Youth Development

The new Anton Chico club called the Painted Horses club had eleven new youth that wanted to learn about livestock in particular goats and sheep . These youth bought their goats and sheep began learning about and preparing themselves for the county fair . "Six activites were provided so they could learn about goat raising and Two youth attended the livestock school on showing goats. From their the agent provide several programs on showing goats and sheep at fairs. When the time came to attend the fairs the youth had fun preparing fot the fair and also the youth were able to win a spot in the local junior livstock sale sale . Approximatley 11,000 was genrated for the youth of Anton Chico to take back to their comunity . Six of the 4hers were very excited and have said they plan on raising goats from now on .

Ninteen more youth and two new clubs were established this past year in Guadalupe County . These new clubs were in Anton Chico and Vaughn . These clubs were mainly 6to 13 year old youth that have never been involved with any other youth organization.The club functions were geared to creating fun activities and how to maitain the club structure . Seven new leaders also were signed up

First year "Kids, Kows, and More" was very successful. Flyers were sent to 33 schools in McKinley County. The event was cordinated with Southwest Dairy Farmers, McKinley County CES 4-H Agent, and Home Economist. Partners in this venture include McKinley Soil and Water District, New Mexico Cowbelles, New Mexico Beef Council and the Shoultz Family Dawn, Brian and Stella. 253 second, third, and fourth grade students and their teachers from the GMCS (Gallup McKinley County School) District gained knowledge about the dairy industry, 4-H poultry project, ranching
and cattle production, and everyone's favorite horse and their care. Evaluation showed positive feedback from both teachers and students. Plans are currently under way for next year with additional hands-on activities as requested by teachers.

Operation Great Pumpkin, 2006
Operation Great Pumpkin is an annual event for the families of the Trumble Neighborhood in south east Albuquerque as a safe and fun alternative to trick-or-treating.
The Trumble neighborhood is diverse minority area and we estimated that about 75% of the people attending the event was Hispanic with the majority non-English speaking. Angleo, Native American, Black , and Oriental made up the other 25% attending the event. The urban 4-H program was involved in the planning, set up and provided two interactive stations for the 1500+ kids who attended this year’s event.
For the younger children (ages1-5) a child’s wading pool was filled with feed corn then wrapped prizes and snacks were buried in the corn. The young ones dug in the corn for prizes and had a great time uncovering their treasures. The school age children were sent through an obstacle course of balancing, tossing, jumping and stacking. Other youth serving organizations also participated in this event as well as community resource people. Tamara Rowland the 4-H Home Economist help with Operation Great Pumpkin along with four teens. I think we all had a great time!

“Lights on for Afterschool” is an Afterschool Alliance national annual event to draw attention to what kids are doing out-of-school time. This year’s Lights on for Afterschool was October 12th with over 7,500 events taking place around the country. 4-H has always been a big player in this arena and Lights on for Afterschool gives us a chance to showcase some of the exciting work we do. This year the Albuquerque event took place at the Cesar Chavez Community Center with several hundred people attending the event.
The urban 4-H program worked with the New Mexico Afterschool Alliance in the planning and set up of this event. We also had a display table and answered questions from the public and policy makers who attended. The urban 4-H as well as the traditional 4-H clubs of Bernalillo County were showcased. Tamara Roland worked with me this year bringing some county counsel kids along. The 4-H mascot Chris Clover even made an appearance at Lights on for Afterschool.