As is each month, we have a few updates from the CYFAR 4-H Military Partnership Professional Development and Technical Assistance Projects and other things you may want to share in your state. Please forward this information to your colleagues, including county 4-H educators, other staff, and volunteers. You are key in sharing this information across your state.
Third Thursday Together – April 20
Research shows that children who are read just one book a day from birth to kindergarten will hear almost 300,000 words by the time they start school. We also know that sometimes books help us begin difficult conversations with children. Join Ohio Cloverbud Design Team members to explore Ohio’s Cloverbud Reading Adventures. These easy-to-use resources for Cloverbud volunteers help promote literacy by connecting Cloverbuds to a book and complementary activities. A collection of approximately 20 books is currently available as free downloads, with more books being added. Presenters will highlight the books Ada Twist Scientist, A Kid in a Medieval Castle, and The Day the Crayons Came Home during this session by sharing related activities. The session will include the importance of literacy and share other Cloverbud resources from The Ohio State University. Presenters include Dr. Scott D. Scheer, Rebecca Supinger, Rhonda Williams, and Christy Millhouse from The Ohio State University. Pre-registration is required and available online. The session will be at 2 p.m. EST and will be recorded.
MONTH OF THE MILITARY CHILD
April is the Month of the Military Child. You can find ideas to help support your celebrations and events online at MCEC Month of the Military Child, Military OneSource, and the Department of Defense’s Military Child page. As you plan celebrations and activities with your military-connected families, could you share your plans with us via email? We’ll add suggested activities, great ideas, and more to the website. We also encourage you to add your photos to our Facebook group. As you post on social media, tag your photos with #4HMilitaryPartnership.
GLOBAL VOLUNTEER MONTH
April is also the month to celebrate volunteers. We have so many people that help support military-connected youth. Why not feature and highlight their work this month along with your other 4-H volunteers? The Points of Light Foundation have designated April 3rd as a Social Surge day. What is a social surge? A day when we all unite to fill our social media with the highlights of volunteers, the impact they make, and the roles we have for them to play. Hashtag your media with #globalvolunteermonth and #4HMilitaryPartnership to connect our stories. There is more information available at Points of Light Foundation, including a Volunteer Month Too.lkit
CAMP SEASON FOR MILITARY FAMILIES
Summer camp is just around the corner, and many of you are already conducting spring break adventures. We have updated the camping opportunities on the website to include links to Purdue 4-H Military Teen Adventure Camps across the U.S. and the projects funded through KSU 4-H Military Partnership Outreach and Support grant. You’ll find all the details online on our camps page, too. If you have a camping opportunity or other event, you would like to promote through our calendar; you may add activities through the Submit an Event Function.
CONNECTING WITH THE PARTNERSHIP
If you have not, please join our Facebook group and share what’s happening in your programs or ask questions and get input from others working with military-connected youth.
We hope you visit our website often to learn what’s new for the 4-H Military Partnership.
Please send your stories and programming to us at our email address so we can continue to share with our 4-H and Military Service Partners all we have happening with 4-H and military-connected youth and families.
NCSU 4-H Military Partnership Team