Adult Volunteer Leader Development

Afterschool Ambassador, 2007-2008
The New Mexico Afterschool Alliance appointed Cindy Davies, Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Agent to take the volunteer position as the NM Afterschool Alliance Ambassador based on her outstanding 4-H afterschool program work. The Afterschool Ambassador works for a year with local and state contacts to build awareness of the need for more quality afterschool programs. Cindy is the first New Mexico 4-H agent to fulfill this important leadership and partnership role for the Afterschool Alliance.
Afterschool Alliance partners include educators, youth, youth advocates, policy makers, faith-based leaders, parents, business leaders, police and prosecutors, entertainers, and others who recognize that afterschool programs are a necessity for healthy communities. The message promoted by the Afterschool Alliance is three fold, 1) to support working families, 2) provides a rich learning environment for children, helping to improve academic achievement, 3) provide a safe place for young people to be afterschool.
Every year the Afterschool Alliance works with afterschool providers throughout New Mexico in supporting their “Lights on Afterschool” events. Lights on Afterschool is a national campaign in October to draw attention to some of the wonderful programs kids participate in after the school day is over. 4-H has long been a leader in positive, experiential learning opportunities for young people. Being a part of such state and national efforts helps promote 4-H and helps the afterschool providers learn what 4-H has to offer.

15 adult volunteer leaders attended a training on Being an effective Club Leader. Leaders gained knowledge and skills related to meeting procedures, leadership, youth activities and communication. 83% of participants reported an increase in knowledge of 4-H Policies and Procedures and the 8 essential elements of youth development. 80% reported their organizational skills were increased.

12 new adult volunteer leaders completed the screening process and enrolled as leaders in Socorro County. 48 adult volunteer leaders re enrolled for a total enrollment of 60 leaders in the county.

Three hundred seventy six youth and adult volunteers have been involved in Socorro County 4-H programming, assisting Extension Agent in reaching new and underserved youth audiences. Adult & youth volunteers have assisted agent with instructions and facilitation of programs.

After school Programming: During the after school program, volunteers help to maintain order and assist with completion of projects. The youth are broken up into four groups; adult volunteer leaders are in charge of each group. Their duties are to lead their group through each rotation, assist the youth complete their projects, and interact with the youth by playing games with them or helping them with their homework.

As we were gearing up for the summer and preparing to have 150 to 200 youth participating in the Summer program, we felt the need to provide a staff training for the all of the staff hired to work during the summer. We spent several hours talking about the 8 essential elements of youth development and what role the staff played in implementing them. We emphasized the importance of environment and creating opportunities for young people. We then spent the next hour talking about what it means to be a good and bad employee. We went over their job description and talk about key points in the City of Socorro’s policies and procedures manual. The final hour was spent teaching them games and activities that could be used within their group. To follow up, we developed an evaluation instrument to assess the staff progress as we go through the summer. We meet on Monday evenings for a staff meeting to go over any problems that have come up the week before and go over ways to solve those problems.

In this program we also utilize elderly women that call themselves “Grandma’s” that volunteer their time to assist young people in the community. The Grandma’s volunteer 4 hours a day and assist us by gathering materials, preparing projects for the day, and helping youth with arts and crafts projects. During the school year we have 4-5 grandmas’ daily attending the program and now during the summer program we have 8-10 volunteering daily.

School Enrichment: During the school enrichment programs, volunteer teachers assist with maintaining order of their classrooms, preparing snacks during our nutrition courses, and assisting the agent to prepare and clean up before and after the class. Volunteer teachers also assist by delivering curriculum provided to them to their students.

Special Interests Volunteer leaders assist the Extension Agent by helping youth complete projects. They make sure that youth understand the instructions and assist youth with the hands-on activities. Socorro County 4-H’ers also assists with program planning, presentation, and facilitation when called upon.

4-H Leaders’ Forum participant evaluations indicate:
• 94% have a better understanding of how to provide an inclusive and safe environment for members.
• 100% will work to create more opportunities for youth to have a relationship with a caring adult.
• 98% have a better understanding of how to engage youth in learning.
• 96% feel they are better able to provide opportunities for participants to prepare them for the future.
• 98% have a better understanding of how they can structure the program which will enable participants to determine things for themselves.
• 96% have a better understanding of how to provide opportunities for participants to value and practice service.
• 98% feel their local 4-H program will be enhanced.
• 98% of participants are re-energized about 4-H.
• 92% are motivated to expand their role in 4-H.

E-Learning Course
• 42 4-H leaders representing 14 counties have completed at least one of the four modules. Comments have been positive regarding this new on-line resource.