SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report
Sections
Status: Approved
Basic Information
- Project No. and Title: NCERA215 : Contribution of 4-H Participation to the Development of Social Capital Within Communities
- Period Covered: 10/14/2022 to 10/17/2023
- Date of Report: 12/15/2023
- Annual Meeting Dates: 10/16/2023 to 10/17/2023
Participants
Anderson, Chris (canders2@umd.edu) - University of Maryland; Calvert, Matt (matthew.calvert@wisc.edu) - University of Wisconsin; Emery, Mary* (memery2@unl.edu) - University of Nebraska - Lincoln; Fields, Nia* (nfields@umd.edu) - University of Maryland; Henness, Steve* (hennesss@missouri.edu) - University of Missouri; Klemme, Neil* (neil.klemme@wisc.edu) - University of Wisconsin; Lonning, Jacquie* (jlonning@umn.edu) - University of Minnesota; Nathaniel, Keith (kcnathaniel@ucanr.edu) - University of California; Scott, Denis (denis.scott@mail.wvu.edu) - West Virginia University; Johnson, Todd - University of Wisconsin
Accomplishments
Currently, our team consists of 7 states: California, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, West Virginia, Wisconsin, as well as some individuals retired from their positions, but still interested in the work.
Short-term Outcomes: Our team continues to share our work locally in an effort to spread knowledge of promising program practices across the state lines. Two of our members have been elevated to leadership roles in their states and in national committees which provides an opportunity for them to continue promoting the opportunities for social capital development in youth and community development work.
Our group recently completed our second toolkit, which also went through a National 4-H Peer Review:
- Henness, S. & Anderson, C. (Eds.) (2023). Building social capital on purpose: A toolkit for youth and community development professionals. North Central Extension & Research Activity (NCERA) 215: Contribution of 4-H Participation to the Development of Social Capital Within Communities.
Our group has continued to have presentations accepted at national conferences:
- Klemme, N., Anderson, C., Nathaniel, K., (2023). Building youth and community social capital on purpose: A toolkit for youth and community development professionals. National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals (NAE4HYDP). Pittsburgh, PA.
- Emery, M., Klemme, N.,Henness, S., & Anderson, C. (2023). “Spiraling up” together: Youth and community development. National Association of Community and Economic Development Professionals (NACDEP). Coeur d’Alene, ID.
And individually, many of our group members have had publications and presentations within their states (see below).
Outputs:
We continue to maintain a public website to disseminate our project and share relevant resources - https://4h-social-capital.extension.org/.
Spearheaded by a few members of our group, the team developed our second toolkit, which has completed the National 4-H Curriculum Review process. Many team members contributed as authors, editors, or ideators. We have presented about the progress of the toolkit in past conferences and now with a completed package, our focus is shifting to dissemination of the toolkit and collection of data related to implementation. Our second toolkit was posted on October 5, 2023, and has been downloaded 43 times as of December 11. (The first toolkit has also been downloaded 11 times as of December 11). A LinkedIn post about the second toolkit in November 2023 received nearly 70 likes and 7 reposts from University and Extension administrators, 4-H and community development specialists, youth development organization executives, agency and foundation representatives, leadership and educational consultants, career & technical educators, diversity equity and inclusion professionals, and international scholars.
Activities: Data collection on a youth social capital survey was paused during the pandemic and has continued to be paused during periods of staff transitions amongst team members. The group anticipates relaunching this survey in the coming year once IRB approval is received - the hope is to be able to collect data online as well as in person, from interested states. We also plan to connect with the Common Measures and Thrive teams to review their data collection instruments and determine if some of the questions line up with social capital measurements that we could use for secondary analysis.
Impacts
- A practitioner toolkit was completed, validated in external review as a national 4-H curriculum, posted online, and shared with community and youth development practitioners in multiple venues; it has been downloaded by 43 individuals.
- Our team members have been positioned well to keep social capital at the forefront of national decision making as we’ve intentionally developed connections with Dr. Mary Arnold who is heading up the 4-H Thrive framework utilization for National 4-H, and two of our team members are in state 4-H leader positions which has led to their passion for social capital to be inserted into the meetings they attend. At the 2022 National 4-H Conference, NIFA officials, including Dr. Shannon Horrillo, the Division Director, frequently mentioned the importance of social capital building through youth’s 4-H involvement, showing that these outcomes continue to be sought after through 4-H involvement.
- Our group has also been sought after to provide insight on social capital development within 4-H. Three of our group members participated in a nation-wide focus group with the SEARCH Institute. In 2021, our group had the opportunity to present to the Federal Interagency Work Group on Youth Development. Since that meeting, a member of our group has continued to have follow-up conversations sharing resources on promising program practices.
Publications
Calvert, M. & Klemme, N. (2023). Engaging and Connecting Young People to Sustain and Build Communities. Wisconsin Rural Funders Roundtable, September 20, 2023.
Klemme, N. (2023). Engaging Youth to Build Vibrant Communities. UW Badger Talk, Wisconsin Parks and Recreation Association Annual Meeting, September 21, 2023.
Henness, S., Dougherty, L., Drew, A., King, W., Pettijohn, L. & Turgeon, A. (2022). K-16 Ecosystem Builders: Communities Engaging Entrepreneurial Youth. Missouri Creating Entrepreneurial Communities Conference. Hermann, MO.
Henness, S. & Anderson, C. (Eds.) (2023). Building social capital on purpose: A toolkit for youth and community development professionals. North Central Extension & Research Activity (NCERA) 215: Contribution of 4-H Participation to the Development of Social Capital Within Communities.
Klemme, N., Anderson, C., Nathaniel, K., (2023). Building youth and community social capital on purpose: A toolkit for youth and community development professionals. National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals (NAE4HYDP). Pittsburgh, PA.
Emery, M., Klemme, N., (2023). “Spiraling up” together: Youth and community development. National Association of Community and Economic Development Professionals (NACDEP). Coeur d’Alene, ID.