Learning how West Virginia University Extension Service’s people and programs help to better the lives of West Virginians is just one benefit of the new land-grant Impacts website launched this month.

WVU Extension Service Interim Director Steve Bonanno said that while the site doesn’t take into account all of Extension’s programming or public value, the portal is a good representation of how the land-grant system works.

“As a land grant university, we’re committed to making our research and programs beneficial and accessible to people across the state,” he said. “The land-grant impacts site takes the same approach, showing the benefit of your tax dollars in action.”

The site specifically highlights the teaching, research and learning efforts of land-grant universities. It can be searched by topic area, geographic region or even simplified to a specific state. The site also informs users about the history of the land-grant university system and how its mission has evolved since the systems’ founding.

“This new tool will better inform people of the significant agricultural research, education and Extension impacts taking place at land grant universities across our nation, which offer practical solutions to today’s critical societal challenges,” said Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Ramaswamy says that the website will help policy makers and the public learn more about the work that is partially supported with NIFA funding, too.

WVU is one of the 238 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems and affiliated organizations represented by The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The Land-grant university system has affiliations in all 50 states, the four U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, Mexico and Canada.

To learn more about WVU Extension Service, visit ext.wvu.edu, or contact your local county office.

Some recent accomplishments of WVU Extension include:

• 2013, The Energy Express program increases literacy skills and provides summer foods for low-resource children. 121,338 meals were served to children participating in the program and 9,378 meals were served to community youth.

• 2013, Youth improve healthy lifestyle skills and practices. The Family Nutrition Program (SNAPed and EFNEP) in West Virginia enrolled 17,294 youths in its programs. Eighty-four percent of youths in the SNAPed program improved their ability to choose foods according to Federal Dietary Recommendations. Thirty-three percent of youths in the SNAPed program improved their physical activity practices. Eighty-five percent of the youths in the EFNEP program improved their abilities to choose foods according to the Federal Dietary Recommendations. Thirty-seven percent of the youths in the EFNEP program improved their physical activity practices.

• 2013, STEM ambassadors are role models for 4-H youth. During the combined 2012-2013 camping seasons, STEM Ambassadors provided over 3,000 hours of applied instruction in science and engineering to more than 10,000 K-12 students statewide.

• WVU-ES has implemented programs designed to train adults and youth to implement programs designed to improve skills in avoiding use of illegal and/or addictive substances such as the Health Rocks program for 4-H youths. As a result, in the Health Rocks program, over 88 percent of youth participants were confident that they would be able to say “no” if other people, such as their friends or peers, offer them drugs. In addition, over 85 percent of youth participants were confident that they would be able to deal with stress by using stress management skills, such as talking about it with someone they trust.

• West Virginians improve skills in farm management. The 2013 WVU Extension Service Small Farms Conference was held from February 28 to March 1. Over 800 participants in farm management workshops in West Virginia improved their skills in the business side of agritourism and other small farm operations.

• 2013, Improved cattle quality through increased participation in state’s cattle marketing pools. West Virginia University Extension staff help organize beef producers into marketing pools that assist producers in selling improved cattle that command a premium price, thus increasing income and state revenues. One hundred sixteen producers participated in the marketing pools in 2013 and benefited from the analysis of cattle though a livestock database.

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CONTACT: Cassie Thomas, WVU Extension Service
304.293.8735, Cassie.Thomas@mail.wvu.edu

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