Looking for resources to help leaders, afterschool providers or parents support their teens in making healthy life choices, and dealing with tough issues? University of Minnesota Cooperative Extension has a number of new resources posted on their Parenting Education Resources web site at www.parenting.umn.edu
Fact sheets of interest include:
Teens and Social Networking Websites (new)
Teens and School Violence
Teens and the Internet (revised)
Teens and Meth
Lift Off....December 2006 Mission of the Month: SPACE PARTY 1-2-3
This month, the NASA shuttle Discovery sets out for the International Space Station. As the astronauts take flight, why not make your own star trek? With CYFERnet's "Mission of the Month" Space Parties, it's easy to explore the universe without leaving home. Each activity teaches youth about the nightly happenings in the winter sky:
1) While peering through a telescope in the dead of winter has its place, there's a simpler (and warmer) way to see the cosmos. STELLARIUM sets your ground coordinates and presents a photo-realistic sky, complete with constellations, planets and nebulas.
2) If you've always wanted to go to infinity and beyond, here's your chance. CELESTIA lets you experience outer space in 3-D as you travel beyond our solar system, in any direction, and at any speed or moment in time.
3) Satellites move quickly, but the HEAVENS-ABOVE Web site can help you locate them. Just enter your ground location and receive orbital data on the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and many others.
Take a break from the holiday mania and escape to another galaxy with a virtual trip into outer space--no spaceship or tuition fees required. Connect, accept your mission, and lift off today! Visit http://www.cyfernet.org/4htech/missions.html for complete details.
Deadline extended to Dec. 15 - Thanks to your leadership and support, the 4-H Afterschool work continues to expand and reach new audiences. To help us continue telling the great 4-H Afterschool story, we need your help. Please share what you are doing with 4-H Afterschool work by completing this survey (if you haven't already) located at: http://ext.msstate.edu/survey/afterschool/ The results of the survey will help determine the reach of 4-H Afterschool and will be valuable as we continue to raise funds to support our work.
4-H and Metlife Foundation have combined efforts to support 4-H Afterschool provider training grants. Extension professionals (1862, 1890, 1994) involved, or who are interested in becoming involved, with 4-H Afterschool programming are invited to apply for a 4-H Afterschool Training Grant.
MetLife Foundation (MLF) and 4-H have partnered for more then 10 years to provide meaningful opportunities for youth across America. Through Youth in Action grants, MLF has invested in the power of youth to create change and contribute to their local communities. In 2007, MetLife Foundation is expanding its support of 4-H by infusing the principles of civic engagement into the after-school setting. By training after-school providers and creating extraordinary opportunities for young people to engage in their communities, MetLife Foundation and 4-H will collaboratively:
1. improve the quality of after-school programs:
2. infuse civic engagement into after-school programs; and
3. increase the number of youth engaged in high-quality after-school programs.
Competitive grants of $10,000 each will be awarded to state 4-H programs. Grantees will be expected to improve the quality of after-school programs in their state by providing a minimum of eight hours of training to at least 500 local after-school providers. In situations where states may not have the capacity to reach at least 500 after-school providers, it is recommended that a multi-state proposal be submitted.
The RFP can be found at: http://www.fourhcouncil.edu/GrantsProgram.aspx. If you have questions please contact Ron Drum (rdrum@fourhcouncil.edu or 301-961-2814).
October 1 - March 30 - All data, including semi-annual data, is to be submitted by May 15th
April 1 - September 30 - All data including semi-annual data is to be submitted by November 15
To access your ECI reporting system:http://eci.ext.msstate.edu/
As spring and summer approach, remember to distribute the Annual 4-H Group Activity Report to ALL 4-H GROUPS. The annual report forms are posted on the 4-H Youth Development Staff Resources page under 4-H Program Development and Evaluation: http://extension.unh.edu/4H/4HYDSR.htm
There are two parts to this annual report -
Form A - ACTIVITY REPORT - includes membership data, volunteer data, community service work, life skill development
Form B - ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT - includes bank information, and data on fundraising (Be sure this form is printed on one side only so that it can be filed separately from the Activity Report).
The completed forms are due back in the county office NO LATER THAN SEPTEMBER 10th. Volunteers are reporting on the school/program year ( September 1 - August 31 ).
All data from the annual reports are to be compiled in the county offices and submitted NO LATER THAN OCTOBER 1st on the COUNTY EDUCATOR SUMMARY located on Formbuilder at: http://cecf1.unh.edu/formbuilder/intforms/form86_ClubSumm.htm
Harvard Family Research Project’s (HFRP) announces two new resources in the out-of-school time field: a research brief on youth out-of-school time participation, and an update to their Out-of-School Time Evaluation Database and Bibliography.
1. WHAT ARE KIDS GETTING INTO THESE DAYS? DEMOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES IN YOUTH OUT-OF-SCHOOL TIME PARTICIPATION
This is a research brief on youth out-of-school time participation based on a study supported by the William T. Grant Foundation. It examines the factors associated with whether children and youth participate in out-of-school time (OST) programs and activities. Building on previous work, HFRP is using national data to examine the many factors and contexts in children’s lives that predict participation. This new research brief distills findings from the first phase of the study on demographic characteristics of youth participants and includes implications for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. The research brief is available online at:
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/resources/demographic.html
2. OUT-OF-SCHOOL TIME DATABASE and BIBLIOGRAPHY UPDATE
HFRP has written a new profile of an out-of-school time research project:
* The Massachusetts Afterschool Research Study
They have also added 8 new profiles about out-of-school time programs and their evaluations:
* 21st Century Community Learning Centers - Texas (a quasi-experimental and non-experimental evaluation design)
* Adventure Central (non-experimental)
* CHAMPS (quasi-experimental, non-experimental)
* Generacion DIez (quasi-experimental)
* KindergARTen Summer Camp (experimental)
* North Carolina Quality Enhancement Initiative (quasi-experimental)
* NYC FIRST! (non-experimental)
* Young Women's Leadership Alliance (Quasi-experimental, non-experimental)
You can access both the database and the bibliography at: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/evaldatabase.html
Two new 4-H Afterschool Resource Guides are available through the 4-H Afterschool web site. The first three guides included Starting 4-H Clubs in After-School Programs, Guiding Growth: Training Staff for Working with Youth in After-School Programs, and Extraordinary Learning Opportunities: A Sampler of 4-H Afterschool Activities. To review these documents, go to the 4-H Afterschool web site
- Increasing the Quantity of After-School Programs - A guide to help Extension/4-H professionals establish community-based After-School programs including sample letters, meeting agendas and forms.
- Teens as Volunteer Leaders: Recruiting and Training Teens to Work with Younger Youth in After-School Programs – A guide to help Extension/4-H professionals deliver teen-led curriculum in after-school programs. It includes an overview of program delivery, recruitment processes and training outlines.
Source: March 2006 4-H Afterschool conference call
There has been a request to clarify the relationship we are suppose to be having with Boys and Girls clubs based on the national MOA. This MOA is with National 4-H and Boys and Girls club for one year with the potential for renewal. It is made in connection with the 4-H Afterschool program. There is not an official MOA with National 4-H Headquarters.
You will find the MOA on the Staff Resources web page http://www.extension.unh.edu/4H/4HYDSR.htm. Please use for conversations with BGCA if it is helpful to you. It is intentionally quite vague to fit all purposes.
Wendy
Harvard Family Research Project has launched the Family Involvement Storybook Corner in partnership with Reading Is Fundamental. The goal of this new web source is to provide information on using children's storybooks with family involvement themes to engage families in their children's education and encourage family-school-community partnerships, all while supporting literacy. Family involvement storybooks can be used to promote the awareness, discussion, and practice of family involvement in a wide range of settings -- including family literacy programs, family support and parenting programs, out-of-school time programs, and ESL programs.
Go to http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine/resources/storybook/index.html
Storybook Corner provides an annotated bibliography of storybooks with family involvement themes for ages 4-8. You can also download a teacher lesson plan and parent handout for using a multicultural storybook to promote involvement. Future Storybook Corner resources will include an annotated bibliography of storybooks on family involvement among Latino families, tools for reaching out to Latino families, and information on their own research-inspired family involvement storybook -- "Tomasito's Mother Comes to School," a story about building home-school connections for an immigrant Latino family.
The announcement about the new study described below was posted on the Promising Practices in Afterschool listserv. I thought many of you might be interested in the results of this study. It is available at the web address listed below.
PPAS members might be interested in our new study of after-school program participation and child obesity published in the journal Applied Developmental Science.
Abstract
This longitudinal study assessed the role of after-school program (ASP) participation in the development of child obesity and peer acceptance in a sample of 439 children. Most participants lived in poverty and were Hispanic or African American. Measurements of height and weight determined obesity status and peer acceptance was assessed through teacher- and peer-responses to written surveys. Rates of obesity were 22% at baseline (M age = 4.9) and 29% at follow-up (M age = 8.1). Peer acceptance was significantly lower for obese children than nonobese children. Children who became involved in ASPs were significantly less likely to be obese at follow-up than nonparticipants. Both obese and nonobese ASP participants showed significant increases in peer acceptance over time.
The full article can be downloaded from my lab page: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~jlm79/
Joseph L. Mahoney, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Yale University
PO Box 208205
New Haven, CT 06520
Have you subscibed to the 4-H Afterschool e-Newsletter? If not, you may want to visit http://4hblogs.org/afterschool/ and fill in the fields under “Subscribe.” You must subscribe to receive this monthly electronic newsletter. It includes: Success stories! Promising Practices! Descriptions of outstanding after-school providers! And lots of opportunity to send in your own success stories. Here's your chance to keep up with what's happening across the nation.
Explore It After School! Technology and Science for Students with Visual Impairments is a new science, technology, and career exploration resource guide, complete with lesson plans. This resource is designed to broaden academic and career options in fields where girls have been underrepresented. The curriculum encourages girls in science and technology through after-school and summer programs, and is adapted for the visually impaired. The program is multi-faceted, introducing challenging and rewarding activities that encourage independence and challenge stereotypes regarding academic and career options for persons with visual impairments. Sample projects include building telephones, creating websites, dissecting squid, and learning about solar technology.
This resource is available online through Techbridge, a non-profit in Oakland, California, launched in 2000 by Chabot Space & Science Center and the California School for the Blind. Generous support from the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation and the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation supported the development of this resource.
This information provided by Jennifer Wei, Techbridge Business Development, Chabot Space & Science Center, and Trudy Dunham, Program Director, CYFERnet / goCyberCamp at University of Minnesota Extension Service. To access this resource, go to http://techbridgegirls.org/ExploreIt.html.