Progress 09/01/19 to 08/29/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience during this reporting year includes youth in grades 5-7. While our programming typically focuses in on 6th graders and their parents or guardians, as well as 7th graders, some of our programming was not possible due to school capacity, change of administration at partner sites and other issues that continue to plague rural, public schools. As a result, we did extend programming resources to some younger grades in an effort to support students and build interest in our program as they age up through school. Changes/Problems:The life of this project spanned the covid years. Our partners were public schools and since covid, rural public schools in VT have had teacher and other staff shortages, as well as a constant revolution of administration changes. This made it incredibly difficult to build momentum and sustainability. Classroom behaviors were also hard to manage, making it hard to get through the necessary curricula in the timeframe available. While the PROSPER model, if followed with fidelity yields amazing results, changes are needed to make it achievable in today's classrooms. We adapted with additional programming such as take home materials that engaged families and community movie and dialogue nights as well as value added summer camp programming. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Six new facilitators were trained in Strengthening Families Program Ages 10-14 in July, 2024 and two more trained in Botvins Lifeskills, both evidence-based curricula. 14 Adults that included teachers and community members were trained in Youth Mental Health First Aid, primarily from the Mount Mansfield/Camels Hump site. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Evaluation data, including a team function assessment, has been shared with the community teams. This helps to inform areas where the team might consider focusing on, to improve things like fundraising, raising community awareness, attention to fidelity, and more. Superintendents were provided with the impact data in an effort to support a budget line to sustain programming. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The last year of this 5 year project built momentum in two sites however, since one of the two, most of the year was spent laying the groundwork for sustainabilty in a very condensed timeframe. Our newest site, Millers Run School just launched one year ago. 8 staff members and one community member were trained in both the Strengthening Families Program Ages 10-14 and Lifeskills curricula. This site is in the same district as a sister program and rather than create a second communtiy team with many of the same people, we opted to merge efforts with the school Principal attending district wide team meetings. During the year, aPROSPER kickoff event was held, 9 community team meetings occurred with upwards of 16 community members participating, with focus on building the team and preparing for programming. Millers run did deliver the Lifeskills curriculum to all 7th graders in the Spring of 2024. Since the site was not able to implement the Strengthening Families Program, they did turn their attention to offering two prevention themedmovies with facilitated dialogue, Screenagers and Under the Influence. The Mount Mansfield Supervisory Union, also known as Camels Hump School, was also a new site to thie project in the grant's final year. That being said, this school did have experience running the PROSPER model and worked to expand programmning to a larger supervisory district that includes two middle schools. In addition to the core progarmming of delivering Botvins Lifeskils to all 100 7th and graders and offering one session of Strengthening Families Program Ages 10-14 to 18 participants, the PROSPER team provided a community dialogue night around the movie Screenagers, Under the Influence that saw 32 attendees, 14 youth and 18 adults. This community team also met over 9times throughout the year to plan for programs and discuss needs of the community as well as to analyze the evaluation and impact data. Evaluation data that assesses team function, shows that team leaders and function are doing meeting expectations. Both sites feel very good about the teams' connection with the school and the schools' commitment to PROSPER programming, which bodes well for sustainability. Evaluation data that assesses the youth's level of skills show that they are building both decision making and critical thinking skills.The primary goal of the LifeSkills Training is to prevent youth from engaging in behaviors that will put their health and well-being at risk. The program strives to improve personal management, interpersonal skills, and social resistance skills. These skills increase the protective factors that result in delayed initiation of illegal substances, decreased use of substances, and decreased aggressive behaviors. Findings suggest increased competence in Life Skills of Decision Making, Thinking, Communication and Problem Solving.
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience during this reporting year includes youth in grades 5-7. While our programming typically focuses in on 6th graders and their parents or guardians, as well as 7th graders, some of our programming was not possible due to school capacity, change of administration at partner sites and other issues related to the fallout and staffing challenges following the pandemic. As a result, we did extend programming resources to some younger grades in an effort to support students and build interest in our program as they age up through school. We experienced another change of site as a result of some of the challenges and thus, momentum was and is still building to launch programming. Changes/Problems:As previously mentioned, the two sites we entered with at the beginning of this reporting year did not sustain, and the project team needed to identify and cultivate two new community sites, essentially restarting this project from the beginning. While MOU's were in place with the schools to help administrators learn of commitments, these tools did not seem to matter. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two staff were trained in Botvins Lifeskills and four staff were trained in Strengthening Families Program Ages 10-14, both evidence-based curriculum. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The CYFAR team will move as quickly as possible to stand up a community team wtih regular meetings at Miller's Run and build the community team at Mount Mansfield Unified SU. Both sites should offer one or two sessions of Strengthening Families Program Ages 10-14 and all 7th graders at both sites should receive instruction in Botvins Lifeskills. Assessments will be completed. Four-eight students will attend the national Ignite program focused on health and also attend Vermont 4-H's teen leadership weekend, to further build leadership skills. Supplemental activity kits will be offered while programming is being prepped for implementation. As the next reporting year is the final year of the grant project, we hope to train more faciltiators in the programs to support staff attrition and also look towards sustainability of the effort by developing communication resources and other tools to increase engagement and awareness.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This program year turned out to be another challenging year as school partners continued to see considerable attrition among administrators and staff, resulting in cyfar three changes of CYFAR sites. The Orleans South Supervisory site at Hardwick ceased operation in the Fall of 2022 and approval was granted to launch a new site, Mount Mansfield Unified Supervisory Union, at the beginning of 2023. Fortunately, this site is no stranger to the PROSPER model and it was easy to set up a community team, hold 8 team meetings, deliver Botvins Lifeskills to 78, 7th graders at one of the two schools in the district and begin to promote the Strengthening Families Program. In addition, supplemental activity kitswere provided to families to introduce essential skills and the PROSPER model while programming was gearing up. Those activities were tied to the Lifeskills curriculum and connected to the following skills: assertiveness, managing anger, substance misuse prevention, making decisions, and positive self-image. The second site, Coventry Village School, was cultivated more slowly, as the PROSPER model needed to be introduced to the partners, build a community team and train staff and community members in the curriculum before it could be deployed. Two staff were ultimately trained in Botvins Lifeskills and were set to launch the first session in the Spring of 2023. Four staff were trained in Strengthening Families Program Ages 10-14, with plans to launch in the Fall of 2023. More members were being identified to join the community team as of April 2023. While the team was prepping for program launch, we did create and send home 68 family engagement kits meant to introduce PROSPER to middle school families by offering family activities focused on connection through games. Unfortunately, the Principal of the school did not renew her contract and after learning of the new Principal appointment, we learned that this individual wanted to take the school in a different direction and not continue with the PROSPER model. As of writing this progress report, the PROSPER team just identified another new site, Miller's Run School, who is familiar and supportive of PROSPER. Permission was just granted to pursue this new site as of early June 2023. Efforts are currently occurring to identify staff and community members who can get trained in the curriculum in late June 2023. Two students did attend National 4-H Council's new Ignite program, focusing on the health track, to extend their leadership in healthy behaviors. These two students then created programming and delivered it to 14 attendees at Mount Mansfield Unified's Family night, where PROSPER offered parent and youth engagement programming focused on healthy relationships.
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience during this reporting year inlcuded youth in grades 6-7 though we also reached youth in grades 5, school dependent. While our programming typically focuses in on 6th graders and their parents or guardians, as well as 7th graders, some of our programming was not possible to deliver given the continued challenges presented by the pandemic. No youth were reached at our St Johnsbury site this year, as the school lost capacity and needed to reset during this academic year. Efforts were made to deliver take-home kits to ensure the 60 youth we wanted to reach had important skill building experiences, the school was unreceptive to receiving those kits. Take home kits were delivered to students in the entire school at Orleans South; we reached over 200 students in grades k-6. In addition, a community team is up and running in the OSSU site, that includes community members, school personnel, VT Department of Health representative and other professionals. Changes/Problems:As already described, we lost an important member of the CYFAR/PROSPER team to another job. This vacancy took a long time to fill which slowed our efforts down. The pandemic also affected school personnel capacity; their struggle meant focusing solely on what they must get done, and not on extras. Thus, one community site has opted to back out ouf our programming agreement, as they cannot commit to the full PROSPER model. A search is underway for a new site. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A new team lead was hired to support CYFAR and the PROSPER model. This individual has been trained in Botvins Lifeskills and will be trained in the Strengthening Families Program come late July. The entire CYFAR team participates in monthly training sessions offered by Iowa State and the PROSPER leads. Community and school personnel are currently being invited to the Strengthening Families Program Facilitator training July 27-29, 2022. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The FY22 team member assessment report will be shared with OSSU in the coming month. The deadlie for participation has been extended to allow for greater data collection. This assessment allows team members to explore their resaons for participating and how the team norms and functions. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A new site will be identified to support programming to replace St Johnsbury. A PROSPER site has already been identified with some knowledge of the model; given a change in school leadership, we believe this will be an easy transition and quick to adopt programming. A Strengthening Families Program facitliator training will be offered, training upwards of 12-24 new facilitators. 2-4 new facilitators will be trained in Botvins Lifeskills at both OSSU and the new site. We will continue to lead monthly team meetings and plan for delivery of programming that will include a combination of take home kits and in-person experiences. We hope to bring a delegation of PROSPER participants to the 4-H Healthy Living Summit.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This project lost a signifcant team member during this reporting year, which decreased capacity and took time to regain. During that same timeframe,one community team was strengthened and one community team was lost. Orleans South Supervisory Union was just forming when our team leader left UVM employment but the work was reassigned and the team continued to meet monthly for a total of 7 sessions over the course of the academic year. During this time, 6 team members madeplans to host a Strengthening Families Program Ages 10-14 though unfortunately, covid caused the session to be canceled. Three take home kits however, were sent home to over 200 students at Hardwick elementary. These kits were meant to both provide skill building education that reinforces the Strengthening Family Program and Botvins Lifeskills; origami kits were tied to a unit on coping with anger, mindful coloring was tied to coping with anxiety and gratitude jard were tied to communication skills. Unfortunately, the St Johnsbury site lost capacity due to the pandemic and became unresponsive to our offers of support and programming. This year has been spent on learning about their needs, concerns of the program, hiring a new team lead, and researching a new community site to pursue. St Johnsbury would like to run the family program however, the evidence based PROSPER model requires both a famly program and an in-school program to operate. Without interest in the in-school program, a new site needs to be found.
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience during this reporting year included youth in grades 6-7. While our programming typically focuses in on 6th graders and their parents or guardians, as well as 7th graders, some of our programming was not possible to deliver given the pandemic. As a result, we were still able to reach all 7th graders (54 students) in St Johnsbury, one of two sites, with programming but the family program was not delivered andwas re-envisioned into take home kits to build family engagement for all youth in grade 6 (60 youth). The second community site, OSSU, was just getting up and running during this program year. The audience here are community members, including school personnel, VT Health Department representatives and other professionals. Changes/Problems:The pandemic affected our ability to offer the Strengthening Families Session this year. In leiu of that, we pulled together take home kits that helped to reinforce the same programming messages and encouraged family connection. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As of writing this report, no new facilitators were trained in SFP or Lifeskills but there are plans for both trainings to occur before the end of August. Askable Adult training was offered for teachers and parents though attendance was too low to offer. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?FY21 team member assessment report was shared for St Johnsbury, which allows for team members to explore their reasons for participating and how the team norms and functions. It is too early to review results fo the common measures data. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to lead both community teams with monthly meetings. We plan to host facilitator trainings to ensure both sites can operate both the family and youth focused programs. Both sites will offer two sessions of SFP as well as deliver Botvins Lifeskills to all 7th graders. Depending upon how the pandemic affects school, we may continue to offer family based kits for home engagement. Youth will participate in annual evauation efforts in addition to the team assessment.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Two community teams exist; St Johnsbury is fully operational with 8 team members and holds regularly monthly meetings in support of program delivery. OSSU is the new team established this year, which now has 7 team members and also meets monthly. Both teams completed an annual team member survey to assess team function and participation. No Strengthening Family Programs Ages 10-14 were delivered as of writing this report due to the pandemic but in lieu of this program, the St Johnsbury site delivered four different kits for all 6th graders. The kits provided family activities based off the themes of the SFP program to build protective factors. They also included information to comabat food security and tobacco prevention messages. Botvins Lifeskills was delivered to just about all 7th graders in St Johnsbury. All 4-H experiences were virtual this past year, and these opportunities were promoted to the youth at these sites.
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:In the initial phase of this project, the primary target audience includes adults that participate as part of the PROSPER community teams. The adults include school personnel such as guidance counselors, Principals, or health teachers. In addition, staff from the Vermont Department of Health, parents and local business owners, as well as professionals such as youth serving organizations, faith community and more may participate. The St Johnsbury team was launched. There are 7 individuals on the team representing, the school, the Dept of Health, the local hospital, and UVM Extension. The second site, Newport, ultimately fell through and it took us until March 2020 to identify and commit a new site. Approval was granted by Dr Williams for a change in site in March. Effort is underway with the Orleans South Supervisory Union to build the communtiy team and launch programming in the Fall. So far, the team includes UVM Extension and a co-lead from the district office. Work is underway, through disrupted by COVID response to secure more team members. The St Johnsbury team did complete one Strengthening Families Program Ages 10-14 that reached 7, 6th grade caucasian families. Changes/Problems:As mentioned earlier, one of our two initial sites, Newport Elementary, encountered internal issues after our grant launch and despite multiple attempts at resolving their concerns, opted to pull out of the project. We approached a number of different sites that met the CYFAR stipulations and ultimately found a partner in the Orleans South Supervisory Union. Dr Williams approved a change of site request in March of 2020. Given this delay and the COVID pandemic, efforts are underway but much slower than anticipated. The PROSPER CYFAR team has continued to hold team meetings, make plans for delivery of program in the fall assuming that school will be held in person. We are also planning for retraining our facilitators virtually and are making plans for an in-person training late summer early Fall, to train a new cohort. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two school personnelat St Johnsbury havebeen trained in the delivery of Botvins Lifeskills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have not yet been tabulated yet for SFP or Lifeskills. Nothing has been disseminated. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will train a cohort of facilitators to deliver both Strengthening FAmilies Program Ages 1-14 and Botvins Lifeskills. We will continue to form the Orleans South Supervisory Union Team and further enhance the St Johnsbury team. Two session of SFP will be offered at each site assuming the safe resumption of school and delivery of Lifeskills will occur. We will plan to hold a statewide PROSPER team meeting and complete all evaluations.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this initial year, the following was completed: One community team was formed and launched in St Johnsbury with 7 team members. The second community team is currently under development. One Strengthening Families Program Ages 10-14 was completed by 7, 6th grade families for a total of 18 people, 11 adults and 7 youth. Three facilitators ran the program, with three teachers observing in preparation for future facilitation. This session was observed for fidelity in accordance with our evaluation protocols and the session was evaluated by the participants. Data is not yet available. The St Johnsbury school also delivered Botvins Lifeskills to the majority of the 7th grade class; the final session was disrupted at the very end due to the pandemic. Sixty of approximately 80 7th graders completed the session.
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