Family and Community Health Programs in Cooke County focus on the areas that are important to families: raising healthy and productive families, preparing and serving the right foods, and managing and spending money smart so that we can Live Well!

Family and Community Health Programs offered by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Cooke County are under the leadership of County Extension Agent, Angel Neu. Angel holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Home Economics from Texas Tech University and a Master of Arts Degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Texas of the Permian basin. She has worked as a County Extension Agent for 25 years and has been serving the citizens of Cooke County since 2003.

Raising Kids

• Parenting Education classes can be offered in a series or in single program depending on participant needs. Programs can be about a variety of topics such as positive discipline, ages and stages of development, building school success, Raising a thinking a child, and many others.
• Safe Sitter is a 2-day course for youth ages 11 to 14 to teach skills for safe babysitting. Topics include, child development, the business of babysitting, first aid, choking rescue, and entertaining children. There is a fee associated with this course.
• Child Care Providers Workshops are offered quarterly to professionals who care for children both in home and center childcare providers. Topics vary from session to session but typically will cover health and safety of young children, activities that promote learning, positive discipline, and child development.

Eating Right

• Maintain, No Gain is a wellness program and is being offered at no cost to families and friends of students at Era ISD as part of the Healthy School Recognized Campus Program during 2022. This is a 6- week program that will serve as a guide to control holiday weight gain and encourage a healthy lifestyle that will help persons decrease their risk factors for cardiovascular disease and stroke.
• Step Up and Scale Down is a 12-week program to help participants manage their weight. Each session lasts about 30 minutes and includes opportunities to visit with other class participants about their success. Extension agents and volunteers lead group sessions which focus on the many aspects of healthy living. An interactive online version of this program will be available in September of 2015.
• Do Well Be Well with Diabetes is a 4-week series of classes for persons diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Classes focus on the aspects of self-care and nutrition. New components included with the program also focus on preparation of foods that help make managing your diabetes easier.
• Walk Across Texas is a 8-week fitness program that encourages teamwork and competition. The goal of Walk Across Texas is for teams to work in groups of 8 and log as many miles as they can over the course of 8 weeks, and hopefully making it across the Lone Star State.   Although we call this program Walk Across Texas, running, jogging, dancing, and mowing are all acceptable ways of getting across Texas too!
• Better Living for Texans is our SNAP-ED (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) and is focused on teaching healthy food preparation, food safety, physical activity and wise use of food dollars to individuals on who receive SNAP benefits, are at risk of being on SNAP benefits, or are on fixed, limited incomes. Programs can be offered one-time or in a series of classes and for both youth and adult audiences.

 Spending Smart

• Dollars and Sense Online Short Course is a 6 week online financial program that focuses on getting your spending and saving into shape. This program encourages participants to examine what their financial goals are, planning for the future, budgeting, managing credit wisely, working their way out of debt, and understanding insurance and investments. Participants have a weekly online lesson and feedback with course instructor periodically.
• Money Smart is a comprehensive financial education curriculum designed to help low- and moderate-income individuals outside the financial mainstream enhance their financial skills and create positive banking relationships. Money Smart has reached over 2.75 million consumers nationwide since 2001. Research shows that the curriculum can positively influence how consumers manage their finances, and these changes are sustainable in the months after the training.
• The Welcome to the Real World! program consists of two parts: financial education and a real-world expenditure decision-making opportunity. Welcome to the Real World! is an active, hands-on activity that includes career and money management fact sheets and gives young people the opportunity to explore careers and make lifestyle and spending choices similar to those adults face. In this simulation of the real world, participants assume that they have completed basic educational requirements for their chosen careers and are single and 25 years of age. They live on their own and are independent, with no financial support from family or others. The participants will select a potential career or occupation that they would like to pursue in the future. After they choose an occupation, they receive a monthly salary for that occupation. They then proceed through the Real World activity, deducting taxes, determining a savings amount, paying a student loan, if applicable, and spending their “salary” on the necessary and other items that reflect the career and lifestyle they have chosen. This is fun interactive program designed for older teens and young adults and leaves a lasting impact.

The Family and Community Health Program in Cooke County has many educational programs available other than those listed here. If you would like any information about the programs we offer or how to get involved in our volunteer programs please enter your information below and we will be in touch with you soon.