- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
How they survived: Owners of the few homes left standing around Paradise, Calif., took critical steps to ward off wildfires
(Washington Post) Sarah Kaplan, Frances Stead Sellers, Nov. 30
…Though the United States spends upwards of $2 billion each year on fire suppression and billions more helping communities recover, the current budget for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program is just over $200 million — and it must address hurricanes, earthquakes and a host of other natural hazards as well as fires. Cal Fire provides grants for forest management and tree removal, but not structure modification.
The budget for the University of California...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California is one of 22 states in the nation where a new Google career education program was launched today. The Internet search giant has donated $1.5 million to the National 4‑H Council to build skills youth will need for the future, like computer science, computational thinking, communication and collaboration, reported Christopher Walljasper on AgWeb.
The funding lays the foundation to launch the 4‑H Computer Science Career Pathway, which will reach more than 100,000 kids in its first year. 4-H members in Alabama,...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Eleven-year-old Demisu Evans of Ojai will get a new custom-made wheelchair after raising a sheep and selling it at the Ventura County Fair, reported Anne Kallas in the Ventura County Star.
4-H, offered in all California counties by UC Cooperative Extension, engages youth ages 5 to 19 in reaching their fullest potential. Club and after-school programs are designed to provide knowledge, expertise and skills that will help youth develop into responsible, self-directed, and productive people. 4-H encourages family...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A new community 4-H Club will be launched in Calexico this summer with support from the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, reported the Imperial Valley Press. Calexico is a low-income community. In order to establish a new 4-H Club for 5- to 19-year-old youth, the board has allocated $10,000 to cover start-up costs.
According to the article, written by UC Cooperative Extension 4-H program representative Shanna Abatti, 20 years have passed since a 4-H Club was chartered in Calexico, the second-largest city...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook advertising, was an active 4-H youth in Santa Clara County from age 9 to 19, reported Parija Kavilanz on CNN Money. He said he learned computer programming from a 4-H mentor before eventually attending Harvard, where he met Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
"I was into cooking projects and I raised sheep, pigs, rabbits, guinea pigs," Bosworth told the reporter. "I wore my 4-H uniform and would show my animals at the country fair."
4-H is now focusing on programs in science, technology,...