Adult Volunteer Leader Development

Since October of 2006, the agent has screened approximately 44 leaders through the Hire Right screening system. A leaders’ organizational meeting was attended by six out of the seven club’s leaders to discuss the screening process, youth enrollment deadlines, ownership deadlines and project drop/add dates. Leaders also met to pick the 2006 Outstanding 4-H member and to evaluate record books.
Project leaders also held several workshops in regard to canning/food preservation, the cake pilot project and Baking I and II in order to help youth prepare goods for exhibition at county, state and ENMSF.
Since October of 2006, the agent along with State 4-H Youth Activities Specialist Amy Zemler, has presented the program "Joining the Youth's Communication Quest" at the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents Conference in Milwaukee, WI, Western Regional Leaders Forum in Phoenix, AZ and the Tri-State 4-H In-Service in Durango, Co, National Association of Extensio 4-H Agents Conference in Atlanta, GA and the 2008 New Mexico Leaders Forum in Albuquerque. Many of leaders showed an increase in knowledge in regards to text chatting lingo as well as the dangers and misconceptions about MySpace.com. Around 70 agents and volunteers have learned about the dangers of online solicitation of youth through text messaging, blogs and personal web page profiles like MySpace. com. To compile data, surveys were distributed at the 2006 State 4-H Conference where the presenters learned that 148 out of 200 youth text message on a daily basis and that 119 out of 200 youth have a MySpace page.

Volunteer Adult leaders are a large part of the 4-H program. The Extension staff relies heavily on the adult leaders for implementation of the program and the running of the 34 county clubs. San Juan County had 150 screened and enrolled leaders for the 2006-2007 4-H year. This was a drop in numbers from the previous year. Quarterly trainings of leaders were conducted in October January April and July. Trainings included discussion of the policy and procedure manual and questions and answer sessions. Frank Hodnett of the State 4-H Office made a presentation to the County’s leaders at one of the meetings.
Four leaders attended the New Mexico Leaders Forum held in Albuquerque. All four enjoyed the forum and were willing to share ideas and information with the other leaders.
In October of 2004 San Juan County leaders formed a group called the San Juan County 4-H Leader Organization. Their objectives are to share ideas and experiences, develop a unity among all 4-H leaders, work with the Extension Office in providing training, understand the objectives and procedures of 4-H programs on a national, state and county level, assist in the planning and organization of 4-H activities and events, and to have representation on the County 4-H Advisory Council. The executive board consists of 4 members that hold the position of president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. The organization has been helpful to the Extension Office in program planning and directing the training meetings. They were useful in advising the staff about the 4-H program.

Santa Fe County has a very strong base of 4-H leaders. The agents provide continual support to these leaders on a daily basis. This year one of the programs offered for 4-H members was a workshop entitled "This is 4-H". Along with the activities for the members, a leader tract was offered for the adults in attendance.
The leader tract addressed several different issues that leaders in the county face. The program began with a presentation about the 4-H program in general. It covered the different parts of the 4-H program, 4-H events throughout the year, and opportunties available to both members and leaders. The presentation was helpful because several leaders in attendance were new to the program and appreciated the introduction. Some of the more experienced leaders also appreciated the presentation because they were not fully aware of the programs available through 4-H that they don't normally particpate in. The next portion of the program was a round table discussion led by one of the leaders. Leaders had the opportunity to discuss their frustrations, what they like, what they don't like, and get feed back from other leaders. Leaders then developed a plan of what they would like to see from the program and what type of support they would like to receive from the agents.
The leaders tract was very successful. There were 20 leaders in attendance. of those 20 leaders alomost half were brand new and 5 were organizational leaders in charge of their own clubs. Evaluations showed that participants were very satisfied with the program and would like to see more activities like this one. In the future the agents plan to provide programs geared specifically to certain types of leaders. ie: new leaders, organizational leaders, project leaders.

Afterschool Ambassador, 2007-2008
The New Mexico Afterschool Alliance recently appointed Cindy Davies, Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Agent to take the volunteer position of 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.