Alameda

As many students continue online learning due to COVID-19, 4-H hands-on learning activities are keeping them excited and engaged in education.

Successfully supporting farming, homemaking and youth development with science-based solutions during UC Cooperative Extension's first 60 years in California prompted UC Agriculture and Natural Resources leaders to consider other ways the same concept could improve American lives.

ANR Staff Assembly's ANR GROWS program was so successful in 2020, they plan to offer it again this year, according to Marvin Flores, Staff Assembly chair for 2020-21.

COVID-19 has impacted low-income communities by increasing rates of food insecurity. In Alameda County, the food insecurity rate is projected to increase 52% from 2018 to 2020.

As we close out the first month of the New Year, our hope for the UC Master Gardener Program is that 2021 will be a year of continued growth in gardening education and support for our neighbors, friends, and communities.

Lynn W. Gallagher, retired project scientist and barley breeder at UC Davis, died on Dec. 15, 2020. He was 77. Gallagher was born in San Francisco and raised in Marin County. He earned a B.A. in political science at UC Davis with his sights set on a law career.

The many months of COVID19 shelter-in-place have been full of challenging changes. We have had to alter the ways we work, play and connect. For the Expanded Food and Nutrition Program (EFNEP), our remote environment has led us to invent new ways to continue serving our communities.

UC ANR Strategic Communications' Linda Forbes and Ricardo Vela made a video highlighting many of UCANR's 2020 accomplishments. The video is posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/9puxX_HAC1s and the script is below.

In the U.S., the holiday season of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year seems to be a nonstop race to the end of the year. Gathering to exchange gifts and eat special food and bountiful meals are common ways we celebrate.

Woodmansee named UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor Grace Woodmansee will join UC Cooperative Extension in Siskiyou County as a livestock and natural resources advisor on Jan. 4, 2021.