I’d like to particularly thank my enthusiastic and dedicated impact statement compilation team:  Karen Ensle, Rutgers University (Childhood Obesity); Judith Breland, Mississippi State (Community Health and Wellness); Diana Doggett, University of Kentucky, and Cathy Martinez, University of Arizona (Financial Management); Brenda Langerud, North Dakota State (Food and Nutrition); Linda Combs, University of Kentucky (Food Safety);  Sonya McDaniel, Oklahoma State (Healthy Homes and the Environment); Liz Kingsland, University of Kentucky (Improving Children’s Lives); and Glenda Hyde, Oregon State (Protecting our Resources – Family Life). Lastly, I’d like to thank my administrative assistant Emily Warrington for all her invaluable assistance with formatting and printing.

This year’s impact statements made their debut at the PILD conference. They were distributed at our NEAFCS association meeting Tuesday afternoon so members could present them to their congressional representatives and Senators the next day. We were very fortunate to have USDA NIFA National Program Leaders Caroline Crocoll and Beverly Samuel at that meeting, They both commented on how much they enjoy reading, referring to and using the information contained in these documents in their work. I have already heard from many members who attended PILD on how they plan on using the statements in their state. Please let me know how they were received and, as always, how we can work to make them even better next year!

On behalf of the Impact Statement compilation team and the Board, I hope that you find these materials informative, impressive and useful as we continue to educate and inform funders, decision makers, and the general public about the critically important work that we do with families, individuals, and communities. Thanks, again, for everything that you do for NEAFCS!