Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

ANNUAL MEETING and Accomplishments Summary; August 27-28, 2015, Orlando, Florida:

An enthusiastic group of 25 participants from 7 states in the Southern Region had a productive meeting. Products and outcomes from the meeting included:

• Exchange of information on: multiple programs engaging Latino audiences in the areas of youth, families, agriculture, and community development; integrated community programs for cultural exchange and enrichment; and staff development programs for cultural competency (see Agenda);
• Initial development of a resource repository, including SERA-37 meeting presentations, (to be housed initially on the SRDC website);
• Development of overall priorities involving four workgroups with draft Plan of Work for 2015-2016;
• Election of leaders for the group.

Workgroups were established for the following priority areas (members):

• Program Resource Repository (Joe Hunnings, Julia Storm, Jayne McBurney, Karla Shelnutt) [merged with Best Practices as of March 2016 to form Program Resource and Best Practices Work Group]
• Best Practices (Terence Martin, Juana Macias-Christian , Vianca Solorio, Silvia Vaca-Diez, Lupe Landeros (interim liaison)) [merged with Program Resource Repository as of March 2016 to form the Program Resource and Best Practices Work Group]
• Staff Development (Jorge Atiles, Elaine Fries, Dreamal Worthen, Ruben Saldana)
• Youth Programs (Laura Valencia, Elver Pardo, Cintia Aguilar, Rukeia Draw-Hood).

Leadership for 2015-2016 was elected:

Chair: Ruben Saldana, TX; rjsaldana@ag.tamu.edu

Chair elect: Elver Pardo, FL; pardoe@ufl.edu

Secretary: Julia Storm (will compile Annual Report for 2015)

Additional members of the Executive Committee include the Workgroup Leaders/Liaisons:

Joe Hunnings (VA), hunnings@vt.edu; Jorge Atiles (OK), jorge.atiles@okstate.edu; Laura Valencia (FL,) lauraval@ufl.edu; Lupe Landeros (National 4-H Council, TX), llanderos@fourhcouncil.edu; Terence Martin (AL), tzm0018@aces.edu

Accomplishments (based on Objectives and Procedures/Activities outlined in SERA-37 Project Proposal for 10/01/2012 to 09/30/2017):

Objectives and related Accomplishments for 2015-16

1. Expand information effective evidence-based programs/promising practices exchange
   1. Annual meeting focused on highlighting state programs; appropriate workgroups established; specific tasks established in new plan of work
2. Expand current research/Extension resources
   1. Program Resource Repository and Best Practices work groups were established; repository and web updates initiated; during the year, the leadership team decided to merge these two work groups into one, called the Program Resource and Best Practices Work Group, with shared leadership
3. Identify existing gaps in research/Extension resources
   1. Several activities of work groups address establishing inventories and surveys; will coordinate with similar efforts being undertaken by National 4-H Hispanic/Latino Initiative
4. Disseminate information briefs (demographics, etc.): no activity
5. Design/sponsor staff development program(s)
   1. Staff Development work group established to identify and deliver programs and capacity building, with intermediate milestones in Years 1 and 2 leading to major conference in year 3 (2018-2019)

Procedures and Activities and related Accomplishments for 2015-16

1. Hold every-other-month conference calls with SERA-37 leadership team; host annual/every other year meetings of SERA membership
   1. Conference calls (5) held November 2015, January, March, April, and scheduled for May 2016
   2. In-person meeting of leadership attending Cambio de Colores (June 2016)
   3. Annual meeting for 2016-17 tentatively planned for August 25-26, 2016 in conjunction with PLN in Nashville, TN
2. Update the current website: in progress with SRDC
3. Facilitate joint research across land-grant schools: TBD through work groups
4. Information sharing of research and evidence based programs: in progress through annual and informal meetings, and work groups
5. Capacity-building: specific steps in progress through work group