I am a registered dietitian and nutrition scientist. My team and I am are currently completing a three-year project supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture. We are working with rural Native American communities to provide tele-nutrition classes to caregivers of young children. Rural Native American communities face disproportionate rates of food insecurity and malnutrition. The goal of this study is to bridge community and UC Cooperative Extension Resources. The UC Cooperative Extension is a network of researchers addressing locally relevant agricultural, economic, and nutrition matters across the state. Our research team for this study includes Cooperative Extension educators, faculty at UC Davis Human Ecology, the UC Davis Medical Center, and Sacramento State. The team plans to test the scalability of this model in other rural communities within and outside of California. The community engagement approach and preliminary findings have been presented at national and international nutrition conferences, including a presentation by a recent UC Merced graduate at the American Public Health Association annual meeting.
