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Douglas County Extension says loss of $150,000 federal SNAP grant halted local nutrition education
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Summary
At an April 15 Douglas County commissioners work session, extension staff described program work on food security, 4‑H, agriculture and land stewardship and warned that a long‑running federal SNAP education grant worth about $150,000 ended, eliminating two nutrition educator positions and pausing nutrition education in the county.
Marlon Bates, county extension director, and extension staff told the Douglas County Board of Commissioners on April 15 that local extension programming spans food security, 4‑H youth development, agriculture and land stewardship, but that the office recently lost a decades‑long federal SNAP education grant that supported nutrition education.
Caitlin Pineva, the community health and wellness extension agent, said the grant had provided roughly $150,000 a year and directly supported two full‑time equivalent nutrition educator positions. "That was a loss of close to, a $150,000 in grant funding," Pineva said, and she added that the funding had paid for staff time, supplies and food. She said extension experimented with a fee‑for‑service approach but found community partners lacked the funds to cover those costs, leaving the county without nutrition education programming for now.
Why it matters: extension nutrition educators worked with community partners to reach low‑income residents and to teach skills for stretching limited food dollars. The office reported it reached roughly 18,000 educational contacts across program areas last year, and Pineva said the loss of the SNAP grant removed the hands‑on staff capacity that previously supported vulnerable populations.
The presentation also detailed other extension work. Pineva and LiveWell Douglas County co‑lead food‑security efforts and highlighted Extension Master Food Volunteers who help people complete SNAP applications at partners such as Just Food, Heartland, Trinity Faith Pantry and the Senior Resource Center. Nikki Harding, the county 4‑H and youth development agent, said traditional 4‑H enrollment is about 300 youth annually and that the Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF) program involves 18 months of preparation, fundraising and local civic learning before a trip to Washington, D.C.
On agriculture and land stewardship, Margate Kaltenegger, the agriculture agent, described soil‑health workshops and field trials, and cited partnership work with the Kansas Soil Health Alliance and the Douglas County Conservation District. Sharon Ashworth, horticulture and natural resources agent, outlined a landowner resource guide developed with zoning and the Heritage Conservation Council and gave attendance numbers for outreach events: a "Living with Fire" program had 51 attendees, and the master gardener native plant sale grew from about 300 attendees in 2022 to about 980 last year. Ashworth said the sale will offer more than 10,000 plants and expects roughly 1,000 shoppers this year.
Commissioners asked how extension measures economic outcomes. Bates said extension collects some event metrics: the Kaw Valley Farm Tour had more than 3,000 attendees last year and an average visitor spends about $120 over approximately 3.5 farms, which provides short‑term economic estimates for participating farms. On equity and reach, Bates said extension collects demographic data from willing participants (a stewardship of federal reporting requirements) and uses parity calculations, partner counts, participation numbers, CRM distribution lists and social media metrics to assess whether programs reach underrepresented populations.
What comes next: extension staff said they will continue to explore funding and partnership options to restore nutrition education, and commissioners thanked staff for the breadth of services and close partnerships with county departments. The work session recessed to the county business meeting at 5:30 p.m.
"We don't just ask folks to come to us and help us do more. We invest in those volunteers," Bates said when describing volunteer contributions, and Pineva added that the lost grant "is a loss" to the community's nutrition education capacity.
The county board took no formal action during the work session; the report was informational and intended to guide future budget and partnership discussions.
