Extension Health Ambassadors

What does your ideal community look like? Take some time to think about how it would sound, look, and feel to be there. 

Maintaining good health can be a barrier for many communities' growth. To tackle this, innovative programs are emerging to bridge the gap between health knowledge and community action. 

Arkansas has 22 volunteer Extension Health Ambassadors across six counties implementing the vision from their communities to thrive even further.

What is the role of an Extension Health Ambassador?

Ambassadors are required to complete training in fundamentals of public health. They are also trained to increase their communities' capacity by looking through the lens of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD).

In the state of Arkansas, 55 of the 75 counties are considered rural by the USDA. It is widely known that rural populations face disproportionate health challenges. It is the job of the ambassador to understand the challenges, assets, and capacity in their community and use all factors to build a healthier population.

Examples of health challenges for rural communities:

• Lack of access to healthy foods or fitness facilities
• Lack of access to telemedicine due to poor or nonexistent internet access
• Lack of access to medical providers
• Traditional health promotion and disease prevention measures have reduced impact in rural versus urban settings. 

Types of programming from Extension Health Ambassadors:

• Heart health
• Drug misuse and abuse among youth
• Health literacy
• Physical activity for older adults
• Mental health

With the Rural Health and Safety grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture or NIFA, the community, workforce, and economic development team partnered with the health team from Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Science Department to design and implement the Extension Rural Health Ambassadors program. By recruiting volunteer ambassadors to teach Extension health programming to their respective communities, access to and availability of Extension health programming will be increased, and more people can be reached with the end goal of improving their personal health.

Six rural Arkansas counties were chosen to participate:

• Clark
• Hempstead
• Hot Spring
• Mississippi
• Phillips
• Pope