OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION A Piece of the Puzzle: Map your Plan! Using Mapping as a tool for EFNEP Program Planning Maria Carmen Lambea, Pat Riederer, Nora Hesse, Karen Colonia Rakoczi INTRODUCTION and BACKGROUND As we look into the future, we need to make use of technology and tools accessible to us to enhance our Extension programing. EFNEP is a nutrition education program that targets limited resource families and youth. Population groups with the lowest income levels and formal education have the highest incidence of diet related health problems. EFNEP addresses this disparity by increasing the ability of limited resources families and youth to make healthy food choices and increase physical activity. EFNEP partners with local agencies and organizations to offer a series of small group workshops in a variety of settings. We schedule workshops at the agencies and participants’ convenience. Goal: Optimize EFNEP outreach to limited income families, through a mapping process with the intent of reaching our target population where they live. Franklin County Hispanic or Latino Population Percent by Tract, ACS 2009-13 Franklin County 2014 EFNEP Latino Participants 2014 Collaborators with the EFNEP Program for Latinos Worthington Gahanna Bexley Columbus Galloway Brice Westerville Blacklick New Albany Reynoldsburg Dublin Huber Ridge Minerva Park Groveport Grove City Blacklick Estates New Rome Hilliard Marble Cliff Whitehall Urbancrest Valleyview Obetz Canal Winchester Lockbourne Riverica Upper Arlington . Google.com/.maps easymapmaker.com GOAL As part of our strategic 5 Year Plan, we have a goal of increasing EFNEP presence in the counties where we work. To optimize our outreach to limited income families, a mapping process was established. Mapping where our target population lives and where we are currently working allows us to visualize areas where more outreach and promotion is needed. If we target these specific areas we can reach more participants in their neighborhoods. An example of how we can use the mapping process targeting the Latino population is described. Communitycommons.org RESULTS By observing the maps, we answered the following questions: Where does the Latino community live in Franklin County? A map with the Franklin County Hispanic Population Percent by tract is presented. Where do the Latino EFNEP participants we are serving in Franklin County live? From 201 Latino participants that EFNEP served during 2014 we had 175 confirmed addresses registered. The map is shown above. Where are the agencies that we work with located? A map showing the 2014 collaborators with the EFNEP program for Latinos in Franklin County is shown. Are there any areas where Latinos live that we are not serving? By observing and comparing the maps we arrived to some conclusions. CONCLUSIONS Mapping is a tool that provides visual information helpful to program planning and outreach. Using Mapping for EFNEP program planning in Franklin County to reach more Latinos, we came to the following conclusions. EFNEP programs are in most of the areas or neighborhoods where limited resource Latinos live. The majority of our Latino Franklin County EFNEP participants live in the areas where there are high proportion of Latinos. There are a few areas where we can increase our presence, based in the proportion of Latinos living in them. Strategies for planning will include: Start establishing contacts and partnerships to increase EFNEP presence in the Galloway area. Increase our Spanish programs in the Whitehall area METHODS The steps we took in this project included: Select the information we wanted to map. In this case, where in Franklin County are the greater percent of: population with income below 185% the Hispanic or Latino population Selected a couple of mapping tools that could help us to find and map the information we needed. For this project, we selected the following tools: communitycommons.org easymapmaker.com Used the communitycommons.org mapping website to make a map: Percentage Hispanic/Latino population in Franklin County by Census Tract. Used the easymakermap.com mapping website and google.com/maps to make two maps: Locations where we served our 2014 Latino EFNEP participants in Franklin County. Locations of the agencies or sites that collaborated with the 2014 EFNEP program for Latinos. OBJECTIVES: Determine: Where the Latino population in Franklin county lives. Where the Latino participants that EFNEP served in 2014 live. Where are the agencies that we work with located. If we have been serving the places where most of the Latinos live. Where are the gaps. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to the EFNEP Program Specialists that enthusiastically embraced the possibility of using mapping for program planning and their multiple ideas on how to implement the process locally. Thanks to Korrin Vanderhoof, always willing to help us with trainings and new ideas that facilitate our program work. Thanks to the EFNEP Program Assistants that relentlessly work and care to improve the lives of our limited income families and are always giving us feedback to improve our program. BIBLIOGRAPHY Data, tools, and stories to improve communities and inspire change. (n.d.). Retrieved August 11, 2015, from http://www.communitycommons.org/ Geocode and map multiple locations from excel data - EasyMapMaker. (n.d.). Retrieved August 11, 2015, from http://www.easymapmaker.com/ and google.com/maps FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN ECOLOGY COLLEGE OF FOOD, AGRICULTURE, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CFAES provides research and related educational programs to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis. For more information: http://go.osu.edu/cfaesdiversity.