North Carolina State SNAP-Ed Program

Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education 
The Poe Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and empowering North Carolina’s children, youth and their families to make choices that increase positive health behaviors. By engaging in fun, highly interactive lessons, preschoolers through 12th graders receive information that follows the NC Department of Public Instruction’s Healthful Living Essential Standards on a variety of health topics, including nutrition, cooking, gardening and physical activity education. Classes for adults are also available. The Poe Center travels to serve the entire state and is also a field trip destination. More information about their programs can be found online or by calling 919-231-4006.

Down East Partnership for Children
The Down East Partnership for Children serves elementary school children and families in Edgecombe and Nash counties by providing nutrition education classes at Housing Authority sites, nutrition education and healthy food tastings to a local parent support group for children with special needs and to targeted NC Pre-K sites. DEPC also offers the Faithful Families Curriculum to local churches, gardening and nutrition education support at targeted elementary schools, physical activity technical assistance through the SPARK curriculum at summer food service program sites and sponsors nutrition-focused events. More information about their programs can be found online or by contacting Sydney Land at 252-985-4300.  

Durham County Health Department 
DINE, Durham’s Innovative Nutrition Education, serves the residents of Durham County with nutrition education, promotion of policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes, and support for access to healthy foods. DINE provides nutrition education at child care programs, elementary and middle schools, farmers' markets and food pantries. For more information contact Morgan Medders, Community Nutrition Program Manager, at 919-560-7789.

East Carolina University 
The Motivating Adolescents with Technology to CHOOSE Health (MATCH) program provides clinical care for overweight youth and conducts research and collaborates with the community. MATCH is an effective middle-school childhood obesity intervention aligned with the NC Standard Course of Study to promote increased physical activity and improved nutrition. MATCH meets health and educational objectives simultaneously and reduces obesity in high-risk children. The North Carolina program serves 7th graders (young adolescents) in Burke, Carteret, Sampson, Columbus, Edenton-Chowan, Hoke, Martin, McDowell, Newton-Conover, Perquimans, Pitt, Sampson, Washington and Wilson counties. For more information contact Suzanne Lazoricks, 252-744-3538.

NC A&T University
The Cooperative Extension at NC A&T’s SNAP-Ed program is Try Healthy. Through providing free nutrition education classes to SNAP-eligible families and individuals, Try Healthy promotes healthy eating habits, encourages physical activity and gives prevention and management tips for nutrition-related chronic diseases. Nutrition Program Assistants, 4-H and family and consumer science staff offer nutrition education to pre-kindergarten and school age youth, adults and seniors in schools, community centers, churches, senior centers and YMCAs. Counties served are Alexander, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Cherokee and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Reservation, Columbus, Forsyth, Gates, Graham, Greene, Guilford, Hoke, Jackson, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Montgomery, Person, Randolph, Swain, Scotland, Stanly, Wilson and Yancey. For more information contact Shewana L Hairston, 336-285-4673.

NC State University
NC State’s SNAP-Ed Program, Steps to Health, provides both direct education and indirect education to counties across the state. Direct education programs are multi-session to provide repetition and aid in the retention of information presented and are presented for students in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade as well as adults. Steps to Health enhances direct education by providing support for policy, systems and environmental change at Head Start and childcare centers, elementary schools, retail food outlets and food pantries. Steps to Health also implements social marketing campaigns to reinforce messages to help individuals eat smart and move more. Contact Steps to Health staff, 919-515-3762 to learn more.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC 
Health Choices, Healthy Lives: Eat Better for Less offers Nutrition Education Services for schools for students age 7 to 18 and adults over 18 through Nutrition 101 presentations and workshops, food tastings and demonstrations and the Cooking Matters Curricula Share Our Strength. The program is offered in 18 counties: Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Caldwell, Caswell, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Iredell, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin counties. (Note: Only north Iredell County is covered by Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC. The remainder is served by Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina in Charlotte.) More information about their program can be found online or by contacting Kina Charles, 336-784-5770.

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
The Food, Fitness, and Opportunity Research Collaborative (FFORC) at UNC’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention implements SNAP-Ed programming in Durham, Duplin, Lenoir, Orange, Rockingham, Sampson, Wake and Warren counties, as well as statewide via our Child Nutrition program (learn more about our Carolina Hunger Initiative here: https://carolinahungerinitiative.org/). Our SNAP-Ed program includes interventions in retail and community garden settings, while also supporting programs to facilitate community-based physical activity and healthy eating activities and provide nutrition education during school and summer meal activities to improve health outcomes for SNAP eligible recipients in North Carolina. Contact Molly DeMarco for more information.  

University of North Carolina - Greensboro
Recipe for Success at UNC-Greensboro provides direct nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention education to SNAP recipients in Davidson, Davie, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham and Stokes counties. Education programs are geared towards adults and elementary and middle school students. Education programs are carried out in English and Spanish. Contact Arthur Murphy, 336-256-0013 for more information.