California 4-H members Bryanne Sanchez and Samuel Sugarman are winners of the 2017 national 4-H Youth in Action Awards, National 4-H Council announced today (Feb. 21).
Sanchez, of Imperial, was selected as winner of the 4-H Youth in Action Award for Healthy Living for the true leadership she has demonstrated as an advocate for healthy lifestyles in her community and across the state. In an effort to address the 62 percent obesity rate in her county, Sanchez annually hosts the Imperial County 4-H Color Me Green run. The race, which also includes a local business health fair, gave away more than 90 boxes of fresh produce to runners and their families in 2017.
Sugarman, of Encinitas, was selected as winner of the 4-H Youth in Action Award for Agriculture for his true leadership through agriculture education and his free Farm Tour Program. Sugarman created the Farm Tour Program to connect youth in his community with animals and nature. Over the past five years, Sugarman led hundreds of farm tours, educating youth about sustainable agriculture, where food comes from, and respect for animals and the earth.
"As a teen leader, I hosted lots of project meetings at my farm and saw how beneficial it was for urban children to interact with the animals," Sugarman said. "When children grow up disconnected from their food, from animals and from the earth, they miss opportunities to develop qualities of stewardship, compassion, patience and gratitude."
As a California 4-H State Ambassador, Sanchez organized a "Text Talk Act" campaign to bring awareness to mental health issues. She also organized the educational component of the California State Leadership Conference's All 4-Health Fair, working with organizations to present about various healthy living topics.
“I believe I am a 4-H true leader because I am empowering youth throughout California to make healthy lifestyle decisions," Sanchez said. "It started with recognizing the need in my own county – a drastic 62 percent obesity rate - and developing ways to combat the problem. I recognized that I have the power to enact change by educating others, and I plan to do so for the rest of my life. I want everyone to realize there is no better time than now to start living healthy.”
Sanchez and Sugarman will each receive a $5,000 scholarship for higher education. Sanchez will serve as spokesperson for 4-H Healthy Living programming and Sugarman will serve as a spokesperson for 4-H Agriculture programming. The 2017 4-H Youth in Action Pillar for Healthy Living is sponsored by Molina Healthcare and the Pillar for Agriculture is sponsored by Bayer. They will be officially recognized at the National 4-H Council Legacy Awards in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.
Other 2017 4-H Youth in Action Pillar winners include Georgia 4-H'er Amelia Day for Citizenship and Ohio 4-H'er Ava Lonneman for STEM.
The 4-H Youth in Action Awards began in 2010 to recognize 4-H'ers who have overcome challenges and used the knowledge they gained in 4-H to create a lasting impact in their community. This award highlights youth in each of 4-H's core areas of Agriculture, Citizenship, Healthy Living and STEM. These four pillars represent the fields in which 4-H youth excel on a national level and align with the mission mandates of National 4-H Council. To learn more about Youth in Action, please visit http://4-h.org/parents/4-h-youth-in-action.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
UC 4-H Youth Development advisors Dorina Espinoza, Russell Hill, Fe Moncloa and Keith Nathaniel and 4-H associate director Shannon Horrillo have won the National Extension Diversity Award for systematically enhancing the intercultural competency of 4-H personnel and others in California. The National Extension Diversity Award was presented Sunday, Nov. 13, at the 129th Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas.
The award, given by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Cooperative Extension System and the APLU, honors the team for developing and institutionalizing a professional development strategy to increase staff and academics' intercultural competence.
To support the development and well-being of California's culturally and ethnically diverse youth population, research indicates that building intercultural competence among youth development professionals is critical.
“We have been making changes to our programs to remove barriers and make 4-H more accessible. We are also testing new delivery models to expand 4-H's reach, particularly among Latino youth and families,” Horrillo said.
“This effort has been extremely successful and we are seeing the benefits in our membership,” said Horrillo. “The program's growth over the last year was significant, with a 16 percent increase in youth participation and a nearly 42 percent increase in Latino youth participation.”
“We asked Latino parents how we can help,” said Lupita Fabregas, assistant director for 4-H Diversity and Expansion. “Working parents suggested after school programs so they don't have to drive their kids to a different location.”
Through a pilot initiative in seven counties – Riverside, Orange, Kern, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Merced and Sonoma counties – UC ANR's 4-H Youth Development Program now offers in-school, after school and special interest clubs that explore subjects such as robotics. Children can join clubs that focus on projects for four to six weeks, rather than 4-H's year-long commitment. Bilingual and bicultural program representatives provide materials in English for the children and Spanish for parents. Although the activities are structured differently, they aim to teach Latino children science, leadership, civic engagement and other life skills taught through the traditional program.
The team of change agents applied the professional development strategy over three years, providing 176 hours of intercultural communication feedback sessions, learning communities and regional conferences to enhance the intercultural competence of 65 California 4-H personnel.
The UC ANR 4-H Youth Development Program has also assembled an advisory committee for 4-H multicultural and community engagement that includes Latino leaders Mary Lou de Leon Siantz, a professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis and director of the Center for Advancing Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS); Steven Olmos, chief schools officer for Santa Clara County Office of Education; Albert Maldonado Jr., youth program manager for The California Endowment; and Juan P. Garcia, deputy director of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.
UC ANR's action plan and resulting positive change provides a model for 4-H in other states to improve professional development and expand the program's reach. A summary of California's IDI professional development activities can be found in the National 4-H Latino Youth Outreach: Best Practices Toolkit, Professional Development.