ICAN (Ideas for Cooking and Nutrition)
The Ideas for Cooking and Nutrition Program (ICAN) provides hands-on, needs-based education in the areas of healthy food choices, food preparation, food safety and food resource management. ICAN is the umbrella name used in New Mexico to refer to both the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program (FSNE). Limited resource individuals meet with a nutrition educator in a group or one-on-one setting. The classes are taught primarily by paraprofessional educators, who are hired from the communities served by the program. These educators have similar backgrounds to program participants and thus serve as peer role models. County Extension faculty members direct the program in each of the individual counties and hire, train, and supervise the nutrition educators.
Adult ICAN participants attend a series of six to twelve classes. Classes are designed based on participants' needs, and focus on hands-on-learning. Participants learn how to select and make nutritious, tasty foods that are quick to prepare and that make the most of their food dollars and food benefits. Classes for youth consist of approximately four to six classes and also focus on practical skills and hands-on learning. Progress is measured with an evaluation tool that contains information from the participant about behavior before and after the lessons.
The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) was initiated across the nation almost 40 years ago as the response of Cooperative Extension to the plight of those in poverty. The Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service's (CSREES) Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is a unique program that currently operates in all 50 states and in American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It is designed to assist limited resource audiences in acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and changed behavior necessary for nutritionally sound diets, and to contribute to the personal development and the improvement of the total family diet and nutritional well-being. Because funding for EFNEP remained flat, by 1995, only four New Mexico counties were being served (Bernalillo, Dona Ana, San Miguel and Mora). There are two counties which are served by EFNEP in New Mexico at the present time (Bernalillo and Dona Ana).
In 1996, CES acquired funding through the federal Food Stamp program to implement the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program (FSNE), which conducts nutrition education with the Food Stamp eligible population of New Mexico. This funding has allowed the ICAN program (which includes EFNEP and FSNE) to expand statewide. The Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program in New Mexico is a continuation of nutrition activities that have been ongoing for almost twelve years. FSNE classes identify locations in each community and county for the delivery of services that are most advantageous for the Food Stamp participants.
The New Mexico Human Services Department currently provides the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program (FSNE) to food stamp participants throughout the State of New Mexico through a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) with the Regents of New Mexico State University, Cooperative Extension Service (NMSU-CES). NMSU-CES subcontracts with Cooking with Kids in Santa Fe, Kids Cook! in Albuquerque, and the Las Cruces Public Schools Fruit & Vegetable Tasting Program - Las Cruces.
Contacts for the ICAN program are: