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|Muskegon County | |

|Muskegon County Extension |P: 231-724-6361 |E-mail: Muskegon@msue.msu.edu |

|635 Ottawa Street |F: 231-724-4409 |msue.msu.edu/Muskegon |

|Muskegon, MI 49442-1016 | | |

| |January 2006 |

|MSU Extension works with schools to create healthy environment |New land use educator joins Muskegon County Extension staff |

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|New Family and Consumer Science Extension educator Cyndi Will has started working|Dan Wells joined the Muskegon County MSU Extension staff as the Land Use |

|in elementary and middle schools in Muskegon and Muskegon Heights to implement |Policy Extension educator, effective January. |

|the “Priority Schools” project. |His position is funded 75 percent through a Michigan State University Kellogg |

|The schools, Lindberg Elementary, Marquette Elementary and Steele Middle School, |Foundation People and Land grant, with about 25 percent of his support |

|along with the Family Resource Centers located in each of the buildings, are |contributed as a result of a grant from the Environmental Committee of the |

|partnering with MSU Extension in this effort. |Community Foundation for Muskegon County. |

|Each school will designate a team to participate in an assessment to identify |Wells will be an active member of the Muskegon Area-wide plan implementation |

|needs, set goals and put strategies in place to improve the diet quality and |team. In putting together the proposal for his position with the West |

|physical activity of students and their families. |Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission, it was determined that his|

|MSU Extension staff members will work with the schools, facilitating the |areas of focus will include: |

|assessment process and providing educational programs in collaboration with the | |

|Family Resource Centers, school personnel and after- school programs. |Holding educational seminars to help citizens, elected officials, developers, |

|This is a pilot project funded through the Food Stamp Nutrition Education |builders and realtors better understand the principles of Smart Growth. |

|program, the Michigan Department of Community Health, Michigan Public Health |Preparing model zoning ordinances and codes that incorporate Smart Growth |

|Institute, and the Michigan Department of Education. Each school participating |principles in a common language that can be used by planning commissions |

|will receive resources to purchase educational supplies and support participating|across the county. |

|teachers out-of-classroom time. |Establishing a quarterly countywide meeting with one representative from each |

|Any schools receiving federal support are required to participate in an |of the county’s 28 planning commissions. |

|assessment and have a School Wellness Plan in place by the 2006 School Year. | |

| |In addition, Wells will serve as an educational resource for Muskegon County |

| |organizations and governmental agencies. |

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|[pic] |Michigan State University Extension helps people improve their lives through an educational process that applies knowledge | |

| |to critical issues, needs and opportunities. Offices in counties across the state link the research of the land-grant | |

| |university, MSU, to challenges facing communities. Citizens serving on county Extension councils regularly help select focus| |

| |areas for programming.  MSU Extension is funded jointly by county boards of commissioners, the state through Michigan State | |

| |University and federally through the US Department of Agriculture. | |

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|Nelson Neighborhood gets help from MSU Extension in creating a vision |Community gardeners learn youth mentoring basics |

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|Twenty-five neighborhood residents and guests attended a visioning session for |Muskegon County MSU Extension Master Gardeners are teaching others how to grow|

|the Nelson Neighborhood on Nov. 5 that was facilitated by Muskegon County |healthy kids and neighborhoods. |

|Extension director Mary Robb. |Coleen Boyer, horticulture educator, and Debi Jensen, Master Gardener |

|The purpose of the session was to identify how the neighborhood has been |coordinator, are answering a request from Muskegon County Community Mental |

|successful over the years, what could be improved upon, and determine what |Health to provide education to volunteers who work with low-income children |

|challenges might be faced in the future. The group wanted to create a vision for |and families in community gardening plots. |

|the neighborhood for the year 2010. |Garden managers will attend at least five of 12 workshops being offered to |

|Residents met again on Nov. 16 to revisit their desired future and set |build their youth development and mentoring skills on top of their gardening |

|priorities. The five focus areas identified by the group were: |abilities. Topics include composting, indoor seed-starting, pruning and |

| |growing herbs. |

|Increase the perception and reality of neighborhood as safe, |When spring arrives, these newly trained gardeners will share their skills and|

|Support neighborhood business clusters, |knowledge with adults and youth who will be responsible for planting and |

|Provide organized and effective activities, |caring for their own plots and then harvesting the vegetables, providing food |

|Maintain well-cared-for homes and |for their families. |

|Identify priorities for the neighborhood association board. |These workshops are open to anyone interested. There is a fee of $5 per |

| |session. The meeting locations will be within the city of Muskegon and on the |

|Small work teams were organized around each of the issues and members created |city bus routes. |

|action plans with both short-term and long-term goals. Each group chose a | |

|convener and will report back to the total group on their action planning |New staff member welcomed to Muskegon MSU Extension |

|progress. | |

| |Cyndi Will joined the MSU Extension staff as a Family and Consumer Science |

| |educator Dec. 1. She has worked with families in a variety of capacities and |

| |was previously employed at the MSU Extension office in Kent County. She has a |

| |degree in family life education from Spring Arbor University. |

| |Her work will include helping improve nutrition among elementary school |

| |children (see page 1 story), supervising the Food Stamp Nutrition Education |

| |Program, and collaborating with other agencies and organizations working with |

| |families in Muskegon County. |

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|MSU is an affirmative-action, equal opportunity institution, Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, |

|color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, or family status. Issued in furtherance of |

|MSU Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Thomas G. Coon, Extension Director, Michigan State |

|University, E. Lansing, MI 48824 |

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Nelson Neighborhood Improvement Association Members in Small Group Discussion

Photo courtesy of Tom Hippchen

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