Dr. Wykia Macon serves as the County Extension Director (CED) and Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Agent for Vance County Center and to know Wykia is to know inspiration, hard work, and passion. In her short time with Extension she has already made big waves. Previously serving as the 4-H Agent in Vance County, Wykia transitioned to her new role as CED with FCS responsibilities by bridging her work through gardening with youth while also bringing in new programs. Some of her FCS related work includes financial management, building recipes and cooking in small settings, and meal preparation from the garden, while also managing the Vance County Regional Farmers Market alongside her staff. She is excited to bring More in My Basket and the Extension Master Food Volunteer Program to Vance County in the coming year.

Wykia takes her role as CED very seriously and works to support her agents and ensure they have the resources they need to serve their community collaboratively. It is important to her to create a shared vision within her office and through a recent strategic plan, her team set a unique goal to revolve around building and fostering relationships. To do that, each agent has been tasked with partnering with someone in the office at least once per quarter, and one new community partner each year.  In addition to her roles as CED and FCS, Wykia also serves as the Local Food Coordinator for Vance County, is a member of a five-county local food council, a member of the Local Food Program Team (LFPT) Farm to School Workgroup, and co-chairs the LFPT Local Food Prep Workgroup.

When asked about her favorite part of her job, Wykia wasted no time to say that it’s all her favorite, but she specifically enjoys figuring out how to address the needs of the community through food. “Our vision in this office says, ‘We are a trusted and well-known source of education and research based information that helps build a brighter future for a healthier Vance County’ and that was something we all agreed on. [This county] suffers with chronic diseases, food security, all of that stuff, so really trying to figure out how we can situate Extension to address some of those things and then watching it come together – it’s fun to see people interested in it, it’s fun to think about, how do we make sure all of this is sustainable?” 

Situated in the Piedmont region of NC, Vance County is seeing a shift like many other counties of going back to the “oldways” of food. Residents are showing more interest in growing their own food, knowing where their food comes from, and how the food they eat impacts their body. Wykia described the residents as ready for a change when it comes to taking over their health and their families health and that is pushing the interest around local food. She says that now is really the time when Extension can step in and be of service in this area. People have good ideas and good intentions but need help organizing and going through the process of setting up a garden or taking food from the farmers market and knowing how to prepare them. Wykia went on to share that the new office goal centered around partnerships is a great way to find how things connect in this space and really meet people where they are in the process and she is excited about the potential impacts in the coming years.Another exciting venture is partnering with Vance County Schools who are a part of the Healthy School program through the CDC and have recently partnered with the Poe Center to establish community gardens at local elementary schools. One of the big goals Wykia has for this opportunity is again, going back to sustainability. Training and supporting people who will manage the gardens and working to create a system that will last is one of the first steps of the project. 

Along the lines of school gardens, one of her favorite projects to date is the Boys and Girls Club Afterschool Garden. Through her connection with the LFPT Farm to School workgroup, Wykia worked to gain knowledge and resources on connecting youth and communities to farm to school initiatives and in 2023, the workgroup funded and supported 23 youth and community members in planning a garden design and building and planting the garden. Youth, community members, EMGVs, and Boys & Girls Club administrators all played a helping hand and the garden now supports learning activities while providing fresh produce for the children.This year, Wykia began partnering with two of her agents to help teach the growing side, and maintain the garden and compost, while she shifts to more of the food preparation side. They also created an Agriculture room onsite to foster excitement around agriculture and local food and even installed a hydroponic system to show kids different ways of growing their own food. They began incorporating farm visits and other ag-field trips as a way for youth to see where food comes from and how it is grown but also as a way to highlight ag careers. Patrick Brown, 2024 Small Farmer of the Year was specifically chosen for one of the farm visits to give youth the opportunity to see black and brown farmers as most of the kids in the club are kids of color. They also took a trip to NCSU and Liz Driscoll, 4-H Horticulture Specialist, taught them about crop and plant sciences. These efforts are just one more way they are collaborating and bringing Extension to the community and they are excited to continue growing the program and connecting the lessons learned to the new school gardens. When asked about the future of local foods, Wykia said she hopes it looks more connected than it is right now but sees it as a chance for growth. She’s excited to work alongside the partners in various local food groups she is a part of to identify the gaps and needs and work to address those together. “But truthfully, what our biggest focus needs to be, especially in Extension, is figuring out a way to engage the youth in agriculture and really change the narrative, because I think a lot of kids, a lot of people in general, are stuck in what agriculture is from a traditional standpoint, and we have to get out of that, especially if we want to bring kids back into it.”