The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), conducted throughout the nation by Extension, began in 1968. But, EFNEP actually was an extension of a pilot project conducted in five Alabama counties.  Baldwin, Calhoun, Houston, Marion, and Walker counties were selected to test ways to reach limited resource families with homemaking skills and education.

The Pilot Project

The Pilot Project Involving Young Homemakers in Low-Income Rural Areas of Alabama was a cooperative
5-year project (July 1, 1964 through June 30, 1969) between the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, Auburn University, and Federal Extension Service, USDA. The three primary areas considered in the Pilot Project were:

• To develop and test methods of reaching and teaching homemakers.
• To develop and test educational materials.
• To determine if paraprofessionals could be trained to teach low-socioeconomic homemakers so they could understand and apply what they learned.