Tag: Michigan State University

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Newsroom

Cuthbertson and Dellifield Named Program Fellows for the Behavioral Health Impact Collaborative

Contact the fellows: Jami Dellifield – dellifield.2@osu.edu and Courtney Cuthbertson – cuthbe16@anr.msu.edu

Courtney Cuthbertson

Dr. Courtney Cuthbertson is a Community Behavioral Health Specialist for Michigan State University Extension.  Trained as a sociologist of mental health, Dr. Cuthbertson conducts research and provides programming in the areas of mental health and substance use.  She earned her BS in Psychology and Sociology, MA in Sociology, and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Illinois.

Before working for MSU Extension, she served as a postdoctoral fellow for the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development on the CAPE Project to better understand and develop ways for communities to use behavioral health data to inform timely interventions. She is a certified instructor for adult and youth Mental Health First Aid, and does volunteer therapy dog work with her Newfoundland, Onyxx, in her spare time.

“I am excited for the opportunity through eXtension and the Impact Collaborative process to work with Extension colleagues around the country to develop more projects and programs for behavioral health.  The Cooperative Extension system is well-situated to be responsive to communities facing increasing rates of youth suicide, opioid overdoses, and other behavioral health issues, and I look forward to seeing how Extension can continue impactful work by expanding efforts in this emerging area.”

Jami Dellifield

Jami Dellifield is an Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, at Ohio State University, Hardin County. Her specialty areas are “Healthy Relationships” and “Healthy People”.  She has presented at the local, state, and national levels on Mental Health Awareness. Jami is a co-author of the 2018 Ohio 4-H Project Book, “Your Thoughts Matter, Navigating Mental Health”.

She is currently the co-Leader for the Ohio State University Extension’s Healthy Relationships Team. She is also a graduate of the 2017 North Central Region NELD (National Extension Leadership Development). She is a member of the Live Healthy, Live Well team (including writer/reviewer for the Live Healthy OSU blog and text message challenges), a writer/reviewer for the Live Smart Ohio blog, a member of the Dining with Diabetes team, teaches Successful Co-Parenting and Active Parenting, is a co-superintendent for the Ohio State Fair 4-H Clothing Judging, is a member of the OSU Extension Opioid Work Group, and was a part of the “WeGrill” CYFAR grant team. She was a member of the NCRCRD pilot program for CAPE training and one of the instructors for the Ohio CAPE project.

Jami has BA in Psychology with a minor in Communication from Ohio Northern University and an MA in Christian Education with a specialization in Youth Ministry from the Methodist Theological School of Ohio.

“I am thrilled to work with eXtension and Courtney as we further the efforts around Behavioral Health in the USA and in Extension.  Being chosen to do this work and to support others who are working within their communities is a great honor and opportunity.  I look forward to hearing about the amazing strides Extension Professionals are making to work with community partners and to help change the way each of us works in Extension locally, regionally, and nationally as our work applies to behavioral health needs.”

Categories
Food Systems i-Three Corps

i-Three Issue Corps – Making Michigan Recipes Work for School Kitchens

What is the recipe for farm to school success? Pun intended. There are many ingredients, but the recipe only comes together if the cook has the right combination of skills to follow the steps.

Michigan has a well-developed Farm to Institution Network which helps institutions locate, buy and use seasonal Michigan ingredients through its Cultivate Michigan Campaign. In our previous work with the Network, we learned that many school food service staff lack the culinary skill set needed for preparing meals from scratch. We have also learned that there is a lack of Michigan-specific information on seasonal menu planning and proper food safety practices for whole, fresh produce. We know from both research and practice that interest in farm to school in Michigan is high and continues to grow. However, demand from school foodservice directors for local foods has not been met, in part due to challenges such as a lack of skilled labor.

Our objective is to develop and implement an applied learning curriculum through a pilot of five on-site, regional trainings to help food service professionals increase knowledge and skills to handle and prepare whole, fresh, seasonal Michigan foods and ultimately increase institutional use of Michigan agricultural products. Skills covered will include produce preparation and handling, proper storage, and seasonal menu planning. The curriculum will also include a variety of multimedia resources specific to Michigan, including videos, guides and tip sheets. These resources will be vetted in the pilot trainings and then made publicly available online. Our participation in the i-Three Issue Corps is super-powering these online resources. More about that in our next post. Stay tuned!

As part of our participation in the Corps, we were asked to take an impact statement writing course and to write an impact statement for our project. Then, at the i-Three Issue Corps conference, we worked with fellow Michigander Paul Pangaro, an expert concept mapper from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, to diagram our project within the school food service environment. These two exercises helped us to anticipate and frame our project in terms of impact and to keep that impact in focus as we design the curriculum and resources. Here are the impacts we are aiming for:

  • Economic: Increased local purchasing by schools creates a measurable economic impact on local agricultural producers
  • Social: Healthier school lunch options are made accessible to youth. Youth eaters will also create more personal connections and understanding of where their food comes from and how it is grown
  • Environmental: Food miles for school food will decrease due to local sourcing

The bulk of our extension work in Community Food Systems is not measured neatly by numbers, so impact statements are crucial to telling our story. You can learn more about writing impact statements here: https://www.extension.org/impact-statement-reporting/

Our project's concept map at the i-Three Issue Corps Conference
Our project’s concept map at the i-Three Issue Corps Conference
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Announcements Food Systems Technology

1890 Land Grant Universities Launch Food System Mapping Demonstration Project

We all realize the importance of reporting impacts to our funders and policy makers. eXtension and a cohort of 1890 Land Grant Universities realized that they could not just provide data to these stakeholders, but must provide it in a way that visualizes the data in order to make it more useful to their stakeholders.

illustration of gps mappingFort Valley State University, Langston University, and Prairie View A&M University have partnered with Michigan State University and the eXtension Foundation to create a demonstration project of a mapping tool that will allow key audiences to see the impact of these universities on a neighborhood level.

The 1890 Extension Administrators of these universities envision that this planned tool will allow the universities to convey impact in the underserved populations, rather than numbers, and convey the human connections. Dr. Mark Latimore, Chair of the Association of Extension Administrators and Fort Valley State University Extension Administrator, stated “As the result of this pilot project, I visualize an increase in program participation by individuals seeking solutions to many challenges that can be solved through Extension. The buy-in to Extension will also increase.” For example, policy makers will be able to zoom to a neighborhood community center and see the impact the universities are making in order to make lifestyle changes. Additional links will contain video and related links.

Christine Geith, CEO of the eXtension Foundation, stated, “We hope that this demonstration project will open up more collaboration and networking opportunities between the Universities and their partners and provide Extension Administrators with the visualization information they need in developing program planning.”

The team of data experts from the universities is busy collecting data related to food systems in the areas they serve in order to meet the scheduled release of June 2016. For more information about the 1890 Food System Mapping Pilot, contact Terrence Wolfork, eXtension 1890 Liaison, at wolforkt@extension.org