Please click on the image above to view the PDF version of the 2012 Washington Parish Profile.

Program Highlights

Family, Nutrition & Health
Due to the current economic climate, we have seen an in-crease in demand for residents needing supplemental nutrition assistance. SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Pro-gram) provides residents with the opportunity to apply for and receive food stamps to help pay for food items throughout the month. SNAP is given to the applicants who have a gross in-come at or below 130% of the poverty level; a family of 8 mak-ing $4,077 per month or less would qualify for SNAP benefits. In 2006-2010, 26% of Washington Parish residents were recorded as having gross incomes below the poverty level. In order to help guide these residents in making healthy food choices on a budget, SNAP representatives provide nutrition education.

With your support, the LSU AgCenter SNAP-Education program, can continue to educate the SANP eligible public on food practices consistent with the most updated 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and food icon, USDA MyPlate. Participants in the program will gain the knowledge needed to make healthier food choices on a budget while improving overall health and wellness and decreasing the risks of child and adult obesity.

4-H Youth Development
With 1 out of 3 children in Washington Parish considered either overweight or obese, there is a great need for healthy lifestyle education. In response to this epidemic, the Smart Bodies pro-gram has been offered to 10 schools in Washington Parish over the last 4 years. As a result of this program, 1,200 children were reached during the ‘07-’08 school year, 600 in ’08-’09, 939 in ’09-’10 , 1,092 in ‘10 -’11 and 925 in ‘11-’12.

Youth that participated in 4-H healthy living programs, such as Smart Bodies make better food and exercise choices, which leads to less nutrition-related illness leading to lower health cost and a healthy workforce.

Agriculture & Natural Resources
With the increasing loss of agriculture production over the past 20 years, the dairy sector has suffered the most, from 193 farms to 55 today. Local, regional, state and national programs were and are still being held to address the impact on dairy and other sectors (beef, forestry and horticulture) with producers input to help support and meet their needs. Programs offered by Farm Bureau, United States Department of Agriculture (Farm Service Agency, Natural Resource Conservation Service) and universities, all networking to provide the educational and financial resources to maintain those impacted commodity groups along with forestry, nurseries and horticulture programs.

When you support row crops research and outreach programs as research verification programs, partici-pants will adopt environmentally and economically viable production efficiency benefiting the local economy and contributing to economic stability.

Who we reach:

2,218 - Youth (includes 800 4-H members & 20 school 4-H clubs), 17,292 - Adults, 7,089 Ag & Natural Resources, and 10,202 Family Consumer Sciences.

How we reach them:  

4-H clubs, Class series, School Enrichment, Demonstrations, Field days, Workshops, Newsletters, Web sites Publications, Social media, Telephone, WEB, and TV.

Expanding our efforts:

125 Volunteers - 4-H, Master Gardeners, Family & Community Leaders

Parish Facts  

LSU AgCenter County Agents provide research-based information on plants, forestry, wildlife and animal enterprises to Washington Parish clientele. The 2010 total dollar amount from these commodi-ties were:

• Plant enterprises - $23,880,975
• Forestry - $14,851,950
• Dairy, Beef, others - $25,533,423

Data from Louisiana Ag Summary Web site: LSUAgCenter.com/agsummary and State & County Quick Facts : Web site: www.quickfacts.census.gov

Population - 47,168 Land area (square miles) - 670
Persons under 18 years old - 25.2% = 11,886
Persons under 5 years old - 7% = 3,302
Persons 65 years old and over - 14.3% = 6,745
Persons per household = 2.6
Median household income - $30,363
Persons below poverty - 24.1% = 12,264
Other AGE Groups—53.5% = 25,235

Local Issues & Plans for this year

1. Increase productivity and profitability of Louisiana Agricul- ture.  

• Conduct forestry and livestock field days
• Write news column, web page content, Web TV, and seminars on agriculture production practices
• Conduct Master Gardener field days to involve general public
• Conduct farm and home educational visits
• Hold meetings and other activities to meet the needs of clients with research based information
• Use Master Gardeners on community/school horticulture programs

2. Encourage more Community and Economic Development Projects  

• New Bogue Chitto State Park in operation
• Developed a new industrial park for the western part of the parish (Franklinton area)
• Hold monthly economic development meetings on the east and west side of parish with economic development groups
• Since 2006, after Hurricane Katrina, the Northshore has become a magnet for industrial re-location
• Developing a 100 acre recreational complex for the western side of the parish for wholesome family gathering

3. Build leaders and good citizens through 4-H youth development.

• Develop and implement service learning projects throughout the parish

4. Improve health and wellness of the community  

• Develop and implement nutrition education lessons in accordance with the USDA 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americas and USDA MyPlate
• Introduce nutritional advice from an economically smart, garden –based standpoint
• Promote the best practices for selecting healthier food choices on a budget
• Promote safe food handling and increase food security

5. Parents Preparing for Success Program  

• Six week training on parenting and money management education to Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP).
• 20 trainings conducted, 47 participants reached on parenting, budgeting, credit, taxes, time management, nutrition and transportation from July ’11- January ’12.