April Announcements

By: Amanda Graupner, regional educator 

For the past six years, agriculture and natural resources educators Jon Charlesworth and Adam Tyler have demonstrated the value of collaboration by working across county lines to deliver high-quality programming to producers throughout the region. Their long-standing partnership demonstrates how the regional model allows educators to combine strengths, share expertise and expand impact. 

This year’s Private Applicator Recertification Program (PARP) trainings also showcased that teamwork. By teaching the 2026 regulatory topic, focused on the Endangered Species Act, educators were able to share timely knowledge with producers across multiple counties while reaching audiences beyond their immediate service areas.

Regional PARP programs have strengthened partnerships with the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network, introducing producers to emerging agricultural technologies and new resources. Additionally, collaboration with community partners continues to expand the reach and value of these programs by connecting producers with tools, expertise and services that support their operations. 

Through continued teamwork and a regional mindset, Jon and Adam are helping to ensure producers across west central Indiana receive relevant, high-quality education that meets today’s agricultural needs. 

“As a new educator, getting to work in the West Central Regional Team has been a great opportunity,” Will said. “It’s been nice being able to rely on each other’s different strengths and range of experiences as we’ve worked together to create events like the West Central Regional Club Leader training.  

“The best part has been the relationships built between the 4-H educators. We know if there is something we don’t know or are unsure about, that there are team members who can help us through any challenge.” 

By: Kelsey Meyers, health and human sciences regional educator

Purdue Extension East Central Region Health & Human Sciences (HHS) delivered the Cook Along Supper Club, a multi-county, hybrid program designed to increase access to practical, hands-on nutrition education. Serving 80 adult participants across the region, the program removed common barriers to participation — such as travel, time constraints and cost — by offering a flexible format that combined virtual instruction with optional, local host site engagement. 

During a multi-week, interactive series, participants grew confident in preparing healthy and affordable meals at home. The program integrated live cooking demonstrations, simple recipes, grocery planning tools and real-time engagement with local guest experts, creating an accessible and supportive learning environment. As a result, participants reported increased confidence in the kitchen, a willingness to try new recipes and more intentional decision-making around food choices. 

Regional collaboration among HHS educators improved program efficiency and expanded access to specialized knowledge, allowing participants to benefit from a range of expertise not typically available within a single county. The hybrid format also strengthened community connections by engaging individuals virtually and in person and fostering a shared learning experience across county lines. 

Participant feedback highlights the program’s impact and engagement: 

• “This is so much fun — so much packed into one session! LOVE IT.” 

• “I was encouraged to use more vegetables even before they became available in my garden.” 

• “I have really looked forward to this every week … the presenters have been so interesting and helpful!” 

• “I liked that they gave recipes as a foundation and then showed how to make them your own.” 

The Cook Along Supper Club demonstrates how regional delivery models can effectively expand program access, reduce participation barriers and equip individuals with practical skills that support long-term health and well-being.

By: Lily Thill, digital communications coordinator

The East Central and West Central Regional websites are live and ready to share. These sites highlight our work in health and human sciences, community development and agriculture and natural resources. 4-H will remain on county webpages.

County HHS, CD and ANR webpages will be phased out in the coming months. Counties will continue managing their landing pages and 4-H content, while a member of the Extension team will oversee regional webpages. Please share any program, staff or photo updates to Gina Price at gprice@purdue.edu, Olivia De Young at odeyoung@purdue.edu, and Lily Thill at morrislc@purdude.edu. If the update is urgent, please indicate that in your email. If not, Lily will work through updates when she returns from parental leave in August.

Field staff website responsibilities will focus on adding events, both regional and county, and entering 4-H updates onto county 4-H pages.

As we develop strategies to deliver programs regionally, we are focusing on broader reach, depth of expertise, reduced duplication, applied research, innovation and continued service for communities. Stay tuned for updates on the transformation in the next newsletter. 

If you have any questions about the Transformation, please email ExtensionTransformation@purdue.edu, and your question will be sent to the appropriate department.  

By: Extension Communication Committee (Jenny Clark, Olivia De Young, Rachel Dillhoff, Amanda Graupner, Molly Hunt, Kelsey Meyers, Lily Thill) 

Using flyers to their full potential 

Flyers are best suited for print. When shared digitally, flyers that include lots of text present accessibility issues. Here are some tips to help boost engagement and make programs more accessible: 

• Do not share flyers via social media. Any text that appears on a social media image is inaccessible to a screen reader, creating communication barriers for people who are blind or visually impaired. Images with accessibility concerns may be suppressed by social media algorithms. Instead, utilize a photograph as your visual element and include pertinent information by listing it in the social media caption or linking to a web page, such as a Cvent listing or event in Cascade.  

• Photos of real Extension clientele perform better than stock images. Extensive libraries of photos are available from Ag Comm, National 4-H and Indiana 4-H. 

• If you plan to share information via email or on your web page and want a visual element, you can create a simple graphic with just the program name. For example, a graphic could day “MarketReady Producer Training” and then the full program information would be pasted below as text, or HTML. 

• You may be able to create an accessible flyer by utilizing accessibility features (tagging, reading order, alternative text for images) when building it. If you do this, export and share the flyer in a format that preserves these features (Accessible PDF). Sometimes this can take a lot of tweaking to make the flyer meet 100% of the ADA requirements. Include all pertinent information in the body of the email or on the webpage. 

When preparing to promote a program or opportunity, consider skipping flyer creation entirely. Most of the marketing we do now is digital, and flyers just aren't the best fit. For example, 4-H Round-Up and 4-H Academy serve hundreds of kids, but the flyers for those programs (which we created because we'd always done so) were downloaded fewer than 10 times each last year and were therefore discontinued.  

Quick fix – Adding nondiscrimination statement to social media 

Add the Purdue Extension nondiscrimination statement to any social media account that represents Purdue Extension. Making this information available at all times covers all of the content you post on social media and means the nondiscrimination statement doesn't have to be included again on each post you create. On a Facebook page, it's best to locate this under About > Privacy and Legal Info > Description. Copy and paste the info below.