Note to editors: For a photo to accompany the following news release, contact Donise Osbourn at dosbourn@ksu.edu or 785-532-5806.

Released: December 05, 2005

Leavenworth County Partners Honored For Afterschool Programs

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – Many hands make light work, the saying goes …

In Leavenworth County, local partners – Leavenworth County 4-H Afterschool, Kansas 4-H and K-State Research and Extension – are working together to add value to afterschool hours and help children and families, said Beth Hecht, Kansas State University Research and Extension 4-H youth development agent in the county.

Their efforts have earned them one of five awards being given to afterschool programs in Kansas, she said. The award is sponsored by the National Afterschool Alliance and part of a national effort to keep the “Lights On Afterschool,” held Oct. 20. “Lights On Afterschool” is a nationwide campaign to increase support for afterschool programs in communities.

Each of the community-based programs being honored will receive a $250 mini-grant to further program development from the Kansas Enrichment Network, said Deb Elder, project coordinator for the University of Kansas-based Network.

“The purpose of the mini-grants is to highlight afterschool programs with strong community and/or state level partnerships,” she said. “The Leavenworth 4-H program provides a strong model using state-level partner resources (K-State Research and Extension) and community-level partners such as county commissioners addressing the sustainability of local afterschool programs.”

With the theme, “Building Our Community – One Piece at a Time,” organizers invited students and community groups, including potential afterschool partners, to color a puzzle piece and add it to an expandable puzzle, Hecht said.

“We made it fun, but also easy to understand that working together will allow us to add value to afterschool programs – and complete the puzzle,” she said.

“A key part of the Leavenworth County program is establishing more 4-H clubs that will meet during afterschool hours,” said Hecht, who works closely with 4-H program assistant Brenda Taxeras.

“4-H curricula uses age-appropriate, research-based educational curriculum to help students explore new interests and learn leadership and life skills, while also practicing responsible citizenship,” said Hecht, who will use the grant dollars to reach out to more children through the 4-H Cloverbud program, which serves children who have not yet reached age 7, when they can join 4-H.

Other Lights On Afterschool programs earning mini-grants included: Columbus, Kan. Project ACHIEVE: Dodge City, Kan., 21st Century Community Learning Center; Overland Park, Kan., YMCA Kindergarten at Sunnyside Elementary; and Wellington, Kan., The Zone! at Wellington Middle School.

For more information on 4-H programs and 4-H Afterschool Programs, contact the local or district K-State Research and Extension office or visit the Kansas 4-H Web site: www.kansas4h.org.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Nancy Peterson
nancyp@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News