April 1, 2022
By Sara Croymans, Extension Educator, Family Resiliency
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inability to provide in-person education due to university closings and mandated physical distancing in the spring of 2020, the UMN Extension Center for Family Development had to adapt how we engaged with participants and provided education and resources across the state.
As a result, we began offering free virtual education and are currently in the middle of our seventh round of webinars. To date, we have provided 144 webinars, reaching 4907 participants on the live webinars with an additional 4874 people registered and receiving links to the archived webinar. Registrations have been received from all 87 Minnesota counties, over 40 other states, and 11 countries. In one follow-up evaluation, 53% of participants indicated the webinar was their first experience with UMN Extension programming. Several of the webinar topics have been offered in Spanish. In addition, language interpreters have been available for events held in English.
Many of the webinars are offered in thematic series to provide an opportunity for participants to take a deeper dive into subject matter content. Series themes have included Finding Balance, Disaster Financial Preparedness, Financial Parenting, Feeding Your Child, Making Cents of It All, Our Minnesota Communities and U, Protecting Your Family from Identity Theft, What’s for Dinner?, and Supporting the Needs of Families and Communities.
We invite you to participate in one or more of the current webinar series that began in January and continue through April. Together with our partners across many disciplines, we have created six dynamic series. Several webinars are intended specifically for a Spanish-speaking audience.
Share these opportunities with friends, family, co-workers, networks, and program participants. To find additional online offerings from all Extension program areas, visit the UMN Extension web page.
Please register for the webinars you plan to attend by using the links below.
No Place Like Home
- April 6 - RentWise 101
- April 14 - Consejos para rentar una vivienda (Tips for renting a home)
Family Friendly Earth Care
- April 7 - Food Composting 101
- April 21 - Reducing your Family’s Carbon Footprint
Making Cents of It All
- April 7 - Thrifty Thursdays - Budgeting with a Calendar System
- April 12 - Make Money Make Sense
- April 14 - Thrifty Thursdays - Budgeting Using Apps or Excel
- April 19 - Get Ready, Get Set, Get Going: A Guide to Money Management
- April 21 - Thrifty Thursdays - Budgeting with an Envelope System
- April 28 - Thrifty Thursdays - Plugging Your Spending Leaks
Charlas en Español
- April 7 - Ambiente de aprendizaje y éxito escolar (Learning environment and school success)
- April 14 - Consejos para rentar una vivienda (Tips for renting a home)
- April 21 - ¿Qué hago si hay acoso en la escuela de mi hijo? (What to do if there is bullying at my child 's school?)
Recovery and Health
- April 5 - Opioid Overdoses: Risk Factors, Signs and Saving Lives!
- April 5 - A community-engaged approach to supporting recovery from Substance Use Disorders
- April 12 - Harm Reduction 101
- April 22 - Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
Finding Balance
- April 20 - Creating Balance in the Chaos
Extension webinars are offered via Zoom. If you have not used Zoom before, please visit this resource to learn how.
This article was written by Sara Croymans, MEd, AFC, University of Minnesota Extension Educator, Family Resiliency. She can be reached at [email protected] or 320-226-6052.