Effective newsletters have theory-based content and designs tailored to their readers and offer limited-cost community-level approaches to providing helpful, relevant, and engaging information. In accordance with this, we offer an example of a newsletter intervention that supported grandfamilies' physical wellness needs. Six issues of a brief…

The seafood industry in Florida is complex, with more than 80 varieties of Florida seafood commodities and an increasing number of imported products. This variety increases consumer confusion, especially with the growing concern about the origin, sustainability, and safety of seafood products. The objective of the Florida Seafood At Your…

Growth in the dairy industry and the passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act have renewed interest in dairy foods processing extension positions. A needs assessment survey was sent to Pennsylvania dairy processors and raw milk providers to guide priorities for a dairy foods extension program. The successful development and delivery of…

The "Words on Wellness" (WOW) newsletter was designed as an electronic newsletter intended to provide research-based nutrition and wellness information to Iowans. An evaluation was conducted to assess to what extent the newsletter is being used by its readership and whether readers are making lifestyle changes as a result. Those who…

Participatory research is a useful technique for collecting basic data over a large geographic area. Garlic production was chosen as a participatory research study focus in Maine. Project participants (285) received bulbs to plant, monitored their crop, and reported data online. Participants received a monthly educational newsletter to improve…

Extension educators can easily include technology in regular programming. Several Extension faculty conducted a survey to determine the overall effectiveness of a electronic newsletter (e-newsletter). Results indicated that this e-newsletter had a wide viral reach, provided strong local impact in terms of confidence and behavior changes, increased…

An age-paced newsletter for parents of toddlers was evaluated. Mothers reported the newsletters were as useful as information from doctors or nurses and more useful than other sources of information. We hypothesized and found that first-time mothers reported the newsletters more useful than experienced mothers--reading more of the newsletters and…

The Affordable Care Act provides impetus for Extension efforts in worksite wellness. The study reported here examined the influence of two worksite wellness interventions, newsletters and individual counseling. Surveys examined dietary and physical activity behaviors of participants pre- and post-intervention (N = 157). Descriptive statistics,…

To help build the capacity to serve culturally diverse communities, Pennsylvania extension professionals developed Diverse Issues, a quarterly newsletter. The newsletter is mailed to Extension professionals across the state. Responses from 136 extension personnel indicated that the newsletter has increased the knowledge, awareness, and…

A survey of rural parents who received extension parenting newsletters sent home with kindergartners (369 in phase 1, 459 in Phase 2) indicated that a majority learned new information and made positive changes in parenting behaviors. Newsletters appeared to be a cost-effective outreach tool to provide parenting education to this audience.…

Describes a series of six newsletters titled "Living and Learning with Infants," which contain information for new parents on 14 topics. Reviews an evaluation of the newsletter program which identified four topics containing the most useful information: baby's need for attention, baby's health, baby's growing abilities, and parent child…