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Impact Report

For plan Youth Development (Valencia County)
Date October 29, 2010, 12:13 am
For Objective Short-term Show short-term objectives
Impact Report Valencia County is within the top ten fastest growing counties in New Mexico. With this growth often come risk factors within the lives of youth, as they are exposed to greater frequency in violence, crime, poverty, gangs, drugs and other negative risk factors. Youth development programs are in great need and high demand. The youth development programming efforts of the Valencia County Home Economist strive to meet the needs of youth that are critical to survival and healthy development including a sense of safety, belonging, membership, self-worth, independence, positive relations and competence. All youth programming efforts provided are focused on helping youth to become productive and responsible adults. 4-H BAKING WORKSHOPS Nine baking workshops were held for 4-H youth in Valencia County. A total of 31 youth attended the workshops. Sixty-five percent attended more than one of the workshops offered. Three older 4-H participants gained leadership skills by being teamed up with younger 4-H members to work on their baking projects. Two adult volunteers (one club leader and one EANM member) assisted with three of the workshops provided. Each workshop provided participants with an opportunity to make one batch of cookies, brownies, muffins and/or biscuits using the recipes in the baking project and a batch of the same using a non-4-H recipe. Youth gained skills in recipe reading, measuring, following directions, teamwork, communication, organization, food safety and understanding the purpose of each ingredient in a recipe. Participants also practiced and gained an understanding of how the quality of a baked item is judged. One of the older 4-H participants wrote in her 4-H Record Book, “Laura (our HE agent) called me and asked if I would help with a 4-H baking class she work working on. Of course, I was excited to. When I got there, Laura started tossing around this teddy bear covered in flour. The flour was “germs” so we looked at ourselves with a black light to see how many germs we had on our hands then washed them and washed again. It was surprising how many “germs” we still had on our hands! At the next workshop a few weeks later, we made muffins!!! In both workshops I learned new ways to measure and that you have to pay attention to instructions! I also learned that you always need to be sure and wash your hands really well!” A 9 year old participant wrote in her 4-H Record Book, “I leaned (learned) not to pute (put) egg shells and yucky stuff in my food. For the EXPO I made chocolate chip cookies and muffins. My muffins placed 2nd!” CONSUMER DECISION MAKING WORKSHOPS Three Consumer Decision Making workshops were held for youth preparing for County Contest. Five 4-H youth participated in the workshops which provided an opportunity to learn how to compare products, prices, features, labels and brands. Additionally, the youth gained skills in justifying and articulating the reasons they would choose one product over another. One parent that attended with her daughter commented, “I never knew there were so many types and purposes of light bulbs. My daughter now knows more than I do about light bulbs and is demanding we change out some of the light bulbs we are currently using in order to save money!” FASHION REVUE WORKSHOP Two Fashion Revue workshops were held for 4-H youth. There were a total of 7 participating in these workshops. Participants had an opportunity to practice modeling techniques, discuss their sewing projects and gained knowledge on the clothing guidelines for this contest. One senior 4-H member attended a workshop “by mistake” but decided she wanted to learn how to sew after having participated in the workshop. She, with the assistance of the Home Economist, traveled to the store, selected a pattern, fabric and notions and spent one afternoon sewing the blouse. Although she had never sewn before and had no intention of participating in the Fashion Revue at County Contest, she ended up modeling her new blouse for the judges. This hands on experience provided this youth with an opportunity to learn a new skill, practice consumer decision making as she selected supplies for her project, a feeling of accomplishment and an increase in self-confidence. YDI AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM The Home Economist had an opportunity to partner with YDI (Youth Development, INC.) in providing ten workshops to 33 at-risk middle school age children participating in an after-school program geared to encouraging youth to stay in school and graduate. Workshop topics included goal-setting, self-awareness, job seeking skills, crafts, nutrition and creative cooking. The interactive workshops provided the youth with opportunity to further develop skills in communication, leadership, responsibility, team-work, money management and budgeting, following directions, listening, cooking, creativity and independence. HOME EC SCHOOL Working in coordination with the Torrance County Home Economist, the Valencia County Home Economist assisted in the organization of a service project workshop which involved 46 youth attending Home Ec School held at Valencia High. The service project involved painting and stenciling thirty 8” pots using concepts from the Housing and Interior Design 4-H projects. An organization (the Ronald McDonald House) was selected to be the recipient of the pots, materials were gathered and organized for the youth attending Home Ec School and a presentation on citizenship was developed and presented to the youth. The stenciled pots were then taken back to the Valencia County Extension Office where they were planted with plants provided by the Valencia County Master Gardeners. The potted plants were delivered to the Ronald McDonald House on behalf of 4-H where they were to be given to the families as they completed their stay. OTHER YOUTH DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS Ninety-three youth from three different agencies (El Cerro Mission Summer Youth Program, Boys & Girls Ranch, and Hogares) participated in at least one of 15 workshops presented during the summer by the Home Economist. The workshops focused on encouraging youth to learn practical home economic and related concepts through hands-on experiences. Participants had an opportunity to develop life skills through workshop which focused on menu -planning, budgeting, cooking, nutrition, cost-effective crafting, container gardening, teamwork, career exploration and leadership. Comments from participants included: • “I learned I’m a good cook! I like cooking and may decide to go to culinary arts school when I’m older” • “I liked baking and making different kinds of food. I also liked getting to eat the different foods I made” • “Everything we made was so easy and turned out so good. I could do this at home and save my mom a lot of time and money” VALENCIA COUNTY COMMUNITY EXPO The Home Economist has worked consistently with the EXPO Board and volunteers this past year in planning and preparing for this 4-H sanctioned event. The purpose of the EXPO is to provide the youth with a positive environment for showcasing their 4-H projects. The Home Economist volunteered with four concession stands, two fundraisers (pancake breakfast and road side clean up) and assisted in the coordination of the buyer’s lunch all geared to raising money to offset the expenses of a fair. The Home Economist attended monthly board meetings and monthly committee meetings in order to have involvement in the planning of this event for the county’s youth. The Home Economist secured seven volunteer judges (three from EANM, two from the Master Gardener’s Programs and two community members) for the indoor exhibits. In addition, the Home Economist, along with the part-time Home Economist and 4-H Agent, encouraged and motivated youth to enter their home economics related projects in the EXPO. This year there were 314 indoor exhibits as compared to 232 indoor exhibits last year.