January 11, 2024

“CYFAR Grant Youth Group from Hardin County Explores Jr. Manrrs Leadership Institute”

Within Hardin County the city is filled with numerous opportunities for its youth to explore and to get involved. Over the last several years within the county an FCS extension agent at Kentucky State University has been working with a team of specialists and administrators at the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension thru a five year grant called the CYFAR Grant. CYFAR stands for Children, Youth, and Families at Risk, the initiatives of the grant include targeting groups of at-risk youth who may be at a disadvantage due their lack of access to the resources and opportunities to further reach their full potential before they transition out of high school. The CYFAR Grant is funded thru USDA, the United States Department of Agriculture and NIFA, Natural Institute of Food and Agriculture. 

As a part of the grant the KY CYFAR Grant team educates youth on topics such as the following: leadership development, social justice, cultural competency, teamwork, problem solving, and communication. In December 2023, the KY CYFAR Grant team sponsored a group of 8 youth who are from grade levels 7^th-10^th grade middle school and 4 parents from within Hardin County.  One of the initiatives of the grant was a plan to take the youth on a series of field trips to various colleges and to the state Capitol so that they can examine some career options in various fields of study and also so that they gain some insight into how our government is ran and structured.  Our goal is to inspire this group of young educated professionals to want to serve in leadership capacities for their community by serving on different advisory councils and boards. By doing so we do hope that this will eventually lead to more resources and educational programs being provided to those people within those communities. This strategy could serve as one way to keep the surrounding community not only informed but also more involved in the political process of voting and being made self-aware on the local and state laws that serve to protect them and keep their families safe. 

By doing so the community can then increase the amount of people that actually go out to the polls and vote, which in turn can lead to several grassroots programs and initiative's that can grow that community. This can lead to better real social change and improve social alliances amongst various races thereby improving the overall economy.  The leadership initiatives would be to ensure that the voices of the people who actually live within those communities are heard and can provide an organic space to allow the community to voice their opinion about what they need from their state officials to hopefully transform and inspire some good legislative policy that will have a positive impact on the local schools and youth for Hardin county. 

So as a big part of our initiatives this is actually the second trip that we have taken a group of the youth on with a community organization called Pure Inc. The group leaders for this organization mission is to provide some academic enrichment resources and college preparatory experiences for their youth from that particular community.  

Jr. Manrrs Leadership Institute is a mini conference held every year at the University of Kentucky. During the Leadership Institute experience the youth get a chance to experience a variety of different college degree programs in Agriculture, Forestry, and STEAM, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. In addition, the youth were able to participate in an array of different experiences within the program areas of 4-H Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences known as the Reality Store. Within that experience the youth were all placed into groups whereby which an experience known as a simulation called the Reality Store takes place. Within this simulation experience each individual is provided with a package of information which then becomes their temporary, imagined life. Within that package or kit they received a wallet full of money $3,000(assets), funds are play money, a job description, and a list of expenses such as bills or housing costs (fixed and variable). Within the kit, they are also provided with some required expenses that they are required to pay and other expenses by which they will have to decide on whether they can afford to pay for them or not, such as medical insurance for a little boy 9 years of age or extra car insurance, or a personal loan. 

The other part of the Reality Store experience involves the youth receiving a list of family members (2 kids with a dog) and the list of expenses.  They get about 30-45 minutes to walk around within the Reality Store to decide what expense do I really need to pay first. This actually provides a real experience where they have to then decide and prioritize things within their mind. So here are some questions that we usually here:  "why do I need to pay for my mortgage first?" "Am I supposed to pay for my utility expenses next or do I just go to the grocery store and purchase food first?" 

So we are thereby utilizing a technique called project based learning experiences to train their minds on how to think, plan, and prioritize which in turn teaches them a new process and they know exactly how to do a new process using new knowledge that they just learned through the Reality Store simulation. In this manner they would have at least went thru more of a staged experience before they get to the real situation in their personal lives and have to start doing this on a daily basis. 

In closing, the youth enjoyed the experience.  In a testimonial from one of the students who participated in the Leadership Institute experience she stated that, "I had a lot of fun! I learned a lot about a whole bunch of different college degrees when I went to the program on today. I learned that I don't want to major in Agriculture. I think that I am more interested in either Math or something else where I get to solve problems." The program ended up being a very successful learning experience for all of the youth who participated. It was very educational and a much needed experience that every student should have to experience before exiting high school for their senior or 12th grade year. That way if that happens each student can make a more informed decision on their personal future. This trip was an intermediate goal of ours for the fourth year on the grant. We are excited to see what the last part of the grant for year 5 will look like.  We are planning on doing some additional leadership and workforce development experiences for the group as time progresses and also have a lot more in store for this smart group of youth. 

Pictured Above: Youth at the Jr. Manrrs Leadership Conference in Lexington get a look at different college majors with various career counselors at the University of Kentucky.

Below: (Top photo): Youth participate in a challenge called the “Reality Store Challenge,” where they are given a sum of money and a list of expenses and then asked to make some decisions on how to spend the money.

Below: (Bottom photo):  Youth at the Jr. Manrrs Leadership Conference in Lexington get a look at different college majors with various career counselors at the University of Kentucky.

Pictured Above: Volunteers at the Jr. Manrrs Leadership Conference in Lexington share a happy smile at this program, geared towards helping youth decide on how to spend their funs at the Reality Challenge (happening at the time of photograph)at the University of Kentucky campus.