By working and living among those we serve, UC ANR expands the University of California's reach to engage all people and communities in California, ensuring equal access to the UC system, and an ability to do applied work that helps the communities we serve. Location Headquarters : UCCE Humboldt County (Eureka, CA) or Del Norte County (Crescent City, CA) Purpose . The Area Youth, Families and Communities (YFC) Advisor will promote healthy families and communities by designing, delivering and evaluating strategies for sustained behavior changes in youth and community health. This work combines helping youth develop into healthy, responsible, self-directed, productive citizens and simultaneously promotes community health and wellness. The advisor provides leadership and research expertise in nutrition and youth development and will collaborate with local professionals, UC advisors and specialists to address critical issues of childhood obesity, physical activity, and food security. This position will provide academic oversight of community education and outreach program staff related to families and youth, including UC 4-H Youth Development Program (4-H YDP), and the Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) Juntos. The CE advisor will provide leadership to these programs related to the broader sectors of community engagement, holistically addressing a healthy, diverse community for youth and their families. The CE advisor will provide extension leadership with external stakeholders and lead community collaborative grant development linking with appropriate CE colleagues and other researchers. Applied Research, Extension and Education The advisor will have the opportunity to work with 4-H members and their families in all communities, along with the after-school setting where 4-H Youth Development Program delivery also occurs. The counties' 4-H Youth Development Program is supported by a Community Education Specialist. All UC ANR CE academic appointees are responsible for performance in the areas of extending knowledge and information, applied research and creative activity, professional competence and activity and University and public service. This is an exciting opportunity to develop and deliver relevant program content to have meaningful impacts in local communities and throughout California. Opportunities are plentiful for extension and research partnerships with residents, companies, local, state, and federal agencies, tribal governments, UC and CSU colleagues, and NGOs as well the variety of UC ANR programs and academics. The advisor joins a team of highly motivated Cooperative Extension colleagues who are passionate about their work and are dedicated to making a difference within the communities and throughout California. The potential for collaborative projects within the UC ANR system is nearly limitless. Extension and Education: A strong local nutrition network of public and non-profit organizations and agencies offers numerous collaborative opportunities is available including: Humboldt and Del Norte Dept. of Health and Human Services, Humboldt Community for Activity & Nutrition, Humboldt Office of Education, First Five, United Indian Health Services, Latino Net, California Center for Rural Policy, and Food for People, among others. Outreach methods will include individual consultations, field days, tours, meetings, web conferences, UC ANR publications, peer-reviewed journals, and an appropriate mix of contemporary and emerging electronic tools such as online learning, web content systems and repositories, social media, impact and evaluation tools, along with specialized and public media outlets. Research: Research opportunities may include determining program factors or community strategies that contribute to Positive Youth Development; finding effective nutritional messages and programmatic strategies that produce sustained behavior changes for children, youth and families; evaluating outcomes and effects of a coordinated multifaceted nutrition, agriculture and youth development program on outcomes such as chronic disease prevention, whole child health, health equity, positive youth development, and science literacy; and studying the efficacy of using youth as peer educators to deliver science and nutrition curriculum information. The YFC advisor would have the capacity to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives in a rural region where the need is immense among minority populations. The advisor will be expected to publish results through UC Delivers, professional articles, peer-reviewed publications, local, state, and national conferences, and local outlets. The academic in this position will be expected to interact with UC ANR Program Teams, advisors, specialists and others within the research/extension network to develop, strengthen and expand the local delivery of statewide programs. Counties of Responsibility . This position can be headquartered in Humboldt County (Eureka, CA) or in Del Norte County (Crescent City, CA). Reporting Relationship : The CE Advisor serves under the administrative guidance of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) County Director for Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. The CE advisor is programmatically responsible to the Statewide Community Nutrition and Health Director and the Statewide 4-H Director.
