Editor's letter

WHAT IS POVERTY? And how does one of the wealthiest nations on earth help its citizens who struggle to make ends meet?

In my few years of editing this magazine and writing about UI CALS and Extension programs, I’m often impressed by efforts of our faculty and staff members to tackle poverty head-on through a variety of nutrition, health, and budgeting/finance programs.

For more than 30 years the University of Idaho’s Extension educators and specialists have partnered with the United States Department of Agriculture and other federal and local agencies to help families on food stamps make their food dollars stretch. These programs evolve and continue in many Idaho counties.

New efforts address poverty by trying to help citizens of small towns with high poverty rates find ways to prosper both at the family and community levels. Will they work? Evidence looks so intriguing that faculty and students from across campus are bringing new ideas to try—-real world practical ventures for our students while they help Idaho citizens.

We hired UI political science alum ANDREA VOGT, who grew up in Potlatch, Idaho (pop 791), to visit these programs and interview participants—from the Coeur d’Alene reservation to Bovill in northern Idaho, from Boise and Gooding to Twin Falls in southern Idaho.

It would take too many pages to report all the ways our college and UI Extension help Idaho. We think you’ll enjoy reading what’s happening in some of our front-line poverty-fighting efforts.

Elsewhere, BILL LOFTUS went exploring with UI horticulturist STEVE LOVE in search of the most stunning Idaho wild plants that might end up in our gardens.

MARLENE FRITZ camped near Ketchum with Idaho military families whose moms and dads, now back from Iraq and Afghanistan, took treasured  time to reconnect. Also, meet three new faculty members from other countries and ten undergraduate students who may come up with future cures for diseases.

                                                       Mary Ann Reese, Editor

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