Camp Cloverleaf 2009

New Website

Check out the new websites for district 5 and click on the RSA link:

http://district5.extension.ifas.ufl.edu/

http://district5.extension.ifas.ufl.edu/rsapage.html

South District 4-H Highlights

Take a Look at what's going on in South District 4-H programs:

Miami Dade's in school 4-H club features 4-H prominently on their Doral Middle School site

http://doral.dadeschools.net/clubs08.htm

See April Butler's Newsletter: Really good!

Blog hosted by Germaine Pointer

The South District RSA Serves the wonderful agents in the following counties: Indian River, Martin, St Lucie, Highlands, Glades, Hendry, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami Dade, Monroe, Okeehcobee and The Seminole Tribe "Making The Best Better!"

Building Better Character in Florida 4-H

We live in an interdependent society. Even if we consider ourselves rugged individualist who can live isolated lives, there will arise an occasion where we will need the services of others. That may come in the form of needing medical attention, having our vehicle repaired or finding a safe place to put our financial nest eggs. When the need arises, we want to know that the people we are dealing with are honest and fair.

Character, as defined by the American Dictionary of the English Language is “The stable and distinctive qualities built into an individual’s life which determines his response regardless of circumstances.” It is impossible for members of a civilized society to function without good character.

According to the Josephson Institute 2008 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, where they survey over 30,000 students in high schools across the United States, stealing, lying and cheating are becoming common place in the lives of our youth. As a Youth Development organization, 4-H’s motto promises to make the best better, we cannot achieve this goal if we ignore Character Education. While the 4-H program has not been plagued with incidents of stealing, lying or cheating, they do occur while youth are participating in our programs. And as the 4-H program grows and expands its audiences, the need for Character Education will become even greater. The results speak for themselves, 35 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls – “admitted stealing from a store with the past year.” This is 30 percent overall, and up from 26 percent in 2006. A whopping 42 percent said they sometimes lied to save money. Of these 49 percent were males and 32 percent were females. In 2006, it was 39 percent overall. When it came to cheating in school, the number was a disappointing 64 percent who claimed to have cheated on tests in the past year. Thirty eight percent of those youth claimed to have done so, two or more times. The implications for our future should concern all of us as youth development professionals. These youth are our future leaders, our doctors, mechanics, politicians, bankers and business owners. We can make a difference in our youth which will have a positive influence on the honesty and fairness of tomorrow’s society. The need for Character Education becomes more urgent when we take into consideration that 93 percent of those surveyed were “satisfied with their personal ethics and character” and 77 percent said that “when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know”[i] [i]http://charactercounts.org/programs/reportcard/index.html

4-H Online Training

Listed below are the dates for the 4-H Online training: The polycoms are confirmed for 11am-noon. In the afternoon from 1-2pm will repeat via elluminate. Jan 21 Feb 18 Mar 18 Apr 15 May 20 Jun 17 Click on the link to access the information for these meetings: Elluminate Meeting connections for 4-H use: '4-H Connect' Meeting = http://tinyurl.com/3z7c8g password = 4-H (hyphen, uppercase H) USED For 4-H OnlineTrainings

4-H Events Calendar 2009

http://florida4h.org/events/calendar.shtml

After School Academies

Link to Professional Development for the After School Professional Professional development of staff is key to high quality afterschool, but organizations are hard-pressed to create effective training that reaches across programs. Afterschool Academies: Guidebook for Action is designed to help afterschool leaders develop and launch their own intensive, cross-program, multi-site training institutes to address the fundamentals of afterschool education. Based on the Afterschool Academies model developed and presented by five afterschool organizations under a grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation, the Guide provides the Academies design basics, sample agendas and handouts, outlines of plenaries and breakout sessions, discussion-group guides, facilitators’ materials, and planning tools. Click here to download your free Afterschool Academies: Guidebook for Action For a FREE CD version, contact Jean Riley at jriley@foundationsinc.org

Grants To You

About Grants To You Grants To You provides free training in grant writing and research to volunteer seniors, students and other motivated citizens who are computer literate, who have a strong interest in supporting their community, and who have the time to devote to the completion of projects assigned by their non-profit agency(s).Grants To You1608 St. Andrews WayPrescott, AZ 86301928-776-7976http://www.grantstoyou.orgCheck out Grants To You opportunities on VolunteerMatch.

Go Gators!

Florida 4-H Centennial coming 2009

Have your counties signed up for a time slot to man the Florida 4-H Centennial booth at the State Fair? If not, please contact Julie Wilson in the state 4-H office and set up your time. Thank you for your service.

http://www.florida4h.org/events/centennial.shtml