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Maryland: State Strengthening Project Overview State: MarylandProject Title: Building Strong Communities in Maryland Location of Community Projects: Charles County, Prince George's County Web Site Address: http://www.agnr.umd.edu/strongcommunities/
Description: Overview A community leader empowerment program is operating in three communities in Maryland in which a significant number of families live in poverty. In addition, the Maryland program strengthens state capacity toward working with low-income children, youth and families by addressing diversity, collaboration, cooperation, evaluation and staff development. In the fall of 2002 we held a statewide training conference on the People Empowering People program model, used in our state sites. Follow-up evaluation in the spring of 2003 showed that several projects had been started in our state as a result of the training, and several more were engaging participants in other states and Puerto Rico. We will note that our out of state contacts resulted from connections made at the CYFAR conference; all of our non-Maryland project facilitators have CYFAR funding to support their programming efforts. The project centers on the goals of strengthening communities through community collaboration, community needs and assets assessment, citizen empowerment, youth development, and system/program development. Following leadership training, youth and adult leaders will establish support networks, resources and systems that will strengthen and support the community. In the three communities - The Samuel A. Mudd and Eva Turner school communities in Charles County near Waldorf, MD and the Langley Park community in Prince George's County. Family and Consumer Sciences Educators, 4H Youth Development Educators, EFNEP and FSNEP staff works as a team to introduce and support the project. A Project Coordinator in each location handles the primary responsibilities for project implementation. Each project began its partnership with one primary collaborator, and later additional partners and local advisory councils are in place to add support and guidance to the empowerment project, and serve as mentors to the trained volunteers to help facilitate their community development efforts and individually support the empowerment process. State support is provided by a portion of time from state specialists in Family and Consumer Sciences and in 4H Youth Development, from a project coordinator hired specifically for the project, and by technology support staff who provide direct computer support and technical training to the project and web site development. In Charles County, with support from the assistant superintendent of schools and the administration and staff at the respective schools, the Samuel A. Mudd School and the Eva Turner School are the home base of State Strengthening project activities. The People Helping People project originated in Connecticut is being conducted with mothers of children who attend the schools. The second series of classes for PEP began this spring, and participants from the 2001 and 2002 sessions are now engaged in community leadership activities to strengthen family support for children's activities in the school setting In the fall of 2001, the state strengthening project coordinator conducted a series of meetings with the community leaders and providers of social services in the Langley Park and Takoma Park Communities in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties. The discussions focused on working with the predominantly Latino community of nearly 30,000 people which represents the fastest growing Spanish speaking community in the Washington Metropolitan area. With the assistance of Cheryl Czuba, University of Connecticut State Strengthening Project, the state coordinator secured Spanish translations of the People Empowering People Program. It was determined that the focus of the project would be in the Langley Park Community of Prince George's County. This Spanish only state strengthening site proved to be a necessary addition to the work we are doing in Maryland. The extension staff in Prince George's County is an excellent partner in the project. A ten-week leadership training, modeled after the PEP program, was initiated in the spring of 2002. Classes were conducted by the state coordinator who is fluent in Spanish, with assistance from Spanish speaking staff in Prince George's Cooperative Extension and community translators. In 2003, the group achieved official 501(c)3 status, under the name "Latinos Unidos de Maryland, Inc. The Langley Park project site collaborates with Centro Hispanico Catolico, Centro Catolico de Langley Park, Langley Park Community Center, Maryland Cooperative Extension EFNEP program, Centro de Familias of Cool Spring Elementary School, La Esperanza Youth Club, Cooperative Extension at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Connecticut. Additionally, the project is supported by materials developed at the University of Puerto Rico and Oregon State University. Connectivity The connectivity initiative purchased, refurbished and installed computers in Charles County and Prince George's County. Training on Internet use and resources through CYFERnet has been conducted with project staff through the project year. Computer labs located in the Samuel A. Mudd School and the Eva Turner School provides computer access for the participants of the PEP program at those sites. Two community volunteers have worked tirelessly to support the computer installation in Langley Park Community. One volunteer has donated hundreds of hours to rebuild three computers to support the computer provided by the project. The computers are networked and the center has internet access. The other volunteer has provided computer instruction for youth and adults in the community that support learning English, building math skills and using the internet for accessing Spanish language resources, and CYFERnet resources. Outcomes Focus Community national outcomes are the primary focus of Maryland's state strengthening project. Systems development and citizen development indicators of the Community outcome are the eventual focus of the evaluations. Secondary outcome areas to be affected throughout the project are Parent/Family and Youth. Indicators related to effective parenting and strong families and youth development will be measured to demonstrate eventual program effectiveness. Collaboration Maryland Extension is collaborating with the University of Maryland Department of Family Studies, Institute for Governmental Services and CYFERnet. Individual projects receive support from state and local agencies. These relationships support Maryland's project through evaluation and technical assistance, provision of relevant research and literature, and training materials and staff. In the CYFAR project sites, and the YAR project site in Baltimore City, local collaborators support the project through the provision of facilities and space, staff time, and participant identification. These collaborators have been key to the sustainability of the projects. FY 2003 Accomplishments: FY 2003 Accomplishments in supporting and sustaining community-based projects for children, youth, and families at-risk. The Building Strong Communities in Maryland team utilizes quarterly meetings, electronic communication, and site visits to support and sustain community-based projects for children, youth, and families at-risk. Specific efforts to support and sustain in each of the priority CYFAR areas are listed below. 1. Use of CYFERnet Three individuals connected to the State Strengthening Project are also involved with CYFERNet. The evaluation coordinator has been a member a member of the CYFERNet Child Editorial Board, on the management team for the Extension Cares initiative, and continues to function as the evaluation committee liaison to the early childhood committee, and public policy project leader for the early childhood committee. The project director is a member of the Working with Teens Core Team, an outgrowth of the Extension Cares "Out of School Time for Teens" sub-committee. Maryland's state 4-H program leader is a participant in the core team of the National Network for Health. Additionally, a member of the state 4-H staff coordinates Maryland's Military/USDA projects, helped to develop the 4-H 101 curriculum and is a trainer for that curriculum. Each of these individuals is well acquainted with the resources of CYFERnet and routinely shares that information with community-based projects. The CYFERnet site is linked from the Maryland State Strengthening Project web site, making access easy for the community sites. Our newly designed web site will take CYFERNet core components and personalize them for our client base. The CYFERNet site is also linked from the website of the Charles County project collaborator, the Judy Hoyer Center at the Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School. The CYFERnet TechNews is regularly forwarded to the community state strengthening sites and selected articles from that publication are also included in the electronic communications to 4-H and Family Consumer Science Educators throughout the state. Additionally, the YouthVoices electronic newsletter (a project of the NY State CYFAR Initiative) is shared regularly with 4-H educators across the state. Our project participated in two CYFERnet teleconferences this past year - one focusing on the Logic Model and one that highlighted Florida's Community Leadership Development Curriculum. We invited educators from across the state to participate and set up a system to allow that to happen. CYFERnet resources are regularly shared with faculty and graduate students in the University of Maryland Department of Family Studies, through local, state and national presentations by our Extension specialist and faculty, and, according to verbal reports from Extension county and state faculty, as the first stop for finding resources to develop or enhance local educational or research projects. 2. Evaluation Assistance The State Strengthening Project evaluation team is always available and present at state project meetings to address questions and offer suggestions on ways to understand how project efforts are making a difference. Meetings between site staff and the evaluation team have sought to clarify evaluation methods that are useful at capturing program aspects and participant interests to yield valuable information about project effectiveness. At the same time, these discussions have sought to determine methods that are also not threatening to community members who may have had negative experiences after sharing information with strangers, and consequently distrust the use of their personal information. Discussions with site staff have also centered on the extent and format of gathering background information on participants who have minimal literacy or disabilities that limit writing or speech. Dr. Susan Walker, Extension Specialist, Family Life, has served as the evaluation coordinator for the state strengthening project. Her knowledge of the project, intended outcomes, and evaluation methods has led to increased support for the evaluation component of the project this year. We have also brought on graduate assistants from the Family Studies department on our campus. They have responsibilities to both sites, and offer consistent evaluation team presence to state level meetings and at the community leader training sessions. 3. Technology Training and Technical Assistance The primary goal of the technology component of the Building Strong Communities project was to upgrade the project website. Again, we experienced a transition in the technology position. The project has enlisted the assistance of the college's web master who supervises an undergraduate student hired to work with the state project coordinator and with each community site to upgrade the web site. The project has relied on the support of an MCE Regional Information Technology Specialist for technical assistance, troubleshooting and supporting the community sites. Additionally two community volunteers have been enlisted to assist with technology at the Langley Park site. The undergraduate student met with the community site directors and community volunteers to gather information for the local project web presence and to participate in the design and appearance of the site. This will not only ensure greater connectivity of the project with its client communities but also allow for community "ownership" of the website. Such community participation should encourage continual use and updating of the website beyond the life of the project. As envisioned, the website will offer access to information, grants, mutual support groups and resources to address neighborhood issues. It will provide opportunities for learning from the challenges and successes of others. Quarterly meetings of the state strengthening team include time to introduce the staff to resources on the Internet and within CYFERnet that they will find useful. In the Charles County site, computer and Internet access have been available through the community partners. In Langley Park, this project supported the development of a community-based computer lab to be managed by Latinos Unidos de Maryland, Inc. It took quite a while to do all the necessary computer upgrades and to network the computers for Internet access. None of the accomplishments would have been possible without the significant contribution of hours (20+/week) by a volunteer, working with the site director. It is clear that the computer lab would meet a real community need. Unfortunately, the lab experienced both flooding and theft and is in the process of rebuilding. When the lab was operational, more than 40 youth and adults were accessing the resources there. 4. Local Sustainability of Community Projects In Charles County, the partnerships with the Judy Hoyer Centers (see community description) and the Samuel A. Mudd School and the Eva Turner School (see community description) are strong and, as described in the community description, will result in project sustainability beyond the funding cycle. Because there are "Judy Centers" throughout the state, this collaboration between extension and the center can serve as a model for other sites. At least two counties have begun efforts to develop the Judy Center/PEP program partnership and have offered training to the community. The People Empowering People (PEP) program provides opportunities to integrate the participants into local community-based organizations. The state project coordinator continues to support the community project director in her efforts to make PEP an ongoing training for parents in the school community. The Charles County Cooperative Extension faculty and staff are fully engaged in providing additional programs to the community, including 4-H clubs and nutrition education for youth and adults. The 4-H club will remain in place as this project ends. One of the first graduates of the PEP program is working to engage her housing community in strategies that will make a difference there. The PEP graduates participated in the statewide PEP conference in 2002 to share success stories with participants from across the state. The sustainability of the CYFAR Community Project in Langley Park is assured by the development of the non-profit organization, "Latinos Unidos de Maryland, Inc." by the participants in the first Leadership Development class. Latinos Unidos will continue to identify community adult and youth participants for subsequent training classes and will become the trainers for the leadership development classes. In addition, Latinos Unidos will provide oversight and technical assistance for the community development projects that result from the leadership training. Small grants are being offered to sites throughout the state to initiate small scale community leadership development projects for youth and/or adults. The state project coordinator will provide support for the expansion of the Building Strong Communities program to new communities in the state in preparation for building a core of professionals and community partners who will have an interest in applying for the New Communities funding. 5. Integration Into Base Extension Programs Work with children, youth and families at risk continues to be integrated into base extension programs. Adults and youth involved in the community sites have expanded participation into base programs that focus on volunteer development and 4-H youth development. In Charles County, 4-H adult and teen leaders worked with PEP volunteers to organize a 4-H club for children at the Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School. Several children were provided scholarships to attend the 4-H day and overnight camp programs in the county this summer. Adult participants in PEP have participated in other extension programs, including the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program. The Langley Park community project and non-profit that resulted from the first training "Latinos Unidos de Maryland" have just completed an agreement with a local apartment management board to provide extension youth and adult programming, including 4-H clubs, in the recently completed community center in the apartment complex. This partnership will give great visibility to Cooperative Extension programs in this community and will expand the outreach of Prince George's faculty and staff to the Latino community. Volunteers from Latinos Unidos were trained to become 4-H volunteers and a 4-H club has been organized at the community center site. Graduates of the financial counseling class currently being held in the community were recognized for their completion of this in-depth training program. The Talbot Family Network in Easton, Maryland has introduced elements of the PEP program to directors of public, private, and ecclesiastical organizations who conduct family and parenting skills training on the Eastern Shore. Community ambassadors from this group participated in the PEP conference and are using the PEP program as a model for training and empowering other community leaders. The Talbot Family Network is that county's Local Management Board (LMB). LMBs exist in every county and Baltimore City in Maryland. Representatives of five additional LMBs participated in the September 2002 PEP training and will make connections with our project and the local County Extension staff for technical support and partnership development as they initiate this approach to community leadership empowerment. This has become one of the more significant ways to integrate the work of our CYFAR project in to the ongoing work of Maryland Cooperative Extension, particularly in those counties where strong partnerships have been and can be built between MCE and the LMB. Another significant indication of the integration of work with children, youth and families at risk in to MCE base programming is the Maryland Cooperative Extension Strategic Plan and Plan of Work for the next 5 years. The project director served on the strategic planning and plan of work committee as does an extension educator from the Prince George's county site. The Strategic Plan places much emphasis on community-based programming efforts to meet needs and build on strengths of communities. One of three programmatic themes in the Plan of work focuses on "Quality of Life". Maryland's evaluation coordinator served on the writing team for this theme and provided leadership for the development of initiatives that can focus our work on vulnerable children, youth and families in Maryland. Another member of our "team" from the Charles County Extension Office is on the writing team for the theme of Organizational Development and provides input that is relevant to systems that are needed to support projects like this one. Maryland Cooperative Extension is moving toward programming across discipline lines through 'focus teams.' The significance of our work through the State Strengthening project and connections with other faculty and staff work address the needs of vulnerable populations has resulted in early discussions of having a focus team around children, youth and families at risk. This modified CYFAR model, applied and adapted to our state needs, would embody the same philosophies that guide CYFAR programming. Our focus team would bring together all individuals and units that provide programming and research for more vulnerable populations in our state. This would include FSNEP, EFNEP, child care programming for informal providers, parenting education for low income families, diabetes education in immigrant communities and other projects. We have talked about having a state level CYAR conference that would similarly bring together Extension faculty and staff, and community and state partners and stakeholders around common interests and areas of work. Our hope is that, like at the national level, such coordinated effort would yield a stronger, more systematic and coordinated programming emphasis for families and children at risk. Other indications of Maryland's growing commitment to working with vulnerable youth and families are the rapid expansion of the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program to units throughout the state and a developing focus on 4-H afterschool initiatives in communities that are "at risk" due to income, isolation, educational attainment, and other demographic measures. The work in Langley Park has made our system more aware of the needs and interests of people in the Latino community and we are working with the county and state staff to justify an additional part or full time position to build on this work, not an easy task in an extremely difficult budget year for Maryland. Outcomes: State-wide capacity: Outcomes: State-wide capacity: This year several activities served to increase state Extension faculty in their capacity to work with children, youth and families at risk. The State Strengthening project sponsored and supported faculty in training opportunities and conferences that were directed toward CYFAR principles. As follow-up to the two day September, 2002 statewide institute on the People Empowering People curriculum, an evaluation was sent to program participants. As indication of the lasting effect of the institute's impact on participants, two new PEP projects were started in Maryland (in Dorchester and Talbot counties) and one in Georgia. Other respondents indicated that they were going to start a program in late fall, 2003, have integrated the program into other programs, and a participant from Puerto Rico adapted the PEP materials to fit with the Puerto Rican culture. The state evaluator partnered with Cheryl Czuba from Connecticut Extension is presenting a poster session for a community development conference in Ithaca, New York in the summer of 2003. The poster session featured the People Empowering People model as a tool for leadership development with vulnerable populations, and included the Maryland evaluator's qualitative design. The Maryland State Strengthening project also sponsored state Extension faculty who were presenting at the annual CYFAR conference - this year in Minneapolis. The opportunity to provide partial financial support to our non-project faculty and staff has been an excellent mechanism to introduce and expand the CYFAR principles, resources and individuals to our state. Further collaborations were fostered between Extension and the academic departments, and Extension and community partners. Outcomes for Children, Youth, Parent/Families, Communities: Outcomes for Children, Youth, Parent/Families, Communities: The outcomes of our projects to enhance the well-being of children, youth, families and communities can be best appreciated through the direct efforts of our community projects. + Citizen empowerment continued to be enhanced in Charles County. Adults who participated in the PEP program reported enhanced communication skills, knowledge of community resources, enhanced confidence in individual ability to make a difference in the community, and development of positive outlook for the community. Personal, or individual gains in two 10 week training sessions included career development training, securing employment, enhanced self-esteem, and improved parenting. As a result of participating in leadership training, a PEP group worked together to produce a Child Safety Night at a local elementary school. The two-hour evening event was implemented entirely with volunteers, business donations, and the creativity and dedication of PEP participants. No money was available to sponsor the community projects. Over 75 people attended the community event. Exhibitors included the County Health Department, the County Sheriff's office, Gateway Computers, Maryland Cooperative Extension, SMECO, and the fire department Presenters included the Dr. Mudd School principal, a Tae Kwon Do Academy, the Sheriff's Office, electricity safety, and fire safety. Over 15 businesses in the area supported the event by providing food and prizes such as smoke alarms and bikes with safety instructions. + the Charles county PEP program had impact on the participants, as parents, and consequently in enhancing family life. Participants reported a greater awareness of parenting attitudes that contributed to parenting behavior. Skills in family communication and problem solving, and more child age-appropriate parenting behavior was reported by participants in both classes. | ||||||||||||
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Send Comments or Questions to: swright@csrees.usda.gov |
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