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4-H Afterschool enhances life skills For more than a decade, Iowa State University Extension 4-H Youth Development has been partnering with school districts and local community partners to provide hands-on learning activities that enhance life skills for students. Now Extension is enhancing its efforts with 4-H Afterschool, a special initiative by the National 4-H Council to increase 4-H’s capacity to develop and implement after-school programs. By working with other youth-serving organizations, 4-H is strengthening the quality and quantity of after-school programs throughout the United States. The goals of 4-H Afterschool include increasing the quality and availability of after-school programs, and the number of young people and volunteers involved. In the initiative’s first year, ISU Extension created a leadership team to develop a statewide plan for promoting the 4-H Afterschool resources and trained staff from 59 counties. In June, ISU Extension in Scott County received a $10,000 grant from the J.C. Penney Afterschool Fund to enhance after-school programming efforts, primarily in the Davenport Community School District. The grant, one of 15 nationally, was awarded through the National 4-H Council. The grant will enable Extension to hire a half-time youth assistant to deliver new curriculum in existing Scott County after-school programs and pursue new community partners for the sites. “When we’re able to provide quality enrichment programs at no cost to the schools, they are able to spend their funds in other ways, extending the life of their program,” said Jennifer Best, an ISU Extension educator in Scott County. Extension also will provide staff and volunteer training for the centers and plans to start two new 4-H clubs at the elementary sites. “True partnerships are what will help sustain programs that keep kids safe after school,” said Cassie Ehrecke, project manager for the 21st Century Learning Center grants in the Davenport Schools. “It’s bringing what you do best to the table and offering it to the kids in the community. It’s not just babysitting, but actually enhancing their academic experience.” Extension gives ‘energy’ to after-school programs The future looks bright for a pilot after-school program, Science of Energy, Light and Lighting, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Iowa is one of seven pilot states for this joint program between DOE and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Energy is a key issue for the United States, said Jay Staker, Extension–Science, Engineering and Technology (E-SET) program coordinator. “It’s tied to our foreign policy, political campaigns and budgets. This is a way to teach kids what energy is all about and how to make good choices.” The curriculum, geared toward third through seventh-grade youth, provides youth with hands-on learning experiences to understand how energy works. “From a practical side, the kids will learn how to calculate how much money can be saved by just switching to compact fluorescent bulbs. The curriculum stresses that small changes can make a difference,” Staker said. The program will be piloted at the Columbus Junction Elementary School in Louisa County and at a 21st Century Learning Center site elsewhere in the state.
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The Extension Connection is a quarterly publication of Iowa State University Extension. Laura Sternweis, editor, lsternwe@iastate.edu Nondiscrimination statement and information disclosures Last update: October 2004
* Edible or non-edible -- It's all in the carbs * Urban Iowa has agriculture too * Optimism rippling through Horizons communities * Iowa and young adults benefit from Extension networks * Iowa soybean rust team prepares for possible Asian disease * Community and Extension planning a future for Lakeside Laboratory
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