Progress 02/15/24 to 02/14/25
Outputs
Target Audience:- Youth, ages 8-18; both those currently participating in 4-H programming, and those we seek to engage in 4-H programming, particularly BIPOC youth and those from historically underserved communities across the North Central Region (NCR) - "Near peer" youth; college-age youth, particularly those who are members of MANRRS chapters at NCR LGUs - Ag and food systems stakeholders in the NCR Changes/Problems:Change in Project Directors: Iowa State University: Debbie Nistler to Mitch Hoyer to Cayla Taylor; Purdue: Casey Mull to Jamie Morris;Change in Evaluation Lead: Kansas State University: Sarah Maass to Patsy Maddy;Change in Youth Lead: UM: Maria Calvert to Kelsey Fuller From our reporting survey: "Summer is difficult for engaging underserved youth audiences because they are out of school. Oftentimes, many families we work with travel during the summer months out of the country to visit family so participation numbers decline during this time. In addition, many youth must work or have responsibilities at home to watch siblings during the summer making them unable to participate in our programs like they normally would during the school year." "The main challenge is with keeping RYLAT engagement high during the summer. We have had a challenge with keeping youth engaged as they have the need to work and also have competing opportunities that eat up a good amount of their time, particularly sports. It's difficult to keep youth engaged for a long-term project particularly when we cannot pay them for their time. This issue has not been resolved except that we're looking to get additional youth involved and keep an eye on scheduling to make things work for them." - State fair season eats up staff and volunteer time. This complicates coordination of RYLAT-related activities. - Non-participation by some states in early RYLAT meetings slowed the development and bonding processes. This issue has been resolved. - Some states recruited more youth than could be accommodated through RYLAT, but those states are trying to fold them into the program in alternative ways. Suspension of the USDA NIFA grant has been challenging. We are encouraged to continue the project responsibilities with frozen funding. Many concerns about how we continue the work without access to funding. Length of suspended funding is unknown and difficult to navigate right now. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Data summit: a successful 2-day Data Summit in December 2024 in Chicago. Nearly 40 attendees were there, with representatives from each of the 8 LGUs. On the 1st day we heard reports from the Missouri-led and Nebraska-led research studies, from the work with Native American youth programming in Wisconsin, and from RYLAT. On the 2nd day we discussed what we learned and what it meant for our overall project. More specifically, we discussed various aspects of "What Is Our It?" and how to move forward as a team. YEA-CN opportunities: Various professional development options have been provided by YEA-CN that our team has taken advantage of, including: a) workshop on "Building Effective Language Access Strategies" (August 2024); b) workshop on "Creating Conditions for Empowered Youth Partnerships" (September 2024); c) training on Youth Mental Health First Aid (for adults working with/serving youth) (November 2024); d) training on Youth Safety (October 2024); and e) workshop on "Power Sharing: How to Step into a Youth-Adult Partnership" (December 2024). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?At IGNITE by 4-H Conference (March 2025), two Illinois-based members of RYLATfacilitated their original workshop, "Green and Gold: Building Resilient Communities with Agricultural and Financial Literacy." The audience included youth from across the nation and U.S. territories. Their interactive sessions helped participants connect agriculture, personal finance, and community sustainability--key elements in shaping a resilient future. The workshop was part of the Agriscience track at IGNITE. We formed our Project Advisory Committee (PAC) in the summer of 2024. The PAC is broadly representative of several communities of interest. We held PAC virtual meetings in September 2024, January 2025, and April 2025. PAC members include individuals with the following professional roles: Ag School Dean at University of Nebraska @ Lincoln; Extension Director in Iowa; County 4-H Professional in Nebraska; RYLAT youth leader from Illinois; ag production representative from Kansas; food systems industry representative from Indiana; commodity organization representative from Ohio; and MANRRS representative from Illinois. We distributed the preliminary results of the appreciative inquiry case study and the Ag Workforce Needs research to the members of our Project Advisory Committee (PAC). We also presented PAC with information about RYLATandthe work being done in Wisconsin in terms of food sovereignty among Native American populations. The YEA-CN, headquartered at Oregon State University, is another community of interest that we have targeted with respect to dissemination of our results. We have disseminated information and findings to them in a variety of manners. a) We have regularly submitted items such as photographs and reports to their submission portal; b) we have given presentations at the following: i) YEA National Conference (March 2024), ii) YEA-CN National Steering Committee (August 2024), and iii) National NIFA/YEA Projects Update Meeting (December 2024); c) we have given presentations at the following YEA Evaluate meetings (July 2024, October 2024, and January 2025); d) two RYLAT youth are members of the YEA-CN National Steering Committee and attend their monthly virtual meetings; and e) the Grant Coordinator regularly meets with the YEA-CN Project Manager. The youth lead from Illinois presented a couple of workshops at the Feeding Champaign County Food Summit (2025). The workshop, presented twice, was titled: "Engaging Youth as Partners in Addressing Food Insecurity." Across the two workshops, there were 34 adult attendees, some of whom were from these organizations: Healthy Champaign County, Sola Gratia Farm, Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, United Way of Champaign County, OSF Heart of Mary Hospital, University of Illinois Extension, and National Farm to School Network. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?RYLAT youth in each state are required to create a small state-related projectbased on how they would spread information about what they are learning about ag and food systems careers to the youth in their state. For example, through use of a social media campaign, what will the campaign consist of, what is its aesthetic design. The youth of each state have to work together and come up with a plan of how it will work. The youth have taken the information they are learning in RYLAT and apply it to their projects. We expect to be able to report on the design and implementation of some of these projects. The WisconsinProject Director will contribute to a Summer Academy (summer 2025). It will center on career and college readiness during a 4-day, 3-night program for youth in 8th - 11th grades. It will include a specific agriculture career track. Information from the AFRI project will be incorporated into this Academy. We expect to be able to report on this.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We formed the Regional Youth Leadership Advisory Team (RYLAT) about midway through the first year of our project. This progress report represents the first complete year of RYLAT's functioning. In 23/24 there were 10 RYLAT youth members; in 24/25 there were 29 RYLAT youth members. RYLAT has met both in-person and virtually. In-person meetings occurred at the IGNITE by 4-H Conference in Washington DC (3/24 & 3/25). An in-person meeting of Illinois and Ohio-based RYLAT members occurred at the Illini Summer Academies (6/24). RYLAT had an in-person meeting in Chicago (9/24). There have also been four virtual RYLAT meetings. During the IGNITE 2025 Conference, two RYLAT members conducted a workshop centered on financial literacy. Finally, during the two IGNITE conferences, RYLAT members held meetings at the National 4-H Conference headquarters. During the Chicago meeting, RYLAT members visited two urban farms and the Chicago High School for Ag Sciences.The Regional Youth Leadership Advisory Team shared their progress with the National 4-H Council, at 4-H Washington IGNITE, and with our Project Advisory Council. The expansion of the Missouri research to all 8 states and the examination of existing programming through appreciative inquiry case studies are complete.We have multiple proposals submitted to national conferences and are awaiting news of acceptance in the spring for presentations in the summer and fall of 2025.This work is critically important to the ag and food systems sectors, and perhaps more importantly, is necessary to address the situation in which approximately 50% of high school youth report they are unsure of their career path, don't understand the range of potential job roles, and can't identify career pathways. As we continue our collective efforts to engage with diverse audiences, we expect that we will help more youth become aware of, explore, and ultimately pursue career pathways in ag and food systems through high quality programs that also promote youth thriving. With the research component of this grant complete, the resources/tools in process, events/activities/programs in high gear, and other deliverables in development- we are primed to achieve our year 3 and beyond goals and reach a substantial number of next generation ag and food systems workforce participants as well as develop strong industry and community partnerships.
Publications
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Progress 02/15/23 to 02/14/24
Outputs
Target Audience: youth, ages 8-18 - both those currently partiicpating in 4-H programming, and those we seek to engage in 4-H programming, particuluarly BIPOC youth and those from historically underserved communities across the North Central Region (NCR) "neer peer" youth - college-age youth, particularly those who are members of MANRRS chapters at NCR LGUs ag industry and food systems stakeholders in the NCR Changes/Problems:We encountered multiple challenges with project staffing that slowed progress during the first year. One such challenge consisted of transitions among the project co-directors in several states. Another challenge involved a change in the person originally identified in our proposal to work as the youth lead. A final challenge involved identifying someone to hire into the grant coordinator role. These challenges are mostly behind us, although we anticipate further changes in one or two states' project directors. These roles are critical in supporting the work of the project.Because progress has been slower than anticipated this first year. Essentially each key component of the project, the RYLAT, the Missouri-led study, and the Nebraska-led study, started later than we had originally anticipated. As a result of these delays, we anticipate requesting a no-cost extension as we work in future years of this multi-year effort. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
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?
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
While progress has been slower than expected this initial year, the grant project team is making forward progress in achieving grant objectives. To engageyouth from underserved audiences, the grant youth leadwill refine role descriptions for the Regional Youth Leadership Advisory Team (RYLAT) youth representatives. We have learned these role descriptions are critical in helping to identify, explain, recruit, and promote the opportunity to diverse youth ages 15-19,and their parents/guardians, tobe a part of the RYLAT and engage with the project.Recent studies show that youth, parents, and industry stakeholders have limited awareness of the full range of career pathways in food and ag sectors. This is especially true in underrepresented populations. The first virtual RYLAT meeting occurs in late February and the first in-person meeting occurs in mid-March at the Ignite by 4-H Conference. Our research effortswill help increase knowledge of awareness and perceptions of career pathways in ag and food systems among industry stakeholders while providing a basis from which to engage youth more intentionally in PYD experiences designed to foster awareness of careers in ag and food systems. For example, the Nebraska-based grantteam created the "Case Study with Underrepresented Populations Study" research protocol. Theysubmitted and received IRB approval and we launched this work inthe winter of 2024. They have identified seven programs for the case study. The ongoing study involves orientation of each program to the study, interviews with participants, and document collection efforts. The Missouri-based grant team created the "Career Readiness in Agriculture Sectors Study" research protocol. IRB approval was received and the study isset to launch early in CY 2024. During February and March surveys will be administered across the region. Beginning in mid-spring, interviews and/or focus groups will continue with a subset of individuals who self-select from among the larger pool of survey respondents. This work is critically important to the ag and food systems sectors, and perhaps more importantly, is necessary to address the situation in which approximately 50% of high school youth report they are unsure of their career path, don't understand the range of potential job roles, and can't identify career pathways.As we continue our collective efforts to engage with diverse audiences, we expect that we will help more youth become aware of, explore, and ultimately pursue career pathways in ag and food systems through high quality programs that also promote youth thriving.
Publications
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