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Life Skills
| Name | Sharon Grice | | Situation | The Department of Juvenile Justice Program (DJJ) is for youth who have committed a crime. These young men and women are not permitted to attend public school and must attend the local Alternative School. These youth do not know how to positively process their thinking and feelings, without violating others. They were accustomed to taking from their community, not giving! It was important that these youth learned to control their actions before they committed a higher level criminal act, such as murder or rape. | | Response | DJJ selected fifteen (15) youth (male and female) to participate in an eight-week long 4-H Life Skill program conducted by the Extension Agent. Each week's lesson had a different focus. The youth learned about improving their communication and decision-making skills, interacting with other races or ethnic groups, and money management. The youth participated in exercises that tied their educational level with the lifestyles they can expect at that level. The main focus for this session was to teach them the importance of getting an education and of good decision-making. During the last two sessions, the youth completed a community project. They chose to give plants to the residents of a local retirement home. Each youth painted/decorated a flowerpot, learned about soil and plants, and planted flowers in their pots.
We visited the retirement home for our last class. During this visit, the youth had the opportunity to visit with the elderly. This was a first for many of the youth and they were so nervous! Thirteen of the fifteen youth are black; the majority of the retirement home residents are white. The youth could not believe they were accepted and appreciated for their acts of giving! At the end of our visit, the residents invited the students to come back the following week to share in their "reflection services."
| | Impact | Evaluation forms for the 4-H Life Skill program were distributed. All of the youth indicated they had increased their knowledge of communication skills, money management and decision-making. One situation that demonstrates the greatest impact of this program was told in my presence. A teacher from the Alternative School said that one of the students (a participant in this Life Skills Program) informed the School Resource Officer about a robbery that was planned one night. The young men that were planning this robbery were friends with the informant. The teacher said this was a first for this young man! The agent has received reports that the young man is doing better in school and in the community. The young man is also trying to improve himself and his grades so he can return to public school.
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Last update4/24/2008
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