When Rockingham County 4-H Educator Rick Alleva began work in the fall of 2002, he began by asking around about programs for youth in what he calls the Lower Seacoast--Seabrook, Hampton, North and South Hampton, and Hampton Falls. "The answer? 'Not much,'" Alleva says.

Responding to the need
"Forty percent of adult males in Seabrook never finished high school, and the town has one of New Hampshire's highest unemployment rates. Hampton has one of the state's highest homeless and transient populations, including a lot of kids.

"Drug and alcohol issues are huge across Lower Seacoast towns. Yet the whole area had no special youth development programs for kids who needed them most," he says. So Alleva convened a November meeting of all the local agencies that deal with young people: social service agencies, schools

, police. "Like many such community initiatives, we decided to apply for a grant to fund a comprehensive program of youth development services," Alleva says. “We didn't get the grant, but we had energy. We kept on meeting. In fact we've met monthly ever since."

The Seacoast Youth Leadership Project kicks off
"At that first meeting, I connected with Vic Maloney of Seacoast Youth Services, a nonproft at the time working primarily as a diversion program, providing drug and alcohol education, anger management, and community service opportunities."

Alleva wrote a proposal that was awarded a $200,000 Children, Youth and Families at Risk (CYFAR) grant to jumpstart an after-school program for the middle-schoolers most at risk. Paula Gregory, the 4-H Youth Development specialist who directs the CYFAR program in New Hampshire, notes that Alleva's proposal "is one of six five-year, community-based New Hampshire projects collectively awarded more than $2 million since the CYFAR program began in 1991."

"The Seacoast Youth Leadership Project kicked off as a two-day-a-week after-school leadership program for middle-school kids who were dealing with personal, social and emotional challenges," says Alleva. "Vic had no staff for an after-school program, so the grant covered the cost for two new staff and I began bringing in interns from the UNH family studies department. We've had five to date, and they've all have been great. "We've gradually migrated most of the annual CYFAR funding to Vic, allowing him to hire a recent UNH graduate and former intern Stephanie Charron full time this year."

The project gets a home
"When the project began, Vic was working out of a condo office in Hampton. At one of our monthly meetings, Bruce Pierce, pastor of the Church of Christ, brought up that his church owned an1845 brick school building they weren't using in Seabrook. Bruce gave Vic a tour of the old Dearborn School that had been mostly a storage facility for years and they worked out a lease.

"With $10,000 cobbled together from small grants and more than $200,000 in volunteer services, we scrubbed and we renovated. We moved in in 2004. Today we have 5000 square feet at SYS with a new kitchen, floors, bathrooms, fresh paint—and the lights all work."

The original two-days-a-week after-school program evolved rapidly to become a five-day a week after-school program with SYS expanding its in-school supports for kids as well. A four-days-a-week, three-week summer program begun in 2006 has expanded into this year's five-days-a-week, eight-week Summer Extreme, featuring field trips, hiking, biking, adventure treks, and more.

Alleva brought special skills
Alleva came to the job after years of experience as a community youth organizer and a direct service provider who'd worked the streets, managed homeless shelters, and run a residential treatment center for youth. The best way to start a program? "You just start hanging out with kids," says Alleva. "All kids are cool. Parents will get involved if you show respect, commitment, and care for their kids."

Alleva adds, " One important feature that distinguishes our programs from many others: we don't kick anybody out. We work around their problems. If a young person has difficulty reading, you need to give him or her extra help and teach them to read better. If a kid has emotional or behavior issues, you don't exclude them, you give them a place to belong where others can help them feel and act better."

Besides hanging out with kids, "I've served as a sort of jack of all trades in the project," says Alleva. "At various times, I've served as grantwriter, participant recruiter, activity leader, and staff trainer."

Wider Extension involvement
"We've also had other Extension staff involved," Alleva says. "Rockingham County Nutrition Connections coordinator Terri Shoppmeyer does food and fitness activities--healthy food is part of everything we do, and the kids are planting a garden this summer. 4-H specialist Trent Schreiffer co-leads our after-school technology program. He has kids building rockets and remote-controlled cars, doing digital videography, and educational computer gaming. Our county family and consumer resources educator, Karyn Blass, co-leads a Girl's Space group and helps with other family activities, and our other family educator, Claudia Boozer-Blasco, has helped with family and parent programs as well."

"But this isn't the sort of project where Extension can come in and give a few isolated workshops," Alleva says. "While our role will change, we need to stay involved and engaged here on an ongoing basis. Vic and three of his staff have all signed on to become trained 4-H volunteer leaders, which will expand their own capacity as well."

Making a difference
"Cooperative Extension programs are supposed to answer the question, 'How did you make a difference?'" says Alleva. "In our case, that's both tough and easy to answer. With very limited financial resources, we now have a program for middle school kids in grades fifth to eighth that began with an idea, started up as a two-days-a-week after-school lifeskills program that in less than five years has evolved into a dynamic five-days-a-week after-school and summer program.

At the same time, substance abuse prevention and intervention activities for middle- and high-school-age youth have been greatly expanded at SYS as well. "We have monthly family nights, when kids cook a meal for their families, movie nights, substance-abuse support groups, cooking classes, a leadership program that does service projects (including adopting a half-mile stretch of Seabrook beach to keep clean). We teach media literacy, team building, healthier living, food and fitness, science and technology, and help kids make good decisions for themselves and their community. This fall, our Techno-Team will be 'going green' and exploring sustainable energy (wind and solar) and environment-sensitive activities."

But the project's evolution hasn't followed a smooth, linear path. "I'd characterize what we've been doing as building the merry-go-round while we're whirling around on it," Alleva says. The network of organizations and individuals that began meeting in 2002 has recently formalized itself as the Lower Seacoast Youth and Family Coalition by drafting a memorandum of understanding that articulates its mission and commitment.

Their vision: The youth and families of the Lower seacoast area are engaged in positive community activities and are empowered to do whatever it takes to lead healthy lives. "You got that?" says Alleva. "Whatever it takes."