Issues: What is the situation? Who cares and why?

Whitney Young Elementary school is located in the west side of Louisville, KY, where it is considered to be an economically disadvantaged area. It is considered a Title 1 School. The majority of the students (about 66%) are African American and 22% are Hispanic, which is considered to be higher than the Kentucky state average of 24%. About 78% of the students are on free/reduced lunch. Whitney Young Elementary school ranked below average on their test scores. The students may not be given the same resources, as they would be in other schools. Working for Extension, we focus on serving and strengthening under-served communities to improve the quality of life in individuals. 

Response: What has been done? Summarize your program, project, or response to the issue. 

Throughout the 2019/2020 school year, KSU Jefferson County Extension was able to partner with Whitey Young Elementary school to take part in “Club Day”, this consisted of bringing Extension based curriculum to elementary school aged children that would help developed their knowledge and curiosity in a variety of areas through hands-on educational activities. Jefferson County provided three different classes once a week. The students were assigned to each club (class) by the school FRYSC (Family Resource & Youth Services Center) coordinator based on their interest. These clubs were broken down into the cooking club (EFNEP), snack creation (FCS), and robotics club (4-H). My role was to facilitate the Jefferson County team in their lessons by providing instruction and assistance to the Spanish speaking ESL students, so that they could receive the same knowledge gain and interaction as their fellow classmates. 

Results/Impact: How has your response affected the user/stakeholders involved with the issue?

By being able to bring club day en Español to the Spanish-speaking students at Whitney Young Elementary school, Kentucky State University Extension is ensuring that Hispanic youth are also able to benefit from the educational hands-on activities that they can try at home and use to develop their life skills. Eating healthy and picking alternative nutritious snacks vs. junk food can have an impact on educating children about their life choices and taking a preventative method towards decreasing child obesity. I was able to help the Spanish speaking ESL students understand what the programs consisted of. This allowed them to be able to learn and participate in the lessons given. In which I was then able to notice that once the children understood what was happening they became more engaged in the activity.