- Author: Marianne Bird
My favorite part of our Sacramento 4-H volunteer orientation comes when we introduce the 4-H Thriving Model (Arnold, 2018). “Think back to when you were a child or a teenager,” we ask. “Other than your parents, was there an adult—a coach, a teacher, a neighbor—who was special? What made them so?” As participants take a moment to remember, to share with a partner then perhaps with the larger group about this individual, the conversation deepens.
“I had a teacher who nominated me for an honor. She saw something in me that I didn't see in myself.”
“Every night at bedtime my camp counselor would spend a few minutes asking questions and just listening about our day. I bonded with them and our cabin group bonded with each other.”
“My high school economics teacher pushed me in a subject area completely new to me, and it was a turning point in how I engaged in learning.”
As I listen to these stories, I can't emphasize enough how important relationships with caring adults are in youth development work. In the 4-H Thriving Model, relationships are characterized as part of the “soil”—the foundational element—critical to a young person's (and I'd argue, anyone's) growth. Nutrient-rich soil grows strong plants. Or, as the metaphor goes, positive, caring adults develop healthy, capable youth.
What are the qualities of a caring adult? To cultivate strong relationships, consider the following.
- Express Care: What things can you do to help a young person feel special and important to you? Do you know not only their name, but a bit about who they are, what they enjoy, perhaps what they find difficult? Do you celebrate their successes?
- Challenge Growth: How do you engage youth in learning? How do you encourage goal setting and practice? Do you build in time for youth to reflect not just in their project, but on their leadership, teamwork, and responsibilities?
- Provide Support: What do the youth you work with need from you? Encouragement? Check-ins? Coaching? Have you asked them how you can best support their efforts?
- Share Power: How well do you build your program with young people, not just for young people? Do they share their thoughts with you? Do they assume leadership roles? How might you listen better to incorporate their ideas into your project?
- Expand Possibilities: What can you do to help youth see and connect with a bigger future? Might you bring in speakers or plan for field trips to explore education or career possibilities? For older youth, are there doors you might open or connections you might facilitate?
There is no greater compliment than when an adult looks back and says, “You made a difference in my life.” Each one of us is in a position to be that special person. What a gift.
Marianne Bird, 4-H Youth Development Advisor
mbird@ucanr.edu
Arnold, M. E. (2018). From context to outcomes: A thriving model for 4-H youth development programs. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 6 (1), 141-160.
- Author: Steven Worker
- Author: Martin Smith
The 4-H Youth Development Program has a long and proud history in California's agricultural communities. The 4-H program, administered by the University of California Cooperative Extension, helps youth develop into capable and successful adults by engaging them in agricultural, science, leadership, and civic education.
Animal science projects are a hallmark of the 4-H program and thousands of young people – from rural, suburban, and urban areas – enroll in these 4-H projects annually. In these projects, a primary focus is on the rearing, caring, showing, and marketing of animals, with some projects centered on breeding. Animal science projects offer youth an array of learning experiences providing opportunities for improved scientific and agricultural literacy and contribute to positive youth development. More specifically, youth learn skills such as leadership, public speaking, goal setting, responsibility, and caring that provide the foundation for successful, healthy development. These experiences help prepare the next generation of farmers, ranchers, foresters, veterinarians, and agricultural scientists.
Reducing the risk of disease spread
While 4-H promotes agricultural education, the raising and showing of animals poses bio-security risks, and youth need to cultivate an appreciation for and develop the skills necessary to help reduce the risk of disease spread to animals and humans. Youth animal science projects include a variety of species, including poultry, ruminants, and swine that are often raised in backyard flocks or herds or on local farms. Additionally, these 4-H youth often travel with their animals multiple times to present at club meetings fairs, shows, and exhibitions, and these trips can be at the local, regional, state, and national levels. Because backyard flocks and herds serve as potential vectors of disease, these public venues represent significant biosecurity risks, including: mixing of animals from multiple premises; lack of or insufficient quarantine procedures; and inadequate sanitation practices. Exposure of disease to animals at fairs, shows, or exhibitions, either accidentally or intentionally, could be catastrophic to U.S. agriculture, both financially and through the loss of animal life. Developing good bio-security practices among youth who raise and show animals can help mitigate potential animal disease outbreaks and is essential to the long-term safety and security of animal agriculture in California.
Animal welfare
The study of animal welfare is a rapidly growing field that engages scientists and veterinarians in research that seeks to provide better understanding of the needs and experiences of animals and strives to find a balance between these and the practices of modern animal use. Animal welfare is a social and cultural issue that is increasingly being incorporated into the legal and political landscapes. Due to the complex nature of the subject of animal welfare, it is necessary to approach this issue in a partnership between the University of California, 4-H, the agricultural industry, and local farmers and ranchers to educate and support youth and 4-H volunteers in a sustained fashion. Furthermore, it is essential that 4-H youth have the opportunities to engage in educational experiences that provide them an understanding of foundational animal welfare concepts, help them develop the skills necessary to make cogent assessments of their project animal's well-being, and are grounded in authentic practice.
4-H Curricula
The University of California Cooperative Extension is leading the way in supporting youth and educators to take responsibility for proper care and treatment of their animals and support good bio-security practices. Through new research-based curricula, 4-H supports proper management practices for the care and treatment animals. New curricula utilize hands-on experiential learning where youth have a concrete hands-on experience; a reflection phase to share, process, and generalize from the experience; and application of learning in new and authentic situations. Curricula currently available include: Bio-Security at http://ucanr.edu/bio; Pre-Harvest Food Safety in 4-H Animal Science at http://ucanr.edu/harvest; Veterinary Science at http://ucanr.edu/vet; and Animal Welfare at https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8644.
Adapted from the original article published in the Sonoma-Marin Farm News, August 2016.
- Author: Nathaniel W. Caeton
An unfortunate fact of life is that emergencies and disasters can and do occur. These events, which include earthquakes, wildfires, outbreaks of infectious disease, and more, can happen at any time and often do so with little or no warning. Not only do these events have the potential to affect every facet of life, but local emergency services can quickly become overwhelmed.
California alone has had no shortage of disasters. In 2022, the State experienced 7,490 wildfires, with 362,455 acres burned, 876 structures lost or damaged, and 9 fatalities (CalFire, 2022). Although the total amount of acres burned significantly dropped this past year, the 5-year average for acres burned rests at more than 2,300,000 (CalFire, 2022). As 2022 drew to a close, the State was hit by the first of several atmospheric rivers, bringing severe winter storms, disastrous flooding, landslides, and mudslides. This led President Biden to approve a major disaster declaration for California on January 14, 2023 (The White House, 2023). At the time of press, there are two active disasters declared for the State, encompassing 43 of 58 counties (FEMA, 2023).
“Children represent a vulnerable group and are disproportionately impacted during times of disaster.”
While the impact of these tragedies can be felt by all walks of life, children represent a vulnerable group and are disproportionately impacted during times of disaster (Peek, 2008). While there are many variables that influence the vulnerability of a particular child, as a whole “young people are less likely to understand the events affecting them, have less control and decision-making opportunities than adults, and often have less experience coping with highly stressful situations (SAMHSA, 2022).” Children are also more likely to experience trauma as a result of disaster because they are more likely to be severely injured and often lack knowledge of safety precautions (SAMHSA, 2022).
“The importance of equipping our youth with the skills and knowledge necessary to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters cannot be ignored.”
When confronted with such sobering information, one might be led to wonder what role, if any, might young people have when it comes to disaster preparedness and community resilience. The answer is simple; a significant one. With an estimated 22.4% of California's population falling under the age of 18, the importance of equipping our youth with the skills and knowledge necessary to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters cannot be ignored (US Census Bureau, 2022). Development of these skills can lead to a number of benefits including increased resilience and decreased fear and anxiety (FEMA, 2023). Furthermore, you people can become change agents and leaders within their families, schools, and communities – a time-tested approach rooted in the beginnings of 4-H and the Cooperative Extension System, when rural youth programs were used as a way to introduce new agricultural technologies to adults (UC ANR). The method remains the same but instead of introducing agricultural technologies, today's young people can help introduce the concept of preparedness. Prepared individuals build prepared communities, and a prepared community is a resilient community.
This begs the question of where to go from here. Thankfully youth preparedness programs are gaining momentum and My Preparedness Initiative (MyPI) is one of them. MyPI is a complete leadership and disaster preparedness curriculum aimed at teens aged 13-19. Initially developed by the Mississippi State University Extension Service in 2013, MyPI has grown into a national program that reaches 27 states and 3 territories. The program has three key components, which are outlined below.
- Component A: Consists of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training.
- Component B: Consists of a full-featured add-on catalog, where participants can complete CPR/AED certifications, focus on specialty tracks in technology and career exploration, and participate in disaster simulations.
- Component C: Consists of the Prep+6 capstone project, where participants help develop emergency supply kits and emergency communication plans for their family and six additional families or households.
After an extended delay associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic, this innovative program is now slated for implementation in California this Summer, with an Instructor Certification and Training Workshop (ICTW) scheduled for August 2-4, 2023. The location is still to be determined, but if you would like to know more about this program or would like to become an adult MyPI Instructor, please contact Nate Caeton at nwcaeton@ucanr.edu or complete the MyPI Interest Survey.
Youth preparedness programs like MyPI are positioned to play a vital role in developing young people while addressing the ever-pressing need for increased community resilience. If there are no programs like this in your area, you are encouraged to help establish one. And remember, as the leader of a youth preparedness program, you are doing much more than merely supporting local preparedness efforts. You are cultivating the next generation of leaders – leaders who can navigate adversity, effect positive change, and contribute to their communities.