MSU Extension 4-H Volunteering & Mentoring

Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome you all to today's webinar on Engaging Parents in forage experiments and implement a shared leadership in Forage clubs. We're going to talk about why engagement matters, barriers that often get in the ways and strategies you can use to create stronger family connections in your Forage Club experiences. We're going to give you some strategies. We're going to let you share strategies, and we're excited for you to be with us today. I am Christine Hy. I'm an extension educator and a cole for Extension Volunteer Management, and I will let Jennifer give a quick introduction, who is the co presenter today. Hi, welcome to everyone. I'm Jennifer Weigel. I'm the volunteer specialist here and the Cole for Extension Volunteer Management. We're grateful that you're here. Throughout today's webinar, we're going to share a few links and some resources. In the chat, you will also get a follow up email that has all of those links and resources attached to it by the end of the week. MSU extension knows that human differences enrich our lives, work and community. We embrace our responsibility to be a resource for all and are committed to providing programs to all segments of our community. It's also important to understand the longstanding history and legacy of colonialism that has all brought us to reside on the land and seek to understand our place within that history. The land acknowledgment on the screen is one step in that process. Jennifer is going to drop a short demographic survey link into the chat. If you are able to complete that link, it would be appreciated so that we can help track how we are meeting the needs of the different, um, segments of Michigan's population. As many of you are aware of, this is part of our volunteer webinar series that we've been doing in 2023, 2024, and now in 2025. We've had a variety of topics this year and all of the recordings are up on the website that will be in the follow up email so you can go back and reference that. We will also be in mid to late summer having the fall dates and topics up available for you to register. A reminder at the end, you complete a quick evaluation. Your feedback on that because we asked for other ideas, helps determine topics that we have coming up. So as we get started, we're going to do a quick little icebreaker welcome activity. In the chat, I'd like you to share what challenges do you face engaging parents and caregivers? What are the things that are challenging as you're trying to engage those parents and caregivers in your four H experiences? Just feel free to drop those into the chat. The first thing we're seeing is parenting time schedules. Oh, feeling that four H meetings and activities are drop off time. Has anyone ever seen it as parents status social hour to connect with the other parents are there and are distracting at the meetings. There is also seeing that they don't know what to do, so they just don't even know how to get engaged. Over this presentation, we're going to give you some ideas to address some of these ideas and things to think about to help you plan as you move forward within your forage clubs and experiences. So as we think about this, forage is all about providing high quality program settings for youth to have a place to belong, matter, and explore their personal spark. Having high quality settings fosters developmental relationships with youth, relationships that express care, challenge growth, and share power. These components help ensure that forage programs help provide youth a nourishing place to belong and grow. As forage leaders, you do play a key role in helping you find that spark, have that place of belonging, those relationships and engagement. But to have it be successful, you have to have other people help you. You have to have the parents being part of the journey with you. You have to have other caregivers or parents step up in different roles so that they can help take on some of those things that help foster spark, help build that belonging, help build relationships and help do the engagement. To put youth on that thriving pathway, we all have to work together. It's not just one adult that can make that happen. There has to be a variety of adults that come together to really foster that. The other thing is that in forage, we are about helping youth find their spark. That spark is a passion for self identified interest or skill that lights a fire in a young person's life, providing them positive energy, joy, purpose, and direction. The relationship that you have with forage members is key in helping youth discover their sparks, which can change. When you're engaging with youth in their sparks, you're sending that youth on a thriving pathway. You as a volunteer don't have to be an expert in that spark topic. You have to have an impact. You just need to encourage them to help them discover more. The more volunteers and more engaged that caregivers and parents are in the club, the more easily it is for everyone else to be spark spotters and see those sparks and help point those out to you and be other people that can encourage them, or maybe you see someone who has a spark in an area and you know one of the parents has has a passion in that area or their career is in that area and you can help make those connections so that they can see those other people that can help drive them on their Spark pathway. You might wonder, why is the engagement of parents and caregivers, why does that matter? Well, we know that when families are involved, young people are more likely to attend meetings regularly, show improved behavior, and succeed academically and socially, and to achieve their goals that they've set for a variety of four a projects. When we have engaged families and people feel like being at the meeting, not just dropping off their kids is important because they have some role The messages and the information that you share at those meetings, they get to hear as parents and caregivers. As you know as volunteers, when you're sharing all this information at meetings, if their parents and caregivers aren't there, it's really hard to make those connections and to keep everyone in the loop of what's going on. We know that research consistently shows that family engagement is one of the strongest predictors of positive youth development and success. Parents and caregivers benefit from not only being there in attendance to hear what's happening, but many times they also gain new skills and when they get engaged, they boost their self esteem and they have those opportunities to not only connect with their own children, but with their children's peers. That just helps to build resiliency amongst those young people. Engagement isn't a one time thing. Engagement is really ongoing and it must be intentional, respectful, and creative. Let's dig in a little deeper. You might already be thinking about what are some of the barriers to engagement that you see? What are some of those barriers? Feel free to put some of those in the chat for us and then we'll discuss some common barriers and yours might be among those or they might be something different. Feel free to put those in the chat. What keeps your parents and caregivers from engaging? Well, Christine, let's share some of the common barriers after we see these come in. Yet, too many activities on their plate. People are busy, unfamiliar with the program. Yes, that is huge. Yep. Time and availability. It's my kid's thing, not mine, exactly. We hear that. Yeah. But it's hard to support your child when you don't know what's happening, and when you don't get to have any input into that. The most common barriers to engagement are time constraints and work schedules, as you can imagine, language and cultural differences. As we say language, one of the things that I would point out is for those of you that have been engaged in for age and extension programs for quite a while, For H programs really do have their own language. We use a lot of terminology such as project reports, possession date, check in time. We use a lot of words and phrases that the person that has never participated in for H, doesn't really understand. I can say this firsthand because I was a lifetime forager. However, my husband had no for each experience. So project reports, deadline, possession dates had no meaning to him. Remember, when families are coming brand new into clubs, we really do sometimes have a language barrier, and there's also cultural differences that come with a variety of individuals that we engage in our programs and those cultural difference can really have an effect, all right? Then there's that lack of trust or unfamiliarity with the for each program that we've already discussed, but I wanted to mention that language piece too, and transportation and accessibility issues. With parents working different schedules and with all of the activities are happening, sometimes we're asking for children to be at a program before a parent even gets done with their commute home from work. Um, it's not uncommon for people to commute an hour to an office or a half hour. We know that schedules really do vary for a lot of positions. Identifying barriers really can help us find solutions to resolve or work around them. Ignoring them does not make anything better. It's important to acknowledge that engagement for individuals isn't always easy or natural, especially if they're engaging in the four H program and they've never been involved in the four H program. What we do, the way we hold events, the culture of a show that they might attend or even coming to their first fair can be really intimidating. We need to find ways to help make them feel comfortable and welcome. Families, as you indicated, may be juggling multiple jobs and responsibilities, making it hard to attend events. They might also have children that are at different ages and in different events, making it challenging to get from one place to another and balancing school activities and sports events with four a programs. And cultural and language differences can make communication difficult from the simple use of phrases they don't understand to it being an entirely different language that the parents are trying to use. While the children may be using English language every day, it may be that their parents are still struggling to speak English and that the children are put in the position of being interpreters many times for those parents. So by identifying some of these barriers, it can help us find ways to work around them. Parents may be also sharing custody, making involvement inconsistent. A child might only be able to participate in activities when he's with a said parent, such as the father or the mother, that the other parent lives a little bit further away or isn't supportive of doing the running for an activity that they see as the other parent's activity with the child. And it's okay for you to ask following an event or leading up to an event, how can we make sure that everyone can participate? Remember, you're not going to get 100% engagement in almost anything, and there's never a perfect time, but there may be a better time. Those are some things to remember as you're looking at those barriers to engagement. Some other strategies for engagement are listed here and let's talk through some of them. Inclusive events that show respect and cultural responsiveness. A thing to think about is what holidays or religious practices or religious dates might interfere with when you're thinking of planning something so that you can be respectful, that maybe holding meetings during lent isn't going to work, especially if that's when you're also thinking of doing a fundraiser to sell candy bars. It's not uncommon for people to give up chocolate during lent, so that's something to take into event. You might also want to think about graduation season. We have that coming up right now. It's a hard time for people to get to things with all the graduation gatherings and if you have a club with older teens, many of them may be participating in graduation ceremonies themselves or attending that of their peers. That's something to think about. Post inclusive events. So cultures really thrive on doing things as family units and their activities and events they like to focus around the whole family being engaged. What are some strategies that you can use to potentially do that? Then there's communication. Consistent and regular communication is essential. We all know how frustrating it is to put something in an email and send it out or post it on Facebook, but no one sees it. Think about it, ask your families how would you like to receive information? What is the best way for you to stay informed? Because you might be spending time doing things that no one's reading or that no one's getting to when it could be streamlined and possibly even assigned to someone else to help you with that communication. Consistent communication is key regardless of how you do it. Some examples might be the WhatsApp, the remind app, the band app, private Facebook groups, text messages, emails. It really varies from group to group what works for the individuals that are in that group. And keeping families informed with regular updates really does make a difference. Looking for an attractive way to get things posted on Instagram or whatever. Canva can help with fun designs and graphics and many of the teens in your club are already using Canva, Instagram to get things out to their friends and they might be the perfect people to do that for your club. We also need to be flexible, offering multiple ways for families to be involved. That might be virtually or in person, and it really does depend on the activity that you're doing. Are there also times where things can be sent home with the members or the families for them to do some pre work or to get things started and have clear directions. Active listening and co creation so that you get the suggestions from those parents and caregivers and listening to, why didn't they attend hearing that conversation? The next time you plan an activity, you can maybe take that into account. Considering what opportunities you can get others engaged in. What could parents or caregivers assist you with? What tasks do you wish they would step up and take? Because sometimes we think, well, someone could have offered to do X, Y, or Z. But if we instead ask specifically if someone can bring the snacks or if someone can help with setup, or if we can have a volunteer to help with cleanup, we are more likely to get them engaged. And we know that for some levels of engagement, they do need to be screened volunteers. In for H, we have both gold and silver volunteers. So it's important to remember that we do have screening for volunteers, and if you're not sure who needs to be screened, you can talk with your county staff person to make sure you're operating within those protocols. Set up a feedback loop with families so that families feel their voices matter. You can do this simply by asking questions and asking for suggestions. Pilot one new strategy at a time to see what difference it makes and to see what works for you and for your club. Here's a couple examples of what other programs have done and they're working well for them. A youth center in a diverse neighborhood hosted a bilingual family nights, leading to a big jump in parent attendance because parents could attend and there were people there that could speak their native language, and they had activities that were culturally relevant to them, as well as food that was available and met their dietary needs for their populations. A STEM camp invited parents to weekend project days. Kids could then show off their work and parents could engage directly in hearing what those children had learned and learn some things themselves. Those are some ideas for you that might work. So let's talk about your leadership role. Hopefully, you're not feeling overwhelmed, but we know that at one time or another, all of us feel overwhelmed in our leadership roles. You may be trying to do it all, scheduling the programs and events, setting up for them, planning the program activities, discovering and implementing an icebreaker all the time. Bringing the snacks or figuring out who's doing the snacks, handling all the communications, cleaning up after the event, who can help, and what might you divide out. Let's take a look at moving from me to we with a shared leadership style. What does this really mean? Shared leadership shouldn't be intimidating, it should be freeing. What you can think about here is what tasks do you currently do that are filling your plate that could easily be delegated to others, or that someone else may be able to do more efficiently, or what would they enjoy doing? What do you enjoy doing? It's great when you can take things off of your plate that don't bring you joy. There may be some pieces that you absolutely love doing like planning the program. You might be expert in a certain area or project and you love planning the activities and working with the young people in that area because you get to see their sparks, you get to see that excitement. But maybe you don't like doing the logistics or trying to communicate with everyone following a meeting seems overwhelming to you. Those are pieces that you might be able to delegate. And many times parents and caregivers and community members are hesitant to get involved because they see the volunteers who are doing it all, carrying the whole plate. They might not be willing to step up and take the plate, but they're willing to take a piece off of that plate, especially when they understand the specifics of that commitment, and they know it may be a one time role, not a lifetime role because sometimes people are scared that if they do it once, they'll be locked in for years to come. So let's talk about how you might successfully delegate some things. As you consider delegating, think about product versus process. Let me explain what that means. Many times when we have tasks that need to be done, it may or may not matter how we get to the goal. If the goal is to have snacks at the meeting, It really doesn't matter if those snacks are brought by this bought at a certain store or if they're homemade or if they're prepackaged. Many times, that doesn't matter. What matters is there's a snack at the meeting that if there's any dietary restrictions for your club that meet those dietary restrictions, say being not free. Other things, it might really matter how they're done. Example, financials. For H has very clear financial policies and procedures that need to be followed. In that case, process is super important. We need to make sure that things are following a specific process. Other times when we're working with children and we're working with their projects, we sometimes need to remember that it's about how they get that project accomplished. What is our end goal? Our end goal is making sure that their swine project is fed appropriately, that the children understand how to begin walking the pig, proper nutrition for the prey. It's important that they learn pieces of that process so that they get the right product. Other times, it doesn't matter how things happen. It's just that we reach that end goal. That's important for you to remember. When we have something that is process focused, the experience, method, or journey is what matters. But when we have something that is product focused, it's all about the end result, the outcome, or the final performance. That's what matters. Christine, will you talk to them a little bit about how youth can be engaged in this shared leadership? Yeah, I four H, we are all about youth voice and wanting to have young people have an important say and engaged in their learning. It's really important as a four H volunteer, you start to think about what are the tasks in your four H club that youth can take out? What kinds of ownership can they have complete ownership to and letting them do that. It goes back to that product and process piece a little bit. You might not It might be a different path they take to do something, but if it's their ownership, you let them do it. What are some? Let's start with a chat activity. What are some leadership tasks within your forage clubs that the youth could take on to take it off of your plate? Set up the room. Yeah. You could have the teams do the room setup so that you could be greeting the families as they come in. Instead of you trying to do both, planning fair decorations. Yes, they could be the ones making the decisions and then creating the fair decorations. Maybe it's not going to be how you would do it, but they could handle that component of the piece. What are? Someone else mentioned helping younger members with learning showmanship for a specific species. Yeah. I would say wonderful to that. I know that's how both of my boys learned rabbit showmanship was with a member in the club. Boy, did they enjoy that process? Exactly. Yeah. Brainstorming fundraiser ideas. Yeah. No matter what you do, you need to have the youth voice in it. They should be the ones brainstorming the ideas. They should be brainstorming the ideas for fundraisers, community service, your activities at your meetings. Then you need to figure out, is there a team? Who will take on planning that. If you're going to do a fundraiser, is there a team who's going to plan that, figure it out and do some of the planning for it where you will have to probably handle the financial components of it and submitting the correct paperwork, but having them make the flyers for it. Having them maybe contact what you're going to do if you need to make any phone call contacts, having them do the follow up thank you pieces, really thinking those components through. Your teens could be creating graphics for you to share on your social media platforms if you use a Facebook page or an Instagram, or if you use Group M as a chat place. Have teens create the graphics that share to remind families of the meetings, know that what's coming up, share what's on the agenda. They can do that. That gets shared. They'll be eye appealing to them, and it's something that they like to do often. The more empowerment that we give to youth within our forage experiences, it gives them those opportunities to really actively shape their forage experience. It helps foster that spark for them also, and it takes things off your plate sometimes when you give them the power to do it and having them make those choices and giving that voice to them so that it's their experience. We want to thank you for participating.