“Oh, the freedom,” Farfan-Ramirez said, remembering her arrival in California following high school graduation.
Farfan-Ramirez became a licensed vocational nurse and worked full time to help support her brothers and sisters, who were also living in the U.S. while their parents stayed behind in Peru. Noting her potential, a doctor colleague suggested she go back to school. Farfan-Ramirezs studied public health, earning a bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley in 1978 and a master’s degree at California State University, Hayward, in 1983.
For two years she was administrator of Mission Neighborhood Health Center, the largest public community health clinic in San Francisco, managing 160 employees.
“It was a really difficult experience,” Farfan-Ramirez said. “I left thinking I would never do administrative work again.”
In 1983, she accepted a job with UC Cooperative Extension as a nutrition educator to have more opportunity to interact directly with low-income, Spanish-speaking families in Alameda County. However, it wasn’t long before Farfan-Ramirez’ new employer tapped her administrative skills.
“The County of Alameda faced budget difficulties,” Farfan-Ramirez said. “The county director asked if I could help him mobilize clientele and negotiate with department heads and county officials to prevent them from taking Cooperative Extension out of the budget. I did, but I really didn’t want to go back into administration.”
Nevertheless, when the county director position opened up a few years later, the regional director of UCCE at the time, Nikki King, suggested Farfan-Ramirez apply.
“My father taught me to be socially responsible and a role model. I saw how the job would allow me to help Latinos and other immigrants who have problems coping with a new society,” Farfan-Ramirez said. “I learned very early in life about ‘Si se puede.’ Yes, you can do it as long as you have determination and persistence. I think I’m the only person in the system to go from nutrition educator to county director.”
The local Latino community was also pleased to see a Latino woman in the UC Cooperative Extension leadership position.
“I think I was the first Latino woman selected as a director,” Farfan-Ramirez said.
Farfan-Ramirez managed the UCCE office for 25 years and maintained an active role in addressing the nutrition needs of under-served populations in Alameda County and Bay Area. A notable example was creation of the Nutrition Education Training Academy (NETA), a program which links UCCE and early childhood education providers to expose 3- to 5-year-old children and their parents to healthy eating habits.
For 10 years, NETA has trained early childhood professionals serving low-income populations in Alameda County. The concept of early childhood education in school settings expanded to other parts of the Bay Area and the state. It also helped bring attention to the issue of childhood obesity in child care settings.
The program quality and educational materials gained recognition and several Bay Area awards. NETA materials, all written by Farfan-Ramirez, became a model for other institutions. NETA is still the only program in Alameda County offering health and wellness for 3- to 5-year-old old children in a formal school setting.
Farfan-Ramirez was among the first to recognize the impact of impaired food systems on the eating habits of inner-city families.
“I conducted a food assessment in Oakland and discovered there were no supermarkets and no farmers markets, only mom-and-pop stores,” Farfan-Ramirez said. “I realized that nutrition education addressed just one part of the problem and that we should focus on changing the environment and improving access to good food.”
Today, evaluating the food system from farm to table has become a popular pursuit, but two decades ago, it was challenging for Farfan-Ramirez to convince agriculture professionals to pay attention to nutrition and for nutrition educators to look closely at agriculture.
In the late 1990s, UC Cooperative Extension in Alameda County was one of 30 community organizations that sought to create a center for sustainable urban agriculture and food systems at the Gil Tract, about 10 acres of farmland in Albany administered by UC Berkeley. Among the goals of the project was exploring the impact of urban farming activities on the nutrition and food self sufficiency of low-income Bay Area residents. The plan didn’t come to fruition, but it demonstrated the broad-based support necessary plus challenges associated with urban agriculture.
“Berkeley was really ahead of its time,” Farfan-Ramriez said.
Farfan-Ramirez was not deterred. As a member of the organizing committee for the statewide biennial Childhood Obesity Conference, she brought attention to the importance of addressing the complete food system rather than looking at nutrition in isolation. She created a food systems track at the conference and was chair of this series of presentations at three conferences.
Now, she said, UC Cooperative Extension and society as a whole recognize the potential benefits of promoting healthful food systems.
“When that happened, and the university approved positions in this area, I decided it was my time to go,” Farfan-Ramirez said. “It was a struggle. I owe a lot to my early upbringing. I never became the president, but I think I fulfilled my father’s dream.”
Farfan-Ramirez said she is looking forward to the freedom of retirement to explore her creative side, something career demands have preempted over the years.
“I’m hoping to do theater, dancing, poetry,” Farfan-Ramirez said. “I would like to travel in Europe and make connections with Latin American cultures.”
She will also maintain her involvement in promoting the development of healthy food systems in the Bay Area and internationally.
“There is a disconnect between agriculture and food. I want to be part of those pioneers working on improving our food systems, social justice and food sovereignty,” Farfan-Ramirez said. “That might be the secret to solving our biggest public health issue, obesity."