The problem

This county's estimated population (as of July 1, 2021) is 12,778 with 4,885 households, which average 2.53 people.  The population makeup is White Only (96.3%), Black (1.4%), and Hispanic Origin (1.7%) . Females make up 50.6% of the population. One hundred percent of the population is rural. Median Household Income is $44,893 with 22.5% of the population below poverty level. 79.3% of the the county population are high school or equivalent graduates, with 15.5 % Bachelor's Degree Graduates. 51.6% of the county population is part of the civilian workforce. 

The educational program response

Bath County 4-H Agent, R. L. Brown Foundation Director, and Bath County Memorial Library (Sharpsburg Branch) Director identified how barriers like transportation, lack of planned community events/educational opportunities, families still feeling the effects of COVID, and more are felt by the residents in the Sharpsburg/Bethel Area.  These three programs along with Sharpsburg City Council has started its third year of efforts to develop a summer full of programming with the goals of family friendly, skill development, create sense of community pride, and low cost.  For Memorial Day Weekend, a Family Movie Night will be held showing summer themed movie, cookout food and snacks, presentation of upcoming events, etc.  In June, a 2 Day Cooking Day Camp will be conducted to teach skills in cooking safety, recipe reading, My Plate, and more.  In July, a second Family Movie Night will be held, a Family Fun Night with food and water games, and a 2 Day Blue Licks Short Term Program will be presented to learn about history, natural resources, and summer fun.  In August, a Back to School Event supplying school needs will be held and a third Family Movie Night will be held.

The participants/target audience

Youth 5-18 years of age/Family Units, Underserved Minorities 

Program impact or participant response.

2023 stats had over 140 participants in Movie Nights (half of them females, 14 identified as African American, avg. age of 26 years of age.  Cooking Day Camp had 7 youth participants, 5 female, and 2 Hispanic.   Verbal Reports given: "Our family don't attend many events, but we saw the Movie NIght Flyer and thought that will be fun for the family", "It’s so good to see things happening in Sharpsburg", "I love the Day Camps because I got to play different sports", "I love cooking so the Day Camp was so fun", "Can I take these recipes home to cook for my family".  From last year’s stats and verbal reports discussion of adding more programming and events for more family involvement became the focus for 2024.