Nutrition Education for Wellness

Food & Money Basics:
Choices and Decisions

Key Elements:

Values Clarification | Goal Setting | Balanced Income & Expenses | Food Basics for Survival | Stretching Your Food Dollar

Food & Money Basics: Choices & Decisions...

is designed to assist low income persons to effectively manage their money while making healthy food choices. It is for beginners who need survival life skills, and who are willing to practice prioritizing choices and making decisions. Being realistic, ready, and responsible are key prerequisites.

Major Components

Adjusts typical extension programming for limited resource clientele.
Combines basic financial management and foods and nutrition education curriculum.
Utilizes paraprofessionals to impart technical knowledge and skills to target clientele at opportune moments.
Promotes learner-based, hands-on, literacy instruction.

Delivery Concepts

Is delivered by field educators including agency, program, and school personnel who work directly with clients.
Has been successfully used in group educational settings.
Is modulated into a series of 4-8 group sessions, each focused on a particular topic.
Is adaptable to the needs of the clientele.
Encourages follow-up contact and support to skills learned by clientele.

Food & Money Basics: Choices & Decisions...

has been developed and field tested with community agency paraprofessionals and their clientele since 1995. A training kit for direct service providers consists of a facilitator guide, participant materials, and budget boxes. The subject matter includes money values, goal setting, basic budgeting, nutrition, food shopping, and food safety.

Implementation of this educational module relies upon training of direct service providers by Cooperative Extension Service faculty. Trained agency personnel work with Cooperative Extension Service to instruct their clientele on the module's concepts.

The anticipated output demands behavioral change. Despite the odds, currently trained agency personnel have enthusiastically welcomed this effort that offers their clientele the knowledge and skills to become self-sufficient.

Food & Money Basics: Choices & Decisions has been completely integrated into the Nutrition Education for Wellness (NEW) as one of its lesson package components. Community educators may find more family resource information at Food Resources Management.

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Please send questions or comments to new@ctahr.hawaii.edu. Mahalo!

••••• Updated May 1, 2018 •••••