The national 4-H After-School Team holds monthly conference calls for state contacts. In this month's discussion (August 2006) several emerging opportunities were announced.
1. MetLife Foundation is providing over $500,000 in a 3-year period to help states provide training to after-school providers in local communities. They anticipate awarding 8-12 different states (or collaborations of muliple states) each year, with grants of approximately $10,000 to reach 500 providers and 10,000 youth. Smaller states will be encouraged to collaborate with other states to achieve the goals. The Request for Proposals (RFP) will be out in September.
2. The National 4-H After-School team is conceptualizing a 1-year project to reach 100,000 young people with a curriculum focused on the core skill of positive choices and decision-making, most likely related to the national healthy lifestyles initiative. They envision providing 10 states with $40,000-$50,000 to reach 10,000 after-school youth/state. This is still in the conceptual stage and an actual funder has not been announced.
3. Watch for more details on 4-H night at the movies, a potential national event that could serve as both a fund-raiser for state foundations, and promotion of 4-H.
4. 4-H After-School staff across the Extension system are developing a 15 hour training course for after-school providers. It will be offered as a training track for providers attending the National Afterschool Conference, March 21-23, Pheonix, AZ. We can anticipate receiving CDs containing the training and resources for our use in our own states and communities.
5. New 4-H After-School curriculum will be reviewed through CCS in mid-September.
6. The Rural Youth Development program will be issuing new RFPs later in the fall.
7. The Coca-Cola RFP is still open for applications, and focuses on environmental education.
The CYFAR 2007 Conference will be at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago from May 1- 4, 2007. The pre-conference will be on May 1st. The call for proposals for presentations will be out soon.
More details will be forthcoming on the CYFAR website at http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/family/cyfar/announcement.html
Congratulations to our staff for participating in the recent round of mini-grants offered through JC Penney 4-H Afterschool. In total, NH programs will be receiving $138,395 to serve 171 afterschool children in programs that need to secure new funds to either sustain or create slots. The programs are required to provide 100% matching funds, must be open Monday-Friday during the school year, must serve children in grades K-12, must partner with the local 4-H program, and must be within 20 miles of a JCPenney store. The recipient programs from New Hampshire include:
1. Cheshire YMCA, serving local schools in Westmoreland, Chesterfield and Fitzwilliam, will receive $18,660 for 12 children (7 sustained, 5 new slots). (PI - Lauren Bressett).
2. Project REACH in Littleton will receive $30,000 for 30 children (21 sustained, 9 new slots) (PI - Kathy Jablonski).
3. Hinsdale Elementary and Middle/High School will receive $18,690 for 35 children (15 sustained, 20 new slots) (PI - Lauren Bressett).
4. Marl-Harris Before and AfterSchool Program , in the Harrisville School District, will receive $18,935 for 23 children (15 sustained, 8 new slots) (PI - Lauren Bressett).
5. Crispin's House in Goffstown will receive $9,250 for 37 children (20 sustained, 17 new slots) (PI - Julia Steed-Mawson).
6. Winchester School's ACCESS Program will receive $36,640 for 24 slots (8 sustained, 16 new slots) (PI - Lauren Bressett).
7. Seacoast Youth Services in Seabrook will receive $6,220 for 10 children (10 new slots) (PI - Rick Alleva).
National 4-H Week - October 1-7, 2006 - is fast approaching. Looking for items to promote National 4-H Week in your community? Look no further! 4HMediaResources.org is your place to download kit materials. And new this week --- the National 4-H Week brochure, fact sheets about the 4-H movement (that you can also use year-round), interview talking points and materials for media personalities to help you promote National 4-H Week.
Check out the new National 4-H Week Web banners which come in four different sizes. The banners also are available as moving .gif files. Ask those in your community to upload the banners and link to your Web site to promote National 4-H Week (Tip: Link the Web banners directly to the "Find out more about 4-H..." page of your 4-H Web site.)
The complete kit contains logos, print materials, ads, media relations materials, tip sheets, activity ideas and more. Many of the materials are available in a version that you can easily save and open in Microsoft Word, customize with your community and contact information and print on color printers. All files are in .jpeg (graphics), Adobe .PDF and Microsoft Word. A link to help you download the Adobe Reader software is right on the site.
We hope you find these materials helpful and look forward to promoting National 4-H Week across the 4-H community. Once you have used the tools provided, please take a moment to fill out our survey so we can make National 4-H Week 2007 even better!
If you have any questions, please contact Allyson McMahan at amcmahan@fourhcouncil.edu or 301-961-2915.