Lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes are probably not what first comes to mind when you think of school supplies. But these crops were a part of most lessons taught in limited resourced communities by UF/IFAS extension’s Family Nutrition Program (FNP).
The almost 30-year-old program announced recently it will be discontinued Sept. 30 following federal funding cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed), FNP’s funder. All 76 employee positions at the Family Nutrition Program have been eliminated.
The $187 million in funding cuts to SNAP-Ed stem from the Big Beautiful Bill, signed by President Donald Trump on July 4. The bill also tightens eligibility requirements for SNAP-Ed.
In 2024, the Family Nutrition Program reached 31 counties statewide, including Alachua, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, in addition to 3,746 locations.
The IFAS Family Nutrition Program provided educational instruction on physical activity and making beneficial food choices while on a budget to 270,491 limited resourced, SNAP-Ed eligible people in Pre-K to 12th grade in 2024.
At Orlando Day Nursery in Orange County, Family Nutrition Program educators taught children about food groups, the difference between fruits and vegetables and healthy eating, and also helped maintain a garden by obtaining matching grants for self-watering containers.
Tiffany Taylor, Orlando Day’s education program development manager, said the nursery had wanted to start an outdoor learning environment because the nursery’s area is a food desert.
“I hate to see that knowing about being mindful about healthy food and nutrition and what it’s like to actually grow and cultivate it, that might not be a strong knowledge to them anymore,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the garden helped children not only understand but also see the process of growing vegetables.
“Cucumbers were the funniest because they literally would grab them and just chomp in,” Taylor said.
AMIKids, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young people through academic support, partnered with the Family Nutrition Program in 2020 to provide kids with nutrition education lessons and hands-on cooking experience.
Mikhail Scott, a board member with the AMIKids Tallahassee program, said the program was very impactful.
“Working with FNP was a great way for us to be able to educate those students with a program that was being funded to help individuals and families like themselves,” said Scott.
After COVID-19, AMIKids was able to expand to Orange County, Manatee County, Volusia County and Miami-Dade County.
Scott said a memorable part of the program for him was when an 18-year-old man learned how to feed his young daughter meals from recipes he learned during the program, rather than relying on fast food.
“He came into the program thinking that McDonald’s and fast food and some of these other, you know, hyperprocessed and really accessible food locations or food options was the norm,” Scott said. “He was able to go through that program and learn what it was like to eat healthier from the book side of it.”
Nichole Dube, owner of Dube’s Farm and Market, got involved with the Family Nutrition Program’s summer classes in Pasco County in 2023.
She said she partnered with the program to help bridge the summer feeding gap, a period when children who rely on free and reduced lunches lose their access to it during the summer. Dube and her staff filled bags of food for the kids to take home.
Dube recalled an “aha moment,” during the program when she and others were holding fresh produce while walking past kids who were in line for shaved ice.
“They were just as excited about that as Kona Ice,” Dube said.
Dube said she was sad about the program sunsetting because the children had started wanting to eat healthy.
“I think kids are genuinely hungry for healthy food,” she said. “They’re excited for it, they want it, they want to eat healthy.”
Lynnette Jean, associate director of the Family Nutrition Program, said the program is now working closely with its partners so they can carry on providing support.
Jean said she hopes to continue the program’s legacy.
“It’s just pretty incredible to see the deep impact of what our nutrition educators are doing, and the wonderful connections they’re making with our participants,” said Jean.