For Arkansans who are interested in helping to improve the health of their communities, a new Cooperative Extension Service project in Clark County is seeking local volunteers to receive training and deliver extension health programming.

The Clark County Extension Health Ambassadors meeting will be held at the Clark County Fairgrounds in the Extension Homemakers Kitchen on May 22nd from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

Arkansas ranks 41st out of 50 states for access to clinical preventive care services. This makes it difficult for Arkansans – especially in rural communities – to access health care screenings and other services that monitor well-being and anticipate problems. The Extension Health Ambassadors project will work with these communities to identify and find solutions to their health problems.

JoAnn Vann, Clark County extension Family and Consumer Sciences Agent for the Division of Agriculture, said this is an important opportunity for residents of Clark County to collaborate on improving the health of their community.

“The Health Ambassador program is an opportunity to build on the existing health structure in the county to improve upon and expand access, so all residents have the opportunity to live well,” Vann said. “The best part of this program is that volunteers right here in Clark County will be guiding the process to create sustained improvement in health outcomes.”

The training program is a partnership between the Cooperative Extension Service’s Community, Professional and Economic Development department and the Family and Consumer Sciences department, both a part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The program will equip community volunteers with the health education and teaching skills necessary to lead extension-based health programming in targeted rural counties.

The project recently received funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Rural Health and Safety Education grant program, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Six Arkansas counties — Clark, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Phillips, Pope and Mississippi — were selected to participate in the project for the two-year project period.

To learn more about the Extension Health Ambassadors meeting in Clark County, contact Vann at 870-246-2281 or jvann@uada.edu .

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.