The committee's goal has been to teach basic personal hygiene, proper hand washing procedures, and safe food handling techniques. Paraprofessional staff deliver nutrition education. They been trained to be culturally sensitive as well as sensitive to the needs of their participants. Classes are held at the Health Department. Food stamp eligible parents attend nutrition classes and receive coupons for food.
Programs teach topics such as infant feeding, reading nutrition labels, and iron in the diet.
Extension collaborates with Heartland Headstart in planning cooking that focus on Budgeting Food Dollars, Following Recipes, and Nutritious Snacks . Head Start is a federally funded preschool program serving 317 economically disadvantaged children and their families in McLean and Livingston counties. In this program participants assess how much control they really have over various aspects of their lives and review their current lifestyle to look for changes they could make. This program is provided for such groups as Girls Scouts, community groups and parents at elementary schools in the area. Childhood Nutrition Robin teaches childhood nutrition including programs on infant nutrition and nutrition for toddlers and preschools.