In February, the KSU team attended the Jefferson County FRYSC Meeting. This is a monthly meeting that is held to supply FRYCS from over 100 schools with information regarding resources to be utilized in their schools. Jefferson County assigns individuals to work as Family Resource and Youth Center Services Coordinators thus the acronym FRYSC. Family Resource and Youth Services Centers (FRYSCs) are assigned in schools, and each center is dedicated to meeting the needs of both students and families in its school community. FRYSCs focus on eliminating barriers to learning so all students can flourish academically. This was an important meeting to attend as we are growing in canvassing the county for collaborations that will allow us to establish the vision of cooperative extension.

The meeting allotted 45 minutes for KSU to present various programs that we present to the county. We were able to have our HORT, FCS, EFNEP, CRD, and 4-H present to speak. We reached about 117 FRYSC and 5 reached out to me for meetings for summer and/or after-school programming. Many of the FRYSCs were interested in after school programming that could be included in their student’s digital backpacks. JCPS incorporates digital backpacks for student portfolios that are carried with them from elementary to high school. It has been very important to utilize 4-H programming in digital backpacks because of our academic centered curriculum. The growing collaborations that came from this meeting have already proved to be beneficial for our growing team because we are able to reach our target audiences as well as spread the word about extension in Jefferson County.