The following bulletin includes information regarding the Well Connected Communities initiative for the week of September 28, 2020:
In this Edition
- Q3 Reporting Deadline Approaching
- Community Health Action Plans
- Upcoming Wave 1 Community Evaluation Activities
- Youth Voice and Leadership
- PD and Coaching
- News, Research, and Resources from the Field
Q3 Reporting Deadline Approaching
- The Q3 report will be due September 30, 2020.
- The reporting will consist of each community submitting a community report – submitted via the WCC community portal; Reporting period for Q3 is June 1 – August 31, 2020.
- one LGU Financial Status Report – submitted through WebGrants; Please report your spending in all budget categories against your current approved budget for the entire grant. In other words, all spending from December 1, 2019 – August 31, 2020.
- one Tobacco Separation Protocol validation letter – can be submitted via WebGrants as an attachment with Financial Status Report or emailed to smcneil@fourhcouncil.edu.
Community Health Action Plans
- We are continuing to share feedback and connect with communities around their action plans. All communities that have submitted an action plan should receive their feedback summaries by September 30, 2020. If your community submitted an action plan and does not receive a feedback summary by September 30, 2020, please let Shay know as soon as possible. As your efforts continue, the PD team is happy to connect to provide guidance and learn from you about the ways in which your goal connects to policies and systems in community. We encourage you to review this feedback with your partners and update your action plan as needed. Please plan to upload your updated action plan to your community portal by November 30, 2020. If you are interested in discussing the feedback or receiving additional support as you update your action plan, please contact Shay McNeil at smcneil@fourhcouncil.edu.
Upcoming Wave 1 Community Evaluation Activities
- The Center for Community Health and Evaluation, the evaluation partner for WCC, will be conducting their first major evaluation data collection effort at the community level. This first year of the evaluation, CCHE will be focusing on communities that participated in Wave 1 of WCC. In the coming weeks, CCHE will be reaching out to PIs who started in Wave 1 for support on the following evaluation activities:
- Community coalition surveys – CCHE will launch a survey at the end of August/beginning of September to collect information on how community collaboration is going, what is working well, and where there might be opportunities to strengthen partnerships. You will receive a report that includes the survey results for all of your communities that complete the survey for your use and so that you can share back with your communities.
- Youth interviews – CCHE would like to ask PIs of Wave 1 communities to help identify 1 youth who would be willing to talk about their experience with WCC. The youth could be from any of your communities that engaged in Wave 1; ideally they have been participating in WCC for at least one year, but that’s not required. CCHE aims to conduct the youth interviews in early September.
Youth Voice and Leadership
- Youth Mental Health Peer Circle
Part 2: October 7, 2020, 7:00 – 8:00 PM ET
Part 2 of the Youth Mental Health Peer Circle will be Wednesday, October 7 from 7:00 – 8:00 PM ET when we will unpack Youth Mental Health Programs planned by WCC Communities. You are welcome to join even if you missed session 1. If you have the opportunity, we invite you to view Part 1.
The registration is organized by Community so one adult lead from the community will register all youth and adults (The adult that registers everyone from their community will need to share the ZOOM link with all participants.) The session will be based on the discussion from the September 2, 2020 Session.
- Youth Food Security Webinar Postponed
The Youth Food Security Webinar originally scheduled for September 23 was postponed. At the September 2 Youth Introductory Session, there was wonderful WCC work already in progress engaging youth leadership in organizing the distribution of blessing boxes (similar to Little Free Libraries), and other food distribution techniques. If anyone has youth who would like to help plan and carry out a youth-driven food security webinar, please let JoAnne Leatherman (jleatherman@fourhcouncil.edu) know by the end of September. We would like to highlight your work through this webinar, which will likely be in late October.
PD and Coaching
- Youth-Adult Volunteer Leadership Office Hours
Office hours will be held on Tuesday, October 20 from 1:30 – 2:30 PM EST to entertain questions about Youth-Adult Partnerships or Master Volunteers. The specific sub-topic for Master Volunteers will be how to communicate impact when working with these highly trained volunteers. When you register, if you have specific questions, please enter them so they are sure to be addressed.
- Leading Together for Equity and Inclusion Webinar
September 17, 2020, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
Presenter: Dorothy Freeman, PhD
Recording (slide deck attached)
Dr. Freeman is the Director of Equity at National 4-H Council whose role is to lead Council to strategically align its programmatic priorities and vision with the Equity, Access and Belonging Committee. Dr. Freeman has a distinctive career in 4-H Extension where she was Associate Dean and State 4-H Director with the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development and 25years Virginia Cooperative Extension at Virginia Tech University.
Dr. Freeman will delve into the topics listed below and her presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with some Wave 2 grantees:
- How are we defining equity and inclusion? Holding it as a value? [CES & 4-H]
- What is Extension/4-H learning about equity during this time of multiple pandemics (COVID-19 and widespread calls for racial justice)
- How are we adapting/moving to action?
- What are the unique challenges and opportunities related to WCC? What is our unique role?
- The Extension Model as a community engagement model.
News, Research and Resources from the Field:
Tues., Sept. 29, 2020, 12:00 p.m. EDT, Register here.
Research demonstrates that spirituality and religious belief can be a protective factor in the prevention of, and recovery from, mental illness. Learn more about programs that have translated this research into action and the importance of providing spiritual support for the clinicians themselves. Join us tomorrow for the first webinar in the series Spirituality in Treatment: Systemic Treatment Models Bridging Faith and Mental Health Professionals.
- NEW Let’s Talk About Recovery — Resources from NIDA
In acknowledgment of National Recovery Month, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) released the following resources to help jumpstart a dialogue with your community and family members.
MTV premiered a new four-part docu-series,“16 and Recovering,” spotlighting stories from teens at Northshore Recovery High School in Massachusetts. The program can be a conversation starter for parents, caregivers, and educators to help teens realize they’re not alone or different—and that the disease of addiction is treatable.
NIDA’s preferred language guide helps de-stigmatize conversations about drug use and addiction using person-first, non-judgmental language. Additional information may be found on drugabuse.gov and teens.drugabuse.gov.
This series of publications is filled with resources and information to help you or someone you care about who might have a drug use disorder, including a guide specifically written for young people.
During National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week®, teens often ask about a cure for addiction. In this blog post for teens, experts explain that while there may not be a cure, there is treatment that helps people live full, healthy lives.
These questions, outlined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), will help you learn whether a substance use disorder treatment provider offers higher-quality treatment and is a good fit for your situation. Here is the link to NIAAA’s tool for recognizing quality care.
- Webinar 9/30: Rethinking ID/DD Transportation Services During the COVID-19 Era
Register for the webinar on September 30 at 3 – 4:30 pm ET.
The COVID-19 pandemic created many challenges for people with disabilities and older adults, as well as for the aging and disability networks. But leaders rose to the challenge — as innovators and inventors, partners and problem-solvers. States and intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) providers successfully implemented updated waivers, procedural strategies, and other creative approaches to ensure continuity in home and community-based services (HCBS) and overall health and safety. Through the pandemic, we discovered opportunities to rethink and redesign HCBS.
ACL and the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) are partnering to present a series of webinars to explore these opportunities.
Please join us on Wednesday, September 30, 2020 from 3 – 4:30 p.m. (EDT) for the third webinar of this series, which will focus on transportation services. Specifically, we will:
- Review the transportation landscape for individuals with ID/DD;
- Learn from providers about their strategies to operate and maintain transportation services during the pandemic; and
- Discuss the future of transportation and lessons learned from COVID-19.
ACL Administrator Lance Robertson will provide opening remarks on the webinar.
Register in advance for this webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. If you have questions about the webinar series, please email AoD@acl.hhs.gov.
- From eXtension
- Impact Collaborative Summit Registration, Registration Deadline – September 30th. The Impact Collaborative Summit is a team event for eXtension Member Institutions and will be held on October 13th & 14th, 2020. Community partners are encouraged to participate on teams. We highly recommend sending teams that include 3-8 individuals focused on a project or program aligned with state/institutional strategic priorities and/or community issues.
In 2019, teams that incubated with eXtension’s Impact Collaborative program received $700K in federal grants and an additional $50K in grants directly through the Impact Collaborative. 40 project and program teams participated in two national Summits, and 92% of participants reported that they would recommend the experience to others. So far in 2020, teams that incubated with the Impact Collaborative have received $1.3 million in grants. Learn more at extension.org/success about teams that have participated in our Impact Collaborative program.
The Impact Collaborative Summit helps increase Cooperative Extension’s organizational readiness and capacity for innovation and change by connecting teams with skills, tools, resources and partners that can expand and deepen their impact. Participating teams will receive one on one support from coaches to help identify gaps in their project and program planning, and have access to our network of expert Key Informants to help fill those gaps.
For 2020, our Impact Collaborative program is being delivered virtually. We invite members to take advantage of their membership benefit by sending project and program teams to the Impact Collaborative Summit. Teams that participate will be eligible and invited to apply for small grants made available by the eXtension Foundation to help further their project/program development. Learn more and register.
- Urban Food Systems Symposium in October Will Focus on Climate, Community, Secutiry, Production, and Distribution
Heather Woods, Program/Project Coordinator, Kansas State University
All things food in and for urban areas will be in focus during the 3rd Urban Food Systems Symposium scheduled for virtual delivery on Wednesdays in Octobe r and hosted this year by Kansas State University and K-State Research and Extension. 2020 Urban Food Systems Symposium online sessions will be offered from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m…Learn More
- Obesity and its Impact on Health Including COVID-19 Risks
Sonja Koukel, Professor/Extension Health Specialist, New Mexico State University
Subgroup: Health & Well-Being
Obesity has serious health consequences including increased risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and many types of cancers. Concerns about the impact of obesity have taken on new dimensions this year as having obesity is one of the underlying health conditions associated with the most serious consequences of COVID infection…Learn More
- Racism is a Public Health Crisis – Online Lecture by Camara Phyllis Jones
Roger Rennekamp, National Extension Health Director, ECOP
Subgroup: Health & Well-Being
Camara Phyllis Jones will deliver Oregon State University’s Tammy Bray Leadership Lecture on Friday, October 2 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM Pacific Time Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, Ph.D., MPH is a family physician and epidemiologist whose work focuses on naming, measuring and addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the nation…Learn More
- Racial Healing for Ourselves, Our Communities and Our Future
Webinar // Date: Sep 29 2020, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM EST
The fourth webinar in APHA’s Advancing Racial Equity series will discuss racial healing as essential for dismantling racism and advancing racial equity.
Presenters will:
- Explain a model for truth, racial healing and transformation, or TRHT.
- Describe efforts of the TRHT Campus Center at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
- Explore how Indigenous values can guide racial healing within and across communities.
The first three webinars attracted over 14,000 live participants and more than 2,600 views of the recordings to date. This demonstrates how hungry we all are for information on how we can dismantle racism. To help you use the webinars to initiate or deepen anti-racism efforts in your organizations, schools and communities, we’ve developed a discussion guide to be used along with viewing the webinar recordings. Advancing Racial Equity Webinar Series: Discussion Guide (Part I) includes:
- a summary of each webinar;
- pre-webinar reflection questions;
- post-webinar discussion questions;
- an activity; and
- resources for each webinar.
The guide is primarily designed for public health students and professionals. However, many individuals and groups can also use the guide to launch meaningful conversations about racism and racial equity. Please feel free to share the webinar recordings and guide with your networks.
- From the Journal of Extension
- A Time Like No Other: 4-H Youth Development and COVID-19
June 2020 // Volume 58 // Number 3 // Commentary // v58-3comm1
Arnold, Mary E.; Rennekamp, Roger A.
In this thought leader commentary, we review the potential devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people, including trauma, impacts on mental health, socioemotional distress, and changes in academic learning. Stating that 4-H is uniquely positioned to mitigate these effects through intentional positive youth development efforts, we present a call to action for 4-H educators and Extension administrators as we move from initial reaction to recovery and beyond. We recommend four research-based strategies to ensure that youths not only survive, but thrive, in this time like no other.
- County Commissioner Perceptions of Cooperative Extension: Implications for Strengthening the Partnership with County Government
August 2020 // Volume 58 // Number 4 // Feature // v58-4a3
Blevins, Mark; Jayaratne, K. S. U.; Bruce, Jackie; Bradley, Lucy; Stumpf-Downing, Mitzi
We undertook a study to determine county commissioner perceptions of Cooperative Extension. The majority of county commissioners had had prior involvement with Extension. Nearly 59% represented rural counties, and 94% indicated that agriculture is important to their county economies. Overall, the commissioners had a positive perception of Cooperative Extension, and their overall perception positively correlated with the significance of agriculture to the local economy. Our findings have implications for county-based Cooperative Extension professionals seeking to build all-important strong partnerships with county commissioners.
From Yahoo Life
September 13, 2020
Yahoo Life has partnered with Emmy – and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster Soledad O’Brien for the exclusive premiere of the documentary Hungry to Learn. O’Brien and her team followed four college students facing the hard choice of paying for college or paying for food and housing. She discovered that an astounding 45 percent of college students are struggling with hunger. O’Brien reports on how the hunger crisis is escalating this fall as most campuses open remotely because of COVID-19, leaving financially struggling students with no place to live or eat.