Source(s):
Nayda Torres NITorres@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-1778 ext. 221
Betty Miller Bettym@mail.co.leon.fl.us, 850-487-3006
Suzanne Wilson shw@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 850-547-7433
Nicole Walker Nwalker@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 863-519-8677
GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Worried about finding the right day-care program for your kids? Wondering about how much television they should watch? Anxious about moving your parents to an assisted-living facility?
The answers to these and other nagging questions are now just a few clicks away, thanks to a new Web site.
The Children, Youth and Families Education and Research Network, or CYFERnet, is a Web-based network with more than 3,000 sources of expertise from across the nation. Created by the University of Florida and other land-grant institutions in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Web site features practical, research-based information on a wide variety of topics.
“Parents and people who work in human services can find up-to-date information on every thing from affordable housing to raising kids and caring for the elderly,” said Nayda Torres, a professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
“Visitors to the CYFERnet.org site can download articles, join discussion groups, learn about conferences and events, follow successful projects in other communities and contact those groups,” she said.
Torres, who is chair of the family, youth and community sciences department, has worked on the project from its inception in 1992. She said CYFERnet began as a support source for community groups that had projects funded by the extension service at various universities and USDA departments.
“The projects involved children, youth, families and communities,” she said. “The groups needed resources they could tap into, and they needed to know how to evaluate their programs. Once we put up the CYFERnet Web site, it was so useful and the response was so strong that we opened it to everyone.”
CYFERnet’s user-friendly Web site made a difference when Betty Miller, a UF Leon County extension agent in Tallahassee, Fla., needed information. “When a young mom called me, upset because her child had been sent home from day care for biting, we found publications on CYFERnet that indicated biting is a normal behavior. And we found information on how to discourage the behavior. The mom put the information to work, and the child is now back in day care.”
CYFERnet currently serves 66,000 at-risk youth and families in more than 200 community programs. “As an information source, it can’t be beat,” said Suzanne Wilson, UF Holmes County extension agent in Bonifay, Fla. “I use CYFERnet for information on after-school programming and for staff training.”
Nicole Walker, UF Polk County extension agent in Bartow, Fla., used CYFERnet when she was writing a grant proposal for USDA. “I found information on similar projects and learned how to document our need for federal funds.”
Torres said new topics are added to CYFERnet on a regular basis. One of UF’s recent contributions includes information on reaching diverse and multi-need audiences. The site has information on recruiting participants from diverse backgrounds and ways to design culturally relevant programs. The site also includes information on training diverse audiences, ethnic holidays and federally recognized heritage months. In Florida, the network is funded by USDA and UF’s Cooperative Extension Service, which has offices in all 67 counties.
CYFERnet is maintained by land-grant university faculty and county extension educators. Materials are available through national conferences, publications and on the Web site: http://www.CYFERnet.org. Submissions to the site are reviewed by university and college faculty at land-grant universities participating in the network.
-30-
0
