A youth team from two West Virginia communities who attended the 2020 National Healthy Living Summit planned and coordinated a conference to address mental health. Due to COVID-19 restrictions on events and gatherings, youth pivoted their planning and logistics for the Snowflake Conference to a virtual platform.  health equity in their communities. They created and the Snowflake Conference project and came up with session topics and conference logistics. On October 10, 2020, 19 youth and 11 adults attended the virtual conference to address mental health as a health disparity in their communities.  According to the participants, youth agreed that as a result of successfully implementing this conference, they are confident in their abilities to plan and execute an idea about community change with opportunity for disseminating the project as a pilot and small-scale model. There are plans for longer-term post conference evaluation, but some responses from a short post conference survey indicate that participants gained insights about their own uniqueness and the importance of mental health. Respondents also strongly agreed or somewhat agreed they learned more about resources for mental health, gained a greater understanding what mindfulness is, and they feel better about communicating during conflicts.  Three counties have expressed interest in replicating this concept their communities and ideas generated by this youth-led virtual conference have inspired state-level Extension committees on Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging to begin making plans for a similar youth-led statewide summit.

Well Connected Community members from Meigs County, Tennessee delivered a panel presentation on “Youth Volunteers Leading Community Change” as part of the National Extension Conference on Volunteerism in Billings, Montana from May 14-16, 2019.

Meagen Brown, Extension Agent for 4-H and Family Consumer Science, led the group which included Connye Rowland, Community Health Coordinator for Meigs County Public Schools, and 4-H teen leaders Keyshawn Tatum and Austin Blackmon. Together they told the story of their Well Connected Community project that went from having no teens involved to teens taking the lead. National 4-H Healthy Living Project Director, JoAnne Leatherman, set the stage for their story by telling about Well Connected Communities where 13 pilot states are working with 3 communities each to develop Community Wellness Councils and address a prioritized leading health issue.

There were 275 Extension staff and community partners from all over the country to learn best practices and research related to recruiting, training, recognizing and sustaining volunteers in Cooperative Extension Programs at the biannual event. Besides attending the conference, the Meigs County group visited Yellowstone National Park, and learned much about Western US culture and geography.