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Local Programs

Agriculture and Natural Resources programs assist citizens, agricultural producers, and green industry professionals with many issues affecting their homes, lawns, landscapes, commodities, and livelihoods. From safe and effective pest management to the proper culture of plant materials, the efforts of this program combine to protect water quality across the 15 watersheds located within Henrico County.

The family is the cornerstone of a healthy community. Virginia Cooperative Extension strives to improve the well-being of Virginia families through programs that help put research based knowledge to work in people’s lives. Family and Consumer Sciences educators help Virginians learn to make good choices for themselves and their families. This, in turn, strengthens their communities and the state.

A Vision for a Stronger Commonwealth

Our Extension agents teach Virginians how to improve their quality of life by giving them the skills to: 

  • Prevent chronic disease with a healthy diet 
  • Identify quality childcare 
  • Plan for home ownership 
  • Make good parenting decisions 
  • Handle and preserve food safely 
  • Be a wise grocery shopper 
  • Handle credit wisely 
  • Plan for elder care needs 
  • Manage finances successfully 
  • Prepare for and cope with disasters 
  • Manage home-based businesses 

We work with other state and local agencies for many of our programs, and through these partnerships we maximize the impact and quality of our resources. Our staff and trained volunteers help build and strengthen these collaborations and extend our resources to more Virginians.

Developing Life Skills

We help Virginians develop wellness life skills in our three pillar program areas: 

  • Food, nutrition, and health 
  • Family financial management 
  • Child development and parenting 

Whether preventing chronic disease with a healthy diet, purchasing a family home, or identifying quality childcare, Virginians benefit from the comprehensive education in these three areas.

Making an Impact

Our programs reach tens of thousands of families across the commonwealth each year.The Virginia Family Nutrition Program offers numerous nutrition education programs to low-income adults, youth, and families, on how to make informed, healthy food purchases on limited budgets for overall health. Every $1 spent on quality nutrition education saves as much as $10 in long-term healthcare costs. The program also uses multiple-pronged strategies to help make policy, systems, and environmental changes to promote access to safe, affordable, and nutritious foods. 

The Healthy Weights for Healthy Kids curriculum promotes positive attitudes and behaviors toward diet, physical activity, and body image in youth ages 7 to 14. These programs and others like them successfully teach adults and children how to make wise nutritional choices, prevent chronic disease, and stay on a budget. 

Our family financial management programs help Virginians learn how to establish spending plans and create goals. Programs on budgeting, improving credit score, planning for home ownership, reducing debt, and preventing identity theft help secure healthy financial futures for Virginia families. 

Our programs for families teach helpful parenting techniques, how to strengthen parent-child relationships,and ways to encourage families to eat nutritious meals together. These skills help parents raise healthy children who are ready to succeed in school and life.

4-H diagram

What is 4-H?

The youth development education program of Virginia Cooperative Extension, 4-H is rich with learning experiences in which young people partner with caring adults and volunteers in a fellowship unlike any other program available to youth today. Through 4-H, young people are encouraged to participate in a variety of activities that emphasize 4-H's "learning by doing" philosophy of youth development.  We bring research-based information from our land grant universities – Virginia Tech and Virginia State University – to the youth in our community.  The mission of 4-H is to develop leadership, citizenship, and life skills. 

Last year, Henrico County 4-H had over 6,000 youth enrolled in 4-H programming and 175 youth and adult volunteers! 

Henrico County 4-H

Engaging with Communities

Virginia Cooperative Extension specialists in community viability work with Extension agents, campus-based faculty, organizational partners, communities, and individuals to further opportunity and build capacity in five program areas:   

Examples of our work include training county elected officials, educating entrepreneurs, facilitating collaborative projects, supporting the growth of community food systems and local economies, enhancing agent skills and community capacity in facilitation and leadership, conducting problem-driven research, and creating publications and tools that address critical community needs.

Do you have a question about Community Viability?

Perhaps one of the Community Viability specialists below can help you. Contact a Community Viability specialist or direct a question to them using our Ask an Expertsystem. 

Community Viability Specialists