STATE HIGHLIGHTS
State: ID
Program Name: Idaho 4-H Afterschool
HIGHLIGHT: Lights On Afterschool! - The newly formed Idaho Afterschool Alliance, of which Idaho 4-H is a founding member, is sponsoring the first state level LOA event to be held October 6th at the Idaho State Capitol. Idaho's Governor will sign a proclamation in support of after-school programs. Interactive educational exhibit and healthy
snacks will be available for children, families and after-school staff at the park across the street from the Capitol. The Idaho Afterschool Alliance members also include The Governor's Executive Office for Family and Children, Idaho Department of Education Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, YMCA, and Boys and Girls Club.
eXtension funded the Youth Literacy in Science, Engineering and Technology grant. PI's are Tony Cook, Auburn University and Trudy Dunham, University of Minnesota. CYFERnet School Age (Maureen Toomey) will be part of the Community of Practice. All are welcome to join.
Idaho 4-H Afterschool is seeking grants to support Walking for Health project. Walking for Health focuses on increasing physical activities and learning about healthy snacking. The project lets children use pedometers to track their daily steps and a variety of curriculum on food and nutrition. The goal is to increase physical activities and improve snacking choices in children. Maureen Toomey and 4-H Afterschool staff designed a weekly journal that all after-school sites will use to track data and demonstrate impact. $3000 from Idaho Extension has been funded.
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State: CO
Program Name: Colorado 4-H Afterschool
HIGHLIGHT: Jan Carroll is co-chairing the Policy and Funding Committee as a member of the Steering Committee of the Colorado Afterschool Network (CAN). We are drafting a "case" for state-level funding for after-school programs, and will present it at an event after the November election and prior to the 2007 legislative session.
4-H/K-12 Work team was awarded a Cooperative Extension Venture Grant ($15,000 over two years) to design, develop, pilot, and launch "4-H Science Days" for middle school students who have a day off school (4-day school week, Monday holiday, teacher in-service, etc.). We will use WonderWise curriculum materials and align with Colorado Department of Education Model Content Standards for Learning.
Five Colorado counties are recipients of a JCPenney Afterschool Fund Mini-Grant. These grants are helping 4-H provide after-school slots at partner programs in Denver, Boulder, Larimer, El Paso & LaPlata Counties.
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State: OK
Program Name: Oklahoma 4-H Afterschool
HIGHLIGHT: Oklahoma was one of ten states to receive a NFL/JCPenney 4-H Afterschool Workforce Preparation Grant. We chose the "Get in the Act" curriculum for teens to teach to middle school youth in various after-school settings. In addition to teaching middle school youth the delegates who attended the grantee training conducted a workshop at National 4-H Conference, S.E. and S.W. District Volunteer Conferences, State 4-H Round-Up, and the State 4-H Volunteer Conference. A display of the project was set up at the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Extension Conference and the Southern Region Biennial Meeting.
The 4-H Afterschool online course developed by the Oklahoma 4-H Afterschool team continues to be posted on CECP and Oklahoma educators receive 2 days of in-service credits if they complete the course. Once completed all educators receive the 4-H Afterschool in A Box Curriculum.
FCS and 4-H Extension Educators continue to provide programs in after-school settings. The S. E. District of Oklahoma received a Learn and
Serve Grant from the State Department of Education in 2004. As we network with schools or organizations offering after-school programs we are
encouraging youth to participate in service learning activities. This provides a network for hands-on learning while serving others.
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State: WI
Program Name: Wisonsin 4-H Afterschool
HIGHLIGHT: Wisconsin 4-H and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction have pooled their resources to converge for a common cause. Ten counties will receive funds to help underwrite some of the costs to train Afterschool staff and local volunteers to support the vision of the Wisconsin Afterschool Network that all Wisconsin school age children and youth will have the opportunity to attend a high quality afterschool program. 4-H Staff will work with local partners to ensure that training fits
local needs. Contact theses county 4-H staff via e-mail if you would like to be part of this local partnership effort.
DANE COUNTY -- $1,000 to Sally Bowers, Dane County 4-H Youth Development Educator to work with the City of Madison Office of Community Services, Center for Biology Education and the Adult Role Models in Science to create science kits and provide training for afterschool staff.
JACKSON COUNTY -- $510 to Deborah Jones, Jackson County 4-H Youth Development Agent to work with the School District of Black River Falls to train "BLAST" (Black River Learning After School Time) staff and High School BLAST aides to support 4-H Afterschool Clubs.
KENOSHA COUNTY -- $540 to Andrea Grant, Kenosha County VISTA Volunteer to work with the Kenosha Unified School District's 21st Century Learning Centers to create an Afterschool staff manual and provide support on how to use it.
LANGLADE COUNTY -- $500 to Dawn Schneider, Langlade County 4-H Youth Development Agent to work with the Unified School District of Antigo and Boys and Girls Clubs of Langlade County to train staff on how to strengthen youth leadership skills and plan high quality afterschool activities.
LINCOLN COUNTY -- $800 to Deborah Moellendorf, Lincoln County 4-H Youth Development Agent to train Merrill and Tomahawk after school staff on how to deal with challenging behaviors and support 4-H Ambassadors to teach character education to younger youth.
OUTAGAMIE COUNTY -- $1,000 to Ellen Andrews, Outagamie County 4-H Youth & Family Program Coordinator will work with the Appleton School District to train afterschool staff on how to work with community volunteers. They will also train high school volunteers on effective tutoring strategies and how to facilitate activities with younger kids.
SAWYER COUNTY -- $900 to Lori Laberee, Sawyer County 4-H Youth Development Agent, who will work with the Winter 21st Century Learning Center. They will help afterschool staff and youth volunteers improve their ability to offer high quality care, education and developmental experiences for youth.
WASHBURN COUNTY -- $500 to Annette Bjorklund, Washburn County 4-H Youth Development Educator to work with Spooner and Shell Lake Elementary schools to prepare volunteers and staff to implement 4-H Afterschool programs.
WAUKESHA COUNTY -- $450 to Denise Retzleff, Interim Waukesha County 4-H Youth Development Educator to train Wisconsin Youth Company afterschool staff on the value of experiential learning and how to incorporate life skills into their activity plans.
WAUSHARA COUNTY -- $915 to Barb Barker, Waushara County 4-H Youth Development Agent to work with the Wautoma Area School District to train 24 high school teens to work with youth in grades 4-8 on homework help and community service.
For the past two years, there have been 4-H Afterschool training funds from J. C. Penney Afterschool and the Cooperative Extension Deans Fund to conduct four regional training workshops each fall. This year, on behalf of the Wisconsin Afterschool Network, DPI is providing $5,000 for county 4-H staff to provide leadership to train after school staff, 21st Century Learning Centers, community organizations and 4-H volunteers. The Wisconsin 4-H Youth Development program is providing an additional $2,000, as well as all the in-kind staff time to provide youth development expertise. These funds will support training at the local community level where it will be customized to meet the needs of local partners and have the greatest impact.
In 2005, Wisconsin 4-H Afterschool programs reached 1,965 youth in 79 4-H Afterschool Clubs as well as 1,374 youth who participated in other UW Extension supported school age child care programs. Community based partnerships like these help keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and to help working families. Congratulations goes out to the 4-H staff and their community partners in these ten Wisconsin counties.
Training will take place between August 15, 2006 - May 15, 2007. Local partners who want to be involved with this training should contact the county 4-H staff listed and set up an appointment to discuss how they can best work together. Kathi Vos, 4 H Experiential Learning Specialist and members of the Wisconsin 4-H Afterschool team will provide technical support and teaching kits from the 2004 and 2005 regional 4-H Afterschool workshops.
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State: TN
Program Name: Tennessee 4-H Afterschool
HIGHLIGHT: Tennessee has just completed the NFL/JCPenney 4-H Afterschool Workforce Preparation Grant project. We have continued interest from the initial after-school sites to continue 4-H programming.
Extension 4-H Agent Justin Crowe is wrapping up 4-H Afterschool and Workforce Preparation trainings which were offered statewide. Every 4-H Agent in the state of Tennessee received material to help them start a 4-H Afterschool program in their county. UT Extension is continuing with a $210,000.00 grant from the Tennessee Department of Education and the Lottery Commission. Three counties received funding for 5 days per week 4-H Afterschool programs. These counties are Madison, Davidson and Unicoi.
Noted success: Recently, a 4-H Afterschool club from Lawrence County, TN raised a prize winning pumpkin through
learning about horticulture and plant science. The pumpkin was raised at the Extension Office in Lawrenceburg. The pumpkin weighed in at 1,078 pounds - a Tennessee record.
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State: KY
Program Name: Kentucky 4-H Afterschool
HIGHLIGHT: Deana Reed has been invited to become a member of the KYCSACC (Kentucky Coalition for School-Age Child Care) board. She believes this membership will be a very interesting and exciting opportunity for networking and learning about school-age child care efforts in KY. It will also provide opportunities to market and promote KY 4-H Afterschool efforts and help establish county-level connections across the state.These grants are helping 4-H provide after-school slots at partner programs in Denver, Boulder, Larimer, El Paso & LaPlata Counties.
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State: MD
Program Name: Maryland 4-H Afterschool
HIGHLIGHT: Maryland has completed the Wonderwise Grant Sponsored by Toyota USA. Our sites are looking for future funding as they plan to continue this program into the fall and next year.
We are planning a series of "brown-bag lunches" where Educators will be able to take trainings online via Centra in after-school, curriculum, grantsmanship, childcare, etc. from our professionals and others from around the country.
We are looking at creating a movie clip promoting our work in after-school. We are in talks with the MD 4-H Tech Team to see if they would like to work with us on this project.
The Afterschool Task Force developed an RFP that went out this summer for Innovative Programming in Afterschool. Proposals had to address one of the Pathways to Positive Youth Development in Afterschool through 4-H:
Program delivery
Enriching existing community after-school programs by providing 4-H curriculum resources and training to use the resources
Starting new after-school programs in underserved areas
Starting 4-H clubs in after-school settings
Staff development
Training for after-school staff to increase their knowledge and skill in program delivery or in positive youth development
Training for community-based volunteers to deliver 4-H programs in after-school settings
Training for teen leaders to deliver 4‑H programs in after-school settings
Community enrichment
Conducting community needs and assets assessment to increase the number or quality of after-school programs available in a community.
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State: DE
Program Name: Woodbridge 4-H Afterschool
HIGHLIGHT: Rhonda Martell, who is our program director for the 4-H Afterschool Program at Woodbridge in Sussex County sent this report. I thought you would like to know about our successes there. In addition to being a quality afterschool program, the teens participating in the EYSC3 program were active participants in teaching afterschool to this audience. This school district is among the poorest if not the poorest in the state.
It takes time to make an impact, but this program and others prove that it can work.
Mark,
I am pleased to report that the statistics indicate that we have met our 21st Century Goals which include the following:
-To increase DSTP score by 10% among our participants.*** 69% of our participants increased their Delaware State Test Scores
in Reading.*** 36% of our participants increased their Delaware State Test Scores
in Math.
-To decrease absenteeism by 10% among our participants.*****We have a 50% decrease in the participants absenteeism from school.
We had a total of 73 attendees. 61 indicated they are on free or reduced lunch and 12 couldn't be determined.
Our breakdown according to grades is as follows:
5th 18
6th 22
7th 25
8th 8
African American 52
Hispanic 2
Caucasian 19
Male 38
Female 35
The Woodbridge After School Program used 4-H projects as the academic enrichment programs. Youth enjoyed participating in project areas of Sewing,
Cooking, Aerospace, Agriculture in the Classroom, Performing Arts, Arts and Crafts, Shooting Sports (Archery), Photography, Health and Nutrition, etc. We
also ran the Nemours 5-2-1 Almost None program, held Youth/Adult Drug Prevention Advisory Councils/quarterly events and performed monthly
community service projects. We also held parenting classes for the parents and invited the parents to a quarterly parent night to see what their youth have
been learning. Because sustainability is an issue, we held a community wide Choir Festival and Silent Auction Fundraiser, as well as solicited support from
local businesses.
Rhonda Martell, Extension Agent
