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4-H Youth Development
Program Review Process
Third Year Review
John de Montmollin
Assistant Professor and Youth & Family Educator
Kenosha County UW-Extension
Purposes:
- 1. Provide faculty member with an opportunity to share program progress during the first three years.
- 2. Identify areas for improvement and opportunities for professional development.
- 3. Explore future career opportunities and direction.
Participants:
Faculty Member: John de Montmollin
District Director / County Department Head: Tedi Winnett
Department SRP Committee Member: Chuck Prissel
Mentor: Denise Relzleff
4-H Youth Development Program Liaison: Donna Menart
Outcome:
Faculty member – Written feedback will be shared with the Faculty Member in summary form. A copy of the summary is also sent to the 4-H Youth Development Program Leader, District Director, County Department Head, Department of Youth Development Chair, Department of Youth Development SRP Committee member, and Department of Youth Development Mentor.
Topics to be discussed:
A. What are your primary responsibilities in your position? What does “Youth Development educator” mean to you?
“What does Youth and Family Educator in Kenosha County mean to me?”
First of all, I am aware that my position is a bit unique within UW-Extension. Not too many educators have the title with both Youth and Family and although my duties today may not look all that different from other Youth Development Educators, I am aware that my position description was written with much flexibility as opportunities arise. (EXAMPLE #1)
Secondly, In a county of over 35,000 youth, I am constantly thinking about impact and visibility. For this reason, many of the new programs developed over the past three years have had broad appeal, are highly visible and are simplistic in nature.
Furthermore, as I ponder my personal definition of youth development, I believe that it is a process that all youth grow through in reaching adulthood. The rate or magnitude of this growth is based on two variables...genetic and environment.
The first variable is genetic. From the time a baby is born, I believe that the way a person is wired or their personality has so much to do with their development. As a professional who works with lots of young people, I am constantly trying to educate myself on individual personalities and how I can adjust my style or approach to best meet their developmental needs.
I am often asked what does an Assistant Professor in the Department of Youth Development and Youth and Family Educator do? My response is usually this, “I help create environments that are conducive to positive youth development.” The second variable, environment, is where I feel I have made significant contributions to the Youth Development profession.
Regarding the different roles I have played in this position, the list is long and diverse:
Advocate: Search Institute Survey Results Power Point
Advisor: Kenosha County 4-H Council, Inc. Budget Formula
Philosopher: The Service Matrix
Teacher: 4-H Video Project, It’s in the Bag, Chameleon Leadership
Creator: Expansion and Review Tools
Motivator: Youth Quest
Leader: Americorps* VISTA Program
Evaluator: Kenosha County Youth As Resources
Collaborator: Land and Water Links
Author: Service Manual
Supervisor: Americorps* VISTA and Academic Staff
Promoter: 4-H Promotional Materials
Facilitator: 4-H Ambassador Planning
Visionary: Youth & Family Programs
B. Planning
1. What process have you utilized in identifying county program needs?
Kenosha County UW-Extension staff developed a survey asking participants to identify their hopes and concerns for Kenosha County. A total of 128 surveys were sent to individuals representing the following groups: cultural, environmental, religious, intellectual/technological, political, economic, and social.
Of the 128 surveys mailed, 50 surveys were returned (39%). In addition to the mailed surveys, additional surveys were collected from individual interviews at a local mall. 35 people were approached and 8 responded to the survey (23%). Staff also collected data by facilitating group surveys with both user and non-user groups adding 63 additional responses. This brings the total number of people surveyed to 121.
Finally, staff reviewed studies already compiled by other organizations and identified issues from these studies. Once all the data was collected and reviewed, a list of 23 issues was complied. This list of 23 issues was given to the Kenosha County Extension Education committee to prioritize based on the following criteria, (1) Need in Kenosha County and (2) Ability and capacity of Kenosha County UW-Extension Office to implement.
From these results and a final ranking by Kenosha County UW-Extension staff, a final list of issues were identified.
In addition our internal process, I used recently collected local Search Institute Data.
2. Who have you involved in the planning process?
Kenosha County 4-H Youth and Adult Volunteers, Kenosha County Extension Education Committee Members, Non-Extension Youth Professionals in Kenosha County, UW-Extension Faculty and Academic Staff, Community Partners, and most importantly over 6,000 Kenosha County youth.
3. What has been the focus of your program efforts over the past three years?
- Youth Voices in Community Action and Governance
- Reaching Underserved and Underrepresented Audiences
- Career Education for Youth
4. What outcomes did you establish for your program priorities?
Youth Voices in Community Action and Governance
- Create environments that are conducive to the positive development of youth voice and youth engagement.
- Provide youth with skills, knowledge and experiences that prepare them to be effective partners for positive change in Kenosha County.
- Through experiential learning, youth will have the opportunity to effectively understand and apply several leadership skills.
- Youth will become active community partners and leaders.
Reaching Underserved and Underrepresented Audiences
- Assist in the refinement of the Kenosha County 4-H Expansion and Review Process.
- Kenosha County 4-H Youth Development programs will move closer to parody.
- Kenosha County UW-Extension staff will develop and implement local programming to educate individuals on multicultural issues.
- Develop resources and a state-wide training for all 4-H Youth Development professional on implementing an effective Expansion and Review process.
- Wisconsin 4-H Youth Development programs will move closer to parody.
Career Education for Youth
- Kenosha County high school students will be exposed to career development resources.
- Youth will learn how to identify future career options based on their personality, individual interests and career market research.
- Youth will develop and adopt a plan for future career success.
5. How has your multi-year plan of work assisted you with priority setting? (Review multi-year plan)
My plans of work have been instrumental in focusing my programming efforts. As I review and reflect on my work and consider future program direction, it has become obvious that Youth Voices in Community Action and Governance has become my major program focus. (EXAMPLE #2)
6. If major changes have occurred in your plans, how have you documented the need for these changes?
No major changes have been made to my plans of work, however, Youth Voice in Community Action and Governance is expanding in many areas.
7. What has been your plan for evaluation of major programs?
Youth Voices in Community Action and Governance
- Youth participating in Kenosha County UW-Extension sponsored youth leadership development programs will be more involved in their community.
- Design an evaluation to measure the total impact of all Youth Leadership programs made possible by Kenosha County UW-Extension efforts.
- Youth participating in select youth leadership development programs will complete a pre and post program evaluations.
- Youth participating in select youth leadership development program will present video-taped testimonials on the effectiveness of the youth leadership development programs.
- The number and quality of youth leadership opportunities in the Kenosha County will increase.
- The number of youth participating in leadership roles within the Kenosha County 4-H program will increase.
Reaching Underserved and Underrepresented Audiences
- 4-H Youth Development professionals who participate in the Expansion and Review program will receive a follow-up phone call based on their individual action plan.
- Youth participating in Ambassador training will receive a written evaluation.
- Youth participating in county to county exchange will receive an evaluation form.
Career Education for Youth
- Youth will complete a program evaluation.
- Follow-up survey conducted six and twelve months after participants complete their participation in year-long career development program.
- Individual evaluations will be conducted with the parent(s) / guardian(s) of the youth participating in the year-long career development program.
C. Implementation and Impact
1. How would you describe your educational leadership of Youth and Family programs?
I often refer to my educational leadership as one of a referee. I provide the vision, framework and resources for the youth programming in Kenosha County UW-Extension while empowering volunteers to make decisions within the vision and framework. Here is the framework I have developed in describing Youth and Family Programs. (EXAMPLE #3)
a. Techniques or strategies utilized to ensure an effective volunteer delivery system?
Here are specific examples of vision, framework and resources with-in the:
Kenosha County 4-H
Kenosha County 4-H Organizational Chart (EXAMPLE #4)
4-H Chartering System (EXAMPLE #5)
Roles between 4-H, the Fair and the Livestock Sale Team (EXAMPLE #6)
Kenosha County 4-H Website (EXAMPLE #7)
Kenosha County Youth As Resources
Kenosha County Youth As Resources Handbook (EXAMPLE #8)
Kenosha County Youth As Resources WebSite (EXAMPLE #9)
b. How have volunteers been empowered to provide leadership in your county program?
Here are specific examples of Volunteer Empowerment:
Kenosha County 4-H
Kenosha County 4-H Council, Inc. Committee Structure (EXAMPLE #10)
4-H Enrollment Trends Form (EXAMPLE #11)
Kenosha County 4-H Council, Inc. Funding Formula (EXAMPLE #12)
Kenosha County 4-H Code of Conduct (EXAMPLE #13)
Kenosha County Youth As Resources
Kenosha County Youth As Resources Voting Structure
Kenosha County Youth As Resources Bi-laws (EXAMPLE #14)
2. How have you reached out to diverse and underrepresented audiences?
- 4-H Expansion and Review Committee
- Urban Outreach Angels 4-H Club
- 4-H Fair in the City
- Kenosha County 4-H Open House
3. Describe networks that have helped extend programs to the community.
- Kenosha Unified School District with Service Learning
- Kenosha Unified School District and Boys and Girls Club with Afterschool Programming
- Healthy Communities Healthy Youth of Kenosha County with Youth In Governnce
- United Way of Kenosha County with Kenosha County Youth As Resources
4. How was teaching a major part of your program?
Teaching for me has taken many forms over the past three years.
Informally, my largest teaching role has come from the day to day supervision of a large youth development staff. Over the past three years I have directly supervised 10 Americoprs*VISTA members and 1 Academic Staff. My success in this role is reflected through my SIPR.
The most formal teaching role I had was the opportunity to work a diverse group of high school youth through the Youth Quest program.
In addition to these roles, I have had several opportunities to teach a variety of audiences on a wide-range of topics. Here are just a few examples:
Camp Counselor Training (EXAMPLE #15)
Afterschool Training for Boys and Girls Club Staff
Southern District 4-H Youth Development Staff
New 4-H Volunteer Orientation
5. How have you documented teaching and program effectiveness? Share examples.
6. Share evidence of scholarship in teaching and programming.
Service Learning
The Service Matrix (EXAMPLE #19)
Published by the Department of Youth Development
The Service Matrix has been used or referenced in many places including:
KUSD Service Handbook
Vice-Chancellor's Website on Service Learning
Southern District 4-H Youth Development Meeting
Best Practices of Forestry Service Learning Projects
Accepted as a program at the 2007 North Central 4-H Regional Forum
Awarded 2007 Communicator Award for Individual Piece for Service Handbook (EXAMPLE #20)
Youth As Resources
Accepted as a program at 2007 CYFAR Conference
Accepted as a program at 2007 JCEP
D. Professional Accountability
1. Where and how have you shared reports and supportive materials?
Shared Annual Accomplishment Reports and Success Stories with:
Kenosha County UW-Extension Department Head
Quad Counties 4-H Program Liaison
4-H Youth Development Mentor
Chair of the Department of Youth Development
2006 Annual Accomplishment Report (EXAMPLE #21)
2006 Success Stories (EXAMPLE #22)
2. How have you developed your professional competencies?
See Professional Resume (EXAMPLE #23)
3. How have you contributed to the county extension office team?
From the very beginning of my appointment in Kenosha County, I have been an active team member.
Specific Examples Include:
Coordinating the multiyear planning process
Serving as a member of the QUAD Think Tank
Activily participating in Collaborations including Summer VISTA program
4. How have you contributed to the discipline of youth development? Within Extension? Beyond Extension?
My best example of contribution is my work in reaching out to undeserved and underrepresented audiences. This started with my direct work witha small 4-H afterschool club in the city of Kenosha. From there, this lead to the development of some Expansion and Review materials. (EXAMPLE #24) This lead to my involvement on the Developing Multicultural Understanding Workteam. At this point, I took the lead on forming a small committee to explore Expansion and Review Materials. Following this, I represented the QUAD as a Civil Rights Reviewer and now I am serving on a workteam for the Dean's Office on redesigning review days.
E. Other
1. What are your personal and professional goals for the future?
Mini Portfolio, Fall 2008
First Submission, Winter 2009
2. Other success, issues, concerns, needs?
Youth In Governance Program (EXAMPLE #25)
Revised – 7/03
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