4-H and Youth

• 4-H Youth Development activities and programs designed to teach youth skills to better prepare them for life reached 1909 Moultrie-Douglas youth. These youth were reached through school enrichment programs in grades preK-12 as well as community and traditional 4-H programming.
  
• 149 youth ages 5-19 participated in the traditional 4-H club program.
  
• 196 local high school youth learned real world lessons about family finances and budgeting when they participated in Extension's Welcome to the Real World program. 81% identified specific issues that were addressed in the program that they had not considered in preparing to live independently.
  
• Summer library programs were presented in communities throughout Moultrie and Douglas counties reaching 264 youth.
  
• The 2nd year of University of Illinois Extension's Camp Clover continued to provide exciting learning experiences to a youth audience in Moultrie-Douglas counties. 154 youth participated in the summer day-camp experience targeted at youth 8-12 years of age, with special emphasis on reaching those from limited resource communities. The camps were conducted at Newman, Tuscola, and Arcola. Each camp included three topics: Hispanic Culture, My Food Guide Pyramid, and Aerospace.

In Latino Cultural Arts, each day campers participated in activities to "earn stamps" for their passport. Their passports provide pertinent information related to language, food, celebrations, clothing, art, and geography. They also learned new Spanish words each day - greetings, colors, foods, and numbers. Campers became aware of their own cultural identity and then learned about Latino/Hispanic culture and geography through a trivia and map game. Youth learned how art, food, and celebrations contribute to the Latino Culture. Observation and discussion with the campers provided evidence that:

• At the beginning of camp, youth were only able to list 6 Spanish-speaking countries, but by the end of the camp, campers identified 17 Spanish-speaking countries.
  
• 74% of campers could identify five of the elements that define Latino/Hispanic Culture at the conclusion of the camp.

Youth learned which foods to eat and how to safely prepare them in MyPyramid sessions. Activities focused on learning the five food groups, the number of servings of vegetables and fruit needed each day, and why it is important to drink milk. The campers also learned skills while preparing nutritious food dishes. A number of methods, including the nutrition quiz, were used to measure the impact of the activities on the campers. The results indicated:

• 87% of the campers could name all 5 food groups at the end of day one
• 98% demonstrated the proper way to use kitchen knives
• 92% named correct serving sizes in fruit and vegetable and milk groups
• 91% correctly answered 7 of 10 food safety questions

Aerospace Adventures allowed youth to become aeronautical pioneers exploring the many mysteries of flight, airplane design, and rocket propulsion. Campers made bubbles, designed airplanes and also created and launched rockets while learning the scientific facts about the air around us. Observations of the campers' activities indicated:

• 100% designed and tested an airplane and/or rocket
• 88% modified their airplane design
• 91% modified their rocket design

Hispanic Outreach Initiative

Douglas County is home to a growing Hispanic population who were not being reached by 4-H Youth Development programming. Arcola is the Douglas County community which the majority of the Hispanic/ Latino population resides. This increase has a significant impact on the school and community resources serving the Hispanic/Latino population. During the 2003-2004 contact reporting period, only 65 Hispanic youth were reached during school, community, and summer programs involving youth.

The Douglas County Regional Prevention Group (RPG), which Moultrie-Douglas Extension Unit is a member of, has recently conducted an informal survey of Hispanic households in Arcola. The survey reached 77 households in the community. This is approximately 38% of all Hispanic households in Arcola, according to documentation from the Arcola City Clerk's office. Based on the information gathered the Hispanic population of Arcola is in excess of 800 people. The top issues that surfaced from Hispanic community members who participated were:

• Interpreters
• Access to doctors who speak Spanish
• Hispanic Law Enforcement Officer
• After school daycare
• Activities for kids
• Transportation
• Cultural compassion for adults/kids

Based on the information from the RPG survey, data gathered from the 2000 Census, and a review of Youth Contact Reports from 2003-2004, there was a need for additional programming and outreach in Arcola that could be met through the Hispanic Outreach Initiative. The Moultrie-Douglas 4-H Youth Development Program developed the Hispanic Outreach Initiative in an effort to address the issues of Activities for kids, Cultural compassion for adults/ kids, and After school daycare, that were identified by the survey.

A 4-H Foundation Grant award was used to provide financial support to address programming needs to the underserved Hispanic youth in the area. With help from the RPG, volunteers from the community, and Extension staff, Camp Clover was held in Arcola with 26 youth attending. 21 of those participating were Hispanic. Hispanic youth were the target of the promotional efforts but all students were welcome to attend. In an attempt to cultivate cultural compassion for adults/kids, BaFa BaFa - a cross culture simulation, was presented to Jr. High students through an in-school program reaching 120 7th and 8th grade students. Plans are under way to offer 4-H project activities during the after school program at the Arcola Grade School.