In April 2005, Extension Family Life Specialists from across the country met to discuss multi-state programming ideas and opportunities for increasing the national impact of Extension programs.

The Early Childhood committee at that conference has decided to recommend three curricula for potential multi-state use, and to collect common evaluation data from states using the curriculum in order to document the national impact of these curricula. The committee members encourage Extension faculty in various states to consider adopting and using one or more of these three recommended curricula.

The Teaching Basic Health and Safety in the Early Childhood Classroom curriculum is one of the three recommended curricula. If you are an Extension specialist or county educator and are interested in using the curriculum as part of a multi-state effort, please contact Diane Bales at TBHS@fcs.uga.edu for more information on the project. If you are not an Extension employee, but are interested in being part of the multi-state effort, contact your local Extension office.

The other curricula recommended in this initiative are the Family Storyteller, developed by the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, and the New Staff Orientation curriculum, developed by Penn State Cooperative Extension.