The following bulletin includes information regarding the Well Connected Communities initiative for the week of January 11, 2021:
In this Edition
- Youth Voice and Leadership
- Professional Development
- News, Research, and Resources from the Field
Youth Voice and Leadership
- Second Youth Introductory Session, January 19, 2021, 7:00 – 8:30 PM ET
On January 19, 2021, from 7:00 – 8:30 PM ET, there will be another virtual Youth Introductory Session where the youth teams from our WCC communities can introduce themselves and their health issues to their peers. We had a very successful first session on August 26, 2020 with 49 participants. Youth from that session are invited to return to cheer on and learn about their peers. This repeat session is for those communities that did not have youth on the August call and to introduce WCC youth to each other prior to the National 4-H Summit on Healthy Living. Each youth team is asked to prepare 1-2 slides to tell about their communities and their activities. PI’s are asked to register their youth and adult participants using this link. Slides should be sent to Hayat Essa (hessa@fourhcouncil.edu) by January 11, 2021. If your community plans to participate and you have not yet sent your slides to Hayat, please do so as soon as possible.
- National 4-H Summit for Health Living, February 12 – 15, 2021
Registration is now open for the National 4-H Summit for Healthy Living. https://shop4-h.org/products/healthy-living-summit-registration or https://4-h.org/parents/national-youth-summits/#healthyliving
This is a virtual event scheduled for February 12-15 for high school students and adults. Registration closes January 29, 2021.
Registration is $75 per person, youth or adult. Each participant will receive a Summit box of materials to promote having a great Summit experience.
Registration will be a two-step process. First, the attendees need to be registered and payment made in order to get the Summit boxes to everyone in time. Secondly, after registration closes January 29, attendees have one week to designate the track they will stay in: nutrition, physical activity, mental health, substance abuse, health equity, and food insecurity plus an adult track for professional development. This needs to be done by February 5, 2021 and you will receive information on what the workshop offerings will be for each track prior to the deadline. The tracks are the “how” behind allowing unlimited participation. Workshop offerings are being finalized now.
Please pass this information along to county staff, 4-H Club volunteers, anyone with an interest in deepening their 4-H Healthy Living knowledge.
- Youth in Action Applications
The 4‑H Youth in Action Program recognizes four confident young leaders with diverse backgrounds and unique perspectives in our core pillar areas: agriculture, civic engagement, healthy living and STEM. Each year, Pillar Winners will experience an exciting year of telling their 4‑H story and celebrating their leadership. Winners receive:
- $5,000 higher education scholarship
- Promotional video showcasing their 4‑H impact story
- All-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. for National 4‑H Council’s Legacy Awards
- Networking opportunities with 4‑H celebrities and other prominent alumni
- Recognition as the official 4‑H youth spokesperson for their pillar
Apply Applications should be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. PST on Monday, March 29, 2021.
Professional Development
- Youth-Adult Volunteer Leadership Office Hours
Office hours will be held on Monday, January 25, 2021 from 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET to entertain questions about Youth-Adult Partnerships or Master Volunteers. The specific sub-topic we will focus on sharing what each WCC grantee is doing with their LGUs WCC program – training, internship in light of the pandemic, etc. For example, New Hampshire will be using the training track they sign up for at the HL Summit as part of their MV training which will be at least 4 hours.
Additional Youth-Adult Volunteer Leadership Office Hours will be held:
- April 19, 2021, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
- July 19, 2021, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
- October 18, 2021, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
- Cooperative Extension and its Role in Public Health
January 28, 2021, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
Speaker: Roger Rennekamp, PhD
Roger Rennekamp, National Director for Extension will lead the conversation on our collective effort to foster systems change while implementing policies, systems and environment (PSE) change across our Well Connected Communities. This interactive session will focus on:
- Cooperative Extension System and its role in public health and health equity.
- Driving PSE and systems change through cross-unit collaboration at university and community levels.
- Strengthening equity work across communities, urban, tribal and rural.
- Creating and disseminating tools and stories for peer-to-peer learning and evaluation.
- What to expect in 2021 for professional development sessions, youth-adult partnerships and Master Volunteer Programs.
News, Research, and Resources from the Field:
Where available, webinar recordings, PowerPoint slides, and transcripts for 2020 National Rural Health Day programming can now be accessed on the National Rural Health Day website. All links are free and accessible to the public. Event topics range from telehealth and COVID-19 testing to social determinants of health and substance use disorder. Participating organizations included HHS entities CDC, CMS, HRSA, NIH, the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, the National Association of Rural Health Clinics, and the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health.
From the American Communities Project
by Stuart Reid, December 01, 2020
When George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis in the spring, the coronavirus pandemic was no longer the only major issue facing the city. As protests erupted in South Minneapolis, many small businesses were damaged and destroyed. Seward Community Co-op has two storefronts owned by more than 21,000 Minneapolis households — both in neighborhoods where protests and property damage occurred
- NEW University of Missouri Extension to Expand Mental Health Resources in Rural Areas
Missouri’s rural counties lack mental health services despite growing financial stress and suicide rates. All of Missouri’s 99 rural counties face a shortage of mental health professionals; 57 of them have none. University of Missouri Extension hopes to change that through a multistate project to help farmers, ranchers and farm families find affordable help close to home. MU is part of a $28.7 million, three-year grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN). FRSAN supports projects that provide stress assistance and suicide prevention services for farmers, ranchers and others in agricultural occupations, says MU Extension health and safety specialist Karen Funkenbusch, who is MU’s principal investigator for the grant. For more information, read the MU article.
- NEW Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program (CFPCGP)
The CFPCGP program fights food insecurity through developing community food projects that help promote the self-sufficiency of low-income communities. CFP supports the development of projects with a one-time infusion of federal dollars to make projects self-sustaining. For more information, read the full CFP funding opportunity.
From NPR
“All Things Considered”, December 28, 2020
The virus infecting thousands of Americans a day is also attacking the country’s social fabric. The coronavirus has exposed a weakness in many rural communities, where divisive pandemic politics are alienating some of their most critical residents — health care workers.
- Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program (CFPCGP)
The Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program (CFPCGP) fights food insecurity through developing community food projects that help promote the self-sufficiency of low-income communities.
NIFA’s Community Food Projects (CFP) intends to solicit applications and fund two types of grants. The types are:
- Community Food Projects (CFP)
- Planning Projects (PP)
CFP supports the development of projects with a one-time infusion of federal dollars to make such projects self-sustaining. CFPs are designed to create community-based food projects with objectives, activities and outcomes that are in alignment with Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program (CFPCGP) primary goals. Planning Projects complete a plan toward the improvement of community food security in keeping with the primary goals of the CFPCGP. Planning Projects focus on a defined community and describe in detail the activities and outcomes of the project. For more information, read the full CFP funding opportunity
The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) will be making approximately 78 awards of $1 million each to rural communities to enhance substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD), service delivery. Over the course of a three-year period of performance, grant recipients will implement a set of core prevention, treatment, and recovery activities that align with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Five-Point Strategy to Combat the Opioid Crisis. Award recipients are strongly encouraged to leverage workforce recruitment and retention programs like the National Health Service Corps (NHSC). All domestic public and private entities, nonprofit and for-profit, are eligible to apply and all services must be provided in HRSA-designated rural areas (as defined by the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer). The applicant organization must be part of an established network or consortium that includes at least three other separately-owned entities. A majority, or at least 50 percent, of members in each consortium must be located within HRSA-designated rural areas. Applicants are encouraged to include populations that have historically suffered from poorer health outcomes, health disparities, and other inequities, as compared to the rest of the target population, when addressing SUD/OUD in the proposed service area. FORHP will hold an hour-long webinar for applicants on Tuesday, January 26, 2021 from 1-2 p.m., ET. A recording will be made available for those who cannot attend. Please reference page ii in the NOFO for the dial-in information for the webinar and contact ruralopioidresponse@hrsa.gov with programmatic questions and bmirindi@hrsa.gov with fiscal/budget-related questions.
American Communities Project
by Becky Ofrane October 21, 2020
Inspired in part by the American Communities Project’s county-level health analysis by Community Type, City Health Dashboard recently released an analysis and typology of America’s small and midsize cities, categorizing cities of population between 50,000 to 500,000 into 10 distinct City Types.
- Covid-19 Dashboard for Rural America
From The Daily Yonder
We’re tracking the spread and impact of Covid-19 across rural America. The numbers and maps on this dashboard are updated weekly. View the Covid-19 Dashboard.
- Why Getting COVID-19 Vaccines to Rural Americans Is Harder than It Looks, and How to Lift the Barriers
Dec 28, 2020 — Discusses barriers to distributing the COVID-19 vaccines in rural areas, such as the vaccines’ cold storage requirements and shipping rules which make it difficult for rural hospitals to serve as distribution hubs. Describes how geographic isolation, hospital closures, and lack of public transportation increases the difficulty of vaccinating rural Americans.