Communication and expressive arts empower you to tap into your own creativity, self-expression, and communication skills. Whether you want to create a new custom design, write a poem, tell a story, or learn a new language, you can teach or learn to speak with confidence, defend a compelling argument, or hone in on untapped artistic ability to make a community impact or further develop your own communication skills in
UFM classrooms and your local community.

Being a leader in your community doesn’t just have to be an assigned position or role. You can learn to exercise leadership as a practice of bringing out the best of yourself and in others. Leadership skills involve effectively communicating, collaborating with others, public speaking, helping to manage organizations and groups, inspiring others to lead, making responsible and ethical decisions, and addressing and adapting to change. If you want to explore a new community enrichment or personal development option for yourself and your community, you can take a class or teach it here. Start your leadership journey today!

Engineering and technology are integrated into how we think critically to solve everyday problems, engage in teambuilding, and explore STEM fields. If you’re interested in learning or teaching how to build things, be a programmer, or create a new design idea, this is a community enrichment opportunity for you!

This community enrichment class category includes food and nutrition as well as health and wellness options. Teachers and learners engage in culinary arts, activities to support healthy living, budgeting, stress management, lifespan development, family and child development, how to make decisions which directly impact daily living and much more. Community members can also learn important financial literacy skills and consumer rights and responsibilities to make good decisions.

UFM is known for having the oldest community garden in Kansas for over 50 years, so we are all about community-engaged teaching and learning involving plant sciences. The plant science class category can include tending to a garden, horticulture, landscaping design, learning about insects and even environmental responsibility. Check out a class or sign up to teach one today!

The Kansas landscape is full of wonderful educational adventures and ways for community members to connect with nature and engage in outdoor activities. This class category allows teachers and learners to connect around topics such as outdoor safety, geology, and wildlife education and management.

Many of us come from farm families or have friends or extended family who have commercial or hobby farms or partake in the homestead lifestyle. This class category addresses community enrichment from an animal science lens – developing skills around animal care and health, how to raise farm animals, companion animals, or even exotic pets! There is really something for everyone whether you are an aspiring farmer or love one. Check out the amazing world of animal science from your own backyard.

Lifetime Learning classes provide life-enrichment opportunities where learning never stops. UFM’s Lifetime Learning program’s mission is to offer educational programming and activities for learners age 50+ to enrich their social, cultural, and intellectual learning opportunities. 50+ adults engaged in community-based educational options can experience physical health benefits, improved mental and emotional well-being, increased cognitive stimulation, as well as social engagement, belonging, and a sense of purpose and self-worth. All ages are welcome.

Community enrichment and personal development extends across the lifespan at UFM. We particularly enjoy supporting youth, who are tomorrow’s leaders, in exploring different class categories, finding purposeful activity, and feeling empowered to make a difference in their community and world. UFM helps youth be teachers and learners in a community-engaged classroom and actively connects youth to Kansas 4-H to deepen their understanding of different youth development project areas. UFM programming also intentionally serves vulnerable at-risk youth in culturally responsive ways through our teen mentoring after school program and YouthBuild workforce development program.

UFM is a military-connected organization serving active military service men and women, veterans, and families. We offer a variety of options to get involved through teaching and learning and veteran scholarship opportunities and actively support veteran wellness through our community enrichment courses. Check out how you can get involved in military and veteran opportunities.

Gaming, board games, tabletop role playing games, card games, galore! Since the beginning of time, humans needed ways to spend leisure time to connect to our community and have social time. Leisure activities help community members manage their mental and emotional health and develop social connections, community engagement, and support. Board games can even have cognitive benefits and support brain health and cognitive function.

UFM offers various sports and fitness-related programs to stay active, be healthy, build relationships through team involvement while fostering community bonds. Participating in community sports and fitness programs strengthens social ties and reduces feelings of isolation and can also boost productivity and prevent burnout. Having an active, healthy, fitness-based lifestyle can improve not just our physical but our mental health as well.

Culture is everywhere and can really be anything that gives you a ticket to explore the world. Cultural studies are related to the values, beliefs, behaviors, and perceptions of a group of interacting people. This class category can be linked to literature, music, sports, TV, and religion. Each of these areas reflects how educational experiences carry both historical and cultural significance. Cultural studies are grounded in social and community engagement and how we find the rich complexity of how to navigate cross-culturally as we learn about ourselves and others.

Start learning something new today! UFM partners with LERN to expand our educational offerings. These classes offer online, self-paced learning opportunities for professional development, earning CEUs, or certificates. Several courses and certificates are offered in categories such as Business, Business Communication, Data Science, Human Resources, Leadership, Management, New Media Marketing, Personal Development, Social Media for Business, Technology Skills, Training and Education, and Training for K-12 Teachers. All of these courses are asynchronous (self-paced). There are no live components for these classes.

All of the course units are posted from the beginning of the course with a unit designated for each week. Each course has a defined start and end date, but students can finish the class at their own pace between those dates. We are offering these courses to enhance and expand learning opportunities  available across the state of Kansas.

At UFM, we support special populations with programs and services to meet their unique needs and also provide classes to equip families and caregivers in navigating the world with a community member with special needs. Our aim is to create more learning opportunities which are accessible and welcoming to our special needs community and provide resources and support to those who advocate and support this community daily.