31 Aug 2020

Weekly Bulletin 7/6

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The following bulletin includes information regarding the Well Connected Communities initiative for the week of July 6, 2020:

In this Edition

  • WCC Health Action Plans
  • Q2 Reporting
  • PD Calendar
  • Youth Leadership Resources
  • News, Research, and Resources from the Field

WCC Health Action Plans

  • The new date for communities to submit their draft action plans to Shay McNeil(smcneil@fourhcouncil.edu) is July 15, 2020. We hope that this added time will allow you and your community coalitions the time and space to develop your action plans. We ask that you continue to keep us posted on your progress as well as any challenges you may be experiencing as that will help us to provide appropriate technical assistance and support. We shall continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed of any changes. Please review the email “Coalition Engagement and Action Planning Resources” sent July 2, 2020 for community engagement and action planning resources.

Q2 Reporting

  • PAST DUE The Q2 report was due June 30, 2020. There are three components to the reporting. Each participating community will submit a community report (submitted here), and each LGU will submit one financial report (submitted through WebGrants) and one Tobacco Separation Protocol staff validation (emailed to smcneil@fourhcouncil.edu).

Please refer to the email “Reminder Q2 Reporting Due 6/30” that was sent June 17, 2020 for more information on how to submit your Q2 report. Included in that email are a sample completed community report, a TSP validation letter template, and a Q2 FAQ document.

If you did not submit one or more of the three reporting components, please submit those as soon as possible.

PD Calendar

  • Dialogue as a Change Tool: Understanding Community Needs Peer Circles – 2 Part Series

Part 1: was June 23, 2020

Attached:

  • Slide deck
  • WIN Dialogue Guide

Part 2: July 15, 2020, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET – Please register here for the second part (July 15) of this two-part peer circle.

Recommended for WCC field staff, valuable addition for master volunteers.

Building the civic muscle needed for creating change starts by listening deeply to one another. Learn more about the practice of dialogue for building relationships, learning together, and understanding community needs. Across the two peer circle sessions you’ll build/on your foundational understanding of the practice of dialogue, create an opportunity to host a (virtual) session in your community, and return to reflect on what you heard and learned.

  • Youth-Adult Volunteer Leadership Team Office Hours – Building and Maintaining Your CV (Cohort of Volunteers)

July 20, 2020, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET

Your Cohort of Volunteers is very important to this work, but don’t forget about your other CV in the process! Trained volunteers can not only help advance Extension education in your communities but they can also help advance your Extension career. In addition to answering your questions about master health volunteers, youth involvement, youth-adult partnerships, and other WCC matters, we will also discuss incorporating your work with and through volunteers into your professional documents. Although the main theme of the 90-minute ZOOM session will be “Building and Maintaining Your CV (Cohort of Volunteers)” questions of any kind related to Youth Leadership, Youth-Adult Partnerships andthe Master Volunteer Program are welcomed. 

Register Here

  • Community Health Needs Assessment Webinar

August 6, 2020, 2:00 – 3:00 PM ET

This webinar will provide participants with an overview of the community health needs assessment process, demonstrate the WCC CHNA tool, and learn about best practices, youth engagement, and common pitfalls. This webinar is open to all communities. Those communities who do not have a CHNA or are in the early stages of the process are strongly encouraged to attend.

Webinar Outline:

  • Introductions & Housekeeping
  • Overview of the CHNA Process
  • WCC CHNA Tool Demonstration
  • Discussion of Best Practices, Youth Engagement, and Common Pitfalls
  • Q&A/Closing

Register Here

Youth Voice and Leadership

  • Youth-Adult Partnership Self-Assessment Rubric for Out-of-School Time 

Does your WCC Community need to assess the strength of its Youth-Adult Partnerships (YAP)?  Maybe YAP has been around for a while in theory, but are the relationships within your community authentic?  YAP fosters youth leadership and engagement, requirements of the Wave 2 WCC.  Attached is a rubric from Michigan State University that will help your community see where it stands with YAP.  It is based on the work of Dr. Shep Zeldin who stands as an international authority in YAP.  This rubric is designed to do the following:

  1. To formalize the concepts of youth-adult partnership in youth settings
  2. To be used as a low-stake peer/self-assessment tool for strengthening youth-adult partnership practices
  3. To be used as a formative or summative evaluation tool for assessing the structures and processes of youth-adult partnership in youth settings

It captures the four critical elements of YAP:  (1) authentic decision-making, (2) natural mentors, (3) reciprocity, and (4) community connectedness.

  • Other Youth-Adult Partnership Resources

News, Research and Resources from the Field:

·       NEW From eXtension

 

o   All Cooperative Extension professionals are invited to join Connect Extension. To register your free account, click here. 

 

o   ECOP/eXtension to Host Extension Futures National Action Dialogues 

July 13th or 14th, 1:00 – 3:00 PM ET

The purpose of the Action Dialogue is to imagine near-future possibilities for how Extension can better serve individuals and communities in the face of evolving needs and capabilities. The outcome of this dialogue will support transitional aspects of more digital engagement and community platforms, and inform the need for funding of infrastructure/equipment needed for the envisioned futures. More info & registration available here. 

  • Investing in Community Resilience: Evaluating Trauma-Informed Practice
    July 15th, 2020, 3:00 – 4:00 PM ET

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to: 

  • Understand the role of evaluation in building organizational and community capacity to implement a trauma-informed, healing centered approach
  • Identify methods and tools for evaluating the impact of ACEs and trauma…Learn More

USA Today, June 30, 2020, by Dr. Richard E. Besser, Opinion contributor

As COVID-19 cases rise across many states, some groups and places are being hit harder than others. Recovery and reopening efforts must be guided by public health, not politics. Data will be the key to safely and equitably managing this pandemic. President and CEO Rich Besser makes the case in USA Today as to why public health experts and other state and local leaders need to be equipped with local testing data—broken down by age, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, and other sociodemographic characteristics—in order to make decisions that will not continue to exacerbate the health and economic disparities in America.  

  • NEW From Community Health Rankings and Roadmaps
  • Special Webinar Series: COVID-19 Response and Recovery
  • COVID-19: Disproportionate Impact on Navajo Nation and Tribal Communities

Thursday, July 9 at 3pm ET

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps’ special webinar series, Health Equity and Social Solidarity in the Time of Pandemic: Strategies for COVID-19 Response and Recovery, highlights the challenges communities are facing as they respond to COVID-19 and its impacts, and serves as an opportunity for community leaders across the nation to learn from lead researchers, policymakers and each other.

Register Here

  • US COVID Atlas: Exploring Data to Move to Action

Series: COVID-19, July 21, 2020 3pm EDT

As the COVID-19 pandemic has gripped the nation, an endless stream of data has flooded our inboxes, news outlets, and social media. But as communities navigate the crisis, response, and recovery, it’s more crucial than ever to connect this data with our own community contexts. The US COVID Atlas, developed by the Center for Spatial Data Science at the University of Chicago and coalition partners, is a helpful tool to assess your county’s past, current, and projected COVID-19 data and social and economic data. Layering these data points can provide additional context about a community’s conditions and can help guide services, resources, and policies to where the need is greatest.

During this webinar, County Health Rankings & Roadmaps will be joined by Marynia Kolak, Assistant Director for Health Informatics at the Center for Spatial Data Science, as we:

  • Explore the features of this unique mapping tool, including county-level COVID-19 data over time
  • Examine the County Health Rankings social and economic measures included in the Atlas, which provide a more complete picture about overall community health
  • Share tools and strategies to better understand data and find ways to take action locally

Register Here

NPR, June 24, 2020

National 4-H Council – 17 June 2020

A new survey commissioned by National 4‑H Council, and conducted by the Harris Poll, finds that 7 in 10 teens are struggling with their mental health in the wake of COVID-19. More than half of those surveyed shared that the pandemic has increased their feelings of loneliness, with 64 percent believing it will have a lasting impact on their mental health. The survey, conducted in May 2020, is among the first to examine the impact this unprecedented public health crisis has had on U.S. teens. The results were recently featured in an article in the Huffington Post.

RWJF “Culture of Health Blog” – 23 June 2020, by William H. Dietz

In the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak—New York City—obesity emerged as a powerful predictor of hospitalizations and critical care, second only to older age (over 65). We know childhood obesity is a powerful predictor of obesity in adulthood. If we want to better prepare our children for future pandemics, let’s start by applying the lessons we’re learning from COVID-19—and that starts with addressing health disparities that contribute to obesity. Could preventing and treating obesity in today’s kids make a difference when we find ourselves facing the next pandemic? We think so.

  • New Farm Stress Training Course Available
    Roger Rennekamp, Extension Health Director
    Cooperative Extension/ECOP

    Extension practitioners wishing to learn more about how they can support farmers and ranchers experiencing high levels of stress  brought on by the economic turmoil associated with  COVID-19 are encouraged to participate in a new online training course supported…Learn More