Individuals And Families

one masked staff member standing in front of white board with nutrition label info

Through our nutrition education classes, events, digital resources, and strategic community partnerships, Illinois Nutrition Education Programs reached over 1.2 million Illinois residents in 2021.

In 2021, virtual or online lessons continued to be popular due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In some parts of Illinois, face-to-face classes restarted. SNAP-Ed and EFNEP continue to pivot to meet the needs of Illinois families and communities during the pandemic by providing classes and resources in preferred formats.

donut chart showing SNAP-Ed class formats

SNAP-Ed Programming

  • 35,125 youth and adults attended SNAP-Ed classes
  • 8,825 classes attended across Illinois
  • 2.6 million reached with nutrition and physical activity messages and digital education, such as text messages, email, social media posts, and website visits*
  • 428,770 reached through work done to support changes promoting healthy choices in policies, systems, and operations of community partners and coalitions

SNAP-Ed worked with community partners on a nutrition literacy walk at Shiloh Park in Zion for families to read before or after playing together. The goal was to combine literacy and physical activity to the community by placing signs along the path of a park for pedestrians to read as they walk. Local preschools have also visited the walk and enjoyed reading the healthy eating book together.

EFNEP Programming

  • 996 adults attended EFNEP classes
  • 3,790 family members reached through overall programming

EFNEP partnered with WIC and Catholic Charities in Chicago to provide an interactive virtual cooking class experience for families. WIC provided food boxes to participants. EFNEP helped prepare the ingredients and live streamed the program to participants from WIC Grocery sites in the city. During July and August 2021, 48 families participated in the weeklong family cooking class. Classes took place Tuesday through Thursday, featuring healthy, tasty recipes. Families were also able to show their finished dishes and ideas on how they might modify a recipe to fit their family’s preferences.