff in their daily efforts to locate, engage, enroll, teach, graduate and evaluate groups of limited resource participants who are facing current societal challenges. Since EFNEPs inception, society has changed drastically and peer education staff need to be equipped with broader skills to effectively engage participants. Coaching staff is an integral, ongoing process to promote behavior change among families and identified areas for professional development included:
