2024-25 Impact Highlight
Health & Well-being
Innovations in Lifestyle and Disease Prevention Education
At the Health & Well-being Retreat in February, more than 20 Specialists expressed interest in becoming trained facilitators to bring the program to their communities. In Chaffee County, long waitlists prompted the use of Health & Well-being funds to train six new leaders, ensuring more community members can participate. In Eastern Colorado, two Specialists completed facilitator training to re-establish the program locally.
A Healthier Weigh
A Healthier Weigh is a 12-week lifestyle and chronic disease prevention program that combines education, accountability, and community support. Offered across six Eastern CO counties, participants track progress in muscle mass, waist circumference, weight, and steps through InBody scans and weekly challenges. New innovations include:
- A central website for lessons, resources, and reporting
- Local radio partnerships delivering lessons in audio format
- Medical referrals and joint workshops with healthcare providers
- Spanish translation to improve language accessibility
Understanding Diabetes / Dining with Diabetes (DWD)
The Understanding Diabetes online training equipped 90 educators from 15+ land-grant universities with strategies to deliver Dining with Diabetes. Following training, 90% reported increased knowledge and 80% reported greater confidence in program delivery. Partnerships with CDPHE and CDC funding expanded DWD into El Paso, Logan, and Weld counties, each of which ran two program cohorts and showed growth in participation rates.
Everyday Nutrition for Health Webinar Series
CSU Extension hosts quarterly 30-minute webinars to deliver timely, research-based nutrition strategies for daily life. The series has engaged 350 participants to date, with 95% reporting increased knowledge and 97% intending to apply at least one recommendation in their lives.