Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) in Cook County

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) provides information for limited-resource and high-risk audiences to address critical issues, including hunger, infant mortality, prenatal nutrition, and poverty. Two professional nutritionists and twenty-three program assistants are employed to deliver the program to more than 3,300 adults and 3,200 youths in Cook County.

EFNEP has two offices in Chicago. The Chicago South office is located at 5106 South Western Avenue and serves Robbins, Harvey, Justice, Hickory Hills, Orland Park, Ford Heights and Chicago Heights and the Chicago communities of Riverdale, Englewood, Grand Boulevard, South Chicago, Avalon Park, Fuller Park, South Deering, West Englewood, Roseland, Calumet Park, Pilsen, Little Village, and Armour Square. The office works cooperatively with food pantries, commodity food distribution sites, shelters for the homeless and battered, churches, WIC sites, Head Start programs, child/parent centers, several boys' and girls' clubs, the Chicago Housing Authority, several public schools, DCFS and the Illinois Department of Human Services.

The Chicago North office is located at 1000 N. Milwaukee Avenue and serves Maywood and the Chicago communities of Austin, North and South Lawndale, Uptown, West Town, East and West Garfield, Rogers Park, Portage Park, and Humboldt Park. The office works collaboratively with public schools, park districts, YMCA's Boys' and Girls' Clubs, food pantries, WIC, MAC centers, child/parent centers, Head Start centers, HIPPY programs, and parent/child centers.

EFNEP helps families take full advantage of the resources they have. At distribution sites for USDA commodity foods, many needy people were turning down free food because they were unsure how to prepare it. EFNEP responded with workshops at the food pantries so people could learn how to use the food and by offering recipes. As a result, more people began using the commodities.

For more information, please contact:

Willene Buffett
Unit Leader, Cook County/Chicago
Cook/Chicago South Unit Office
5106 S. Western Avenue
Chicago, IL 60609
Phone: (773) 737-1178 FAX: (773) 776-2148
E-mail: buffettw@ces.aces.uiuc.edu

Beatriz Quinonez
Extension Educator, EFNEP/FNP
Cook/Chicago North Unit Office
1000 N. Milwaukee, 4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60622
Phone: (773) 292-4444 FAX: (773) 292-4448
E-mail: quinonezb@idea.ag.uiuc.edu