Author: Ryan Farley
Planning Unit: Fayette County CES
Major Program: Leadership
Plan of Work: Leadership and Volunteer Development
Outcome: Initial Outcome
Engaging youth within their community is something that many communities know is both an important aspect of developing a vibrant community and a challenge that has to be overcome. According to the U.S. Census data, over 1800 persons between the ages of 15-19 reside in Woodford County. One barrier that faces youth engaging with their community is their limited access to the people and knowledge necessary to make change and impact their county. In response, Woodford County Extension partnered with the Woodford County High School to provide the Woodford Leadership Tomorrow program. Modeled after many county leadership programs Woodford Leadership Tomorrow (WLT) offered high school sophomores seven all-day sessions that featured different aspects of Woodford County in hopes to connect, educate and empower them to enact the changes they want to see in their community. These session included Local Government Day, Health Day, Law and Justice Day, Business and Industry Day, Agriculture Day, Local Nonprofit Day and State Government Day. Participants also served as members of the 4-H Civics Club where they met monthly afterschool to hear from speakers and learn more about civics-related topics such as voting, elections, county and local government and civic responsibilities. 18 youth participated in 2023-2024 and of participants described the experience as “engaging”, “educational” and “eye-opening”. Participants also reported when asked what the best part of the WLT experience that “The best part of my experience of WLT is that I have becoming better at sharing my thoughts and opinions” and “Learning more about Versailles. I thought this was a boring old town but I've come to love it and its small town charm. I love how tight-knit we are” and “I really loved making new connections not only to the people who help make versailles but WLT helped connect me to Versailles.”
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