Dominguez joins AgriLife Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in Bexar County
Writer: Paul Schattenberg, 210-631-0400, paschattenberg@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dario Dominguez, 210-732-9300, dario.dominguez@ag.tamu.edu
SAN ANTONIO – Dario Dominguez is the new agent for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, or EFNEP, in Bexar County – a community outreach and education program of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
Dominguez will be based at the EFNEP offices at 8844 Tradeway in San Antonio.
The EFNEP is a community-based, hands-on educational program providing holistic nutrition education for resource-limited individuals and families to help improve their diet quality and physical activity, as well as food resource management, and food safety and security.
“We address these challenges by employing paraprofessional staff and influencing nutrition and physical activity behaviors of low-income families, particularly those with young children,” said Nelda Leyba Speller, AgriLife Extension county director for Bexar County.
“We know Dario has the educational and professional background needed to reach out to these limited-resource families to bring them the nutrition education necessary to help them live healthier lives.”
Dominguez earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Before joining EFNEP, Dominguez was a supervisor, team leader and coordinator at Airrosti Rehab Center in San Antonio. There he supervised a team of 23 departmental employees as well as trained newly hired departmental employees in office procedures and daily tasks related to insurance verifications, claim appeals, records requests and referrals. He also oversaw processing quality control and served as company liaison with external partners such as healthcare carriers and helped coordinate patient needs.
Dominguez also worked at Bexar County Pretrial Services, where he monitored a caseload of up to 200 defendants through the life of their trial. He conducted orientations and screenings of defendants to inform them of the rules and guidelines of their release and updated the courts on the compliance and violation status of defendants.
He has volunteered extensively, including working with Project Sunshine members in the Challenger Sports youth program with the city of Bryan–College Station Parks and Recreation Department. In that role, he created and attended events for special needs children and young adults in the Bryan-College Station area and beyond.
“My goal in this new position with EFNEP is to ensure we are providing a quality service needed by the community,” Dominguez said. “We want program participants to understand and appreciate the value and impact that nutrition education can have — not only on their lives but also the lives of their families.
“I feel I’m am well suited for this position based on my experience as a supervisor, my education in health promotion and the fact that I grew up in Bexar County and would enjoy nothing more than to help make our community healthier one program at a time.”
