people

State Initiatives - North Carolina

Extension Point of Contact

Andrew O. Behnke, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Human Development Specialist
North Carolina State University
Box 7605, Raleigh, NC 27965-7605
Phone: 919.515.9156    Email: aobehnke@ncsu.edu

Website: http://www.latinofamilies.net

Current Projects/Activities

Essential Life Skills for Military Families

East Carolina University in collaboration with NC Cooperative Extension and University of North Carolina are providing free educational classes for military couples from around the state. Funding was made possible through a 5 year $2.5 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Family Assistance. Essential Life Skills for Military Families is an 8 or 12-hour program designed to help military members and their families deal with the unique challenges they experience. Sessions are held in members own communities, and the classes are taught by local Cooperative Extension Family & Consumer Sciences Agents. (Contact: Andrew Behnke; Project period: October 2006 - October 2011; www.militaryfamilylifeskills.org)


Strong Couples-Strong Children

University of Chapel Hill is implementing and evaluating the new Strong Couples marriage enrichment program, which targets low-income unmarried couples expecting a child. They hope to essentially reach out to 565 couples per year by providing ongoing weekly sessions of healthy marriage education classes along with ongoing support services. Extension is currently involved in helping to carry this program out to Durham and nearby communities. (Contact: Erline Harvin, Project Manager; Project period: October 2007 - October 2011; www.strongcouples.org).