Extension Washington County Monthly Program Highlights
August 2021
Extension Educator Highlights
Postive Youth DevelopmentRon Jakubisin Positive Youth Development Educator
A series of workshops for the high school-aged teen leaders of Camp Super Hero which teaches facilitation skills. The goal of the training is to prepare them for facilitating activities for youth camp participants throughout the summer.
A series of workshops (monthly) where youth at Washington County Camp Super Hero learn about the stages of group development. The goal is to increase their awareness and knowledge in positive communication, trust, and, consensus building, so that they are more effective in their social/group setting in the future.
A monthly coalition meeting (Elevate’s Heroin Task Force and Prevention Committee) where Extension provides guidance in outcome-based prevention strategies to this group of youth-serving organizations that make up the committee. The goal is to support them as they create year-round planning and promotion of AODA prevention strategies for youth.
Planning Sessions for Ozaukee Washington Land Trust
The Executive Director of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust, a local nonprofit, contacted Paul to facilitate a process that would update the organization’s strategic plan. After a preplanning meeting, the organization’s board and staff completed two online surveys, one to assess board strengths and opportunities and a second survey to provide feedback on the organization’s current mission and vision statements. Then, Paul facilitated two planning sessions that updated the organization’s mission and vision statements; identified organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges; brainstormed goals; and developed action plans to accomplish prioritized goals.
As a result of the two planning sessions, 92% of participants agreed that updating the mission statement helped clarify their role as an organization, updating the vision statement assisted them in understanding the general direction for their organization’s future, and the process of identifying goals increased their ability to identify issues and set priorities. 100% of participants agreed that discussing action plans increased their ability to identify their next steps for future implementation. Participants evaluated Paul’s facilitation as a 4.7 on a 5-point Likert Scale (1=poor and 5=excellent). One participant commented “Great job keeping us on track” and another commented that Paul “Made it easy for everyone to participate.”
After the planning session, Paul compiled the notes of the session and will meet with the organization’s leadership to determine the next steps in the planning process.
A series of virtual sessions for youth ages 12-15 who will be employed on a farm or operating tractors on public highways for their family’s farm, where they learn about workplace safety and other safety-related topics on farms and agricultural operations. The goal of this effort is support them in receiving the required Tractor and Machinery Certification Certificate to satisfy state and federal requirements.
Development of a farm management newsletter for farmers and agribusiness professionals. This effort was designed to promote available Extension farm management resources and provide a timely and reliable source of farm management news and updates.
Development of a module on determining and defining a mission, vision and values for farmers and agribusiness professionals. This effort was designed to encourage farmers to establish their values and use them to make decisions and craft their future.
Human Development and Relationships
Carol Bralich Human Development & Relationships Educator
Planning AHEAD
The Sheboygan County Extension HDR Educator approached Carol to collaborate in facilitating the pilot program Planning AHEAD in May and June of 2021 as part of a statewide effort. Planning AHEAD is a series of virtual sessions for adults where they learned about end-of-life decision making tasks including health care wishes, financial responsibilities, legal requirements and documentation distribution of personal property, end-of-life care options, and dealing with grief. The goal of this effort is to help participants proactively learn how to manage the tasks and decisions associated with end-of-life, so they don’t feel overwhelmed and so that burdens on loved ones are reduced.
For the pilot, participants included the general public as well as partner community agency staff who work with clients in this area. The Washington County ADRC Benefits Specialist attended the series and supported the program by promoting the series to their clientele. Over 10 attendees participated with over 50 direct contacts throughout the 7-week series. Each attendee received a workbook with recordkeeping worksheets, tools and resource to reinforce the session content. Because of this program series, participants stated: “I like the comprehensive list of what needs to be taken care of.” and “I’m sharing highlights with my siblings as we care for our father.” Series attendees had the opportunity to participate in focus groups to provide feedback for any modifications needed to the program curriculum.
Washington County FoodWIse has worked for years with The Threshold Inc. to provide direct education. This spring, Kelly reached out to ask the TTI Building Fuller Lives coordinator to complete our FoodWIse 3-year planning survey; she invited Kelly to attend a Tuesday “Walking and Wellness” group with the BFL program participants to learn this information directly from participants instead.
In that listening session, Kelly heard from TTI BFL participants about where they were at with food safety, resource management, cooking, and nutrition patterns. They also discussed barriers they face to nutritious foods and what they wanted to learn from FoodWIse. The coordinator also suggested that they would like to build upon previous programs and now learn in real settings such as grocery stores and farmer’s markets, and want tools to help with budgeting, planning meals, and cooking. They invited me to observe and understanding where participants are at with grocery shopping and planning, testing a FoodWIse-provided tool at the store. Efforts to meet participants where they are at, to participate in a grocery-shopping trip, and to listen to their wants and dislikes in nutrition skills and FoodWIse programming improved our connection and gave insight into how FoodWIse can better engage with this group both now and into the future.
A virtual session for adult and youth leaders where participants learned about the changes to the financial part of the 4-H charter. This effort was designed to provide volunteers with an opportunity to learn about the changes, ask county 4-H educators questions, and to help the leaders feel supported.
