The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Council) met most recently on June 8, 2007, at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The quarterly meeting featured a panel discussion on 4-H partnerships with the U.S. Army and Air Force. The next meeting will be held September 14, 2007 at the U.S. Department of Labor. For meeting summaries, information about the Council's mission, and links to related resources, visit the Council's Web site at juvenilecouncil.gov.
Special Report: 4-H Teams Up With U.S. Army and Air Force
The June 8 Council meeting featured a panel discussion about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) 4-H Program and its longstanding relationship with the U.S. Army and Air Force.
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Operation Military Kids
Through Operation Military Kids, teams in 34 States support "suddenly military" youth (that is, youth whose parents are in the reserves and are subsequently called up) who are facing a tumultuous time in their lives. The teams are composed of representatives from 4-H, the Army, the National Guard, the American Legion, and Boys and Girls Clubs. To date, Operation Military Kids has supported the following efforts:
- Ready, Set, Go! This training manual and CD-ROM educates youth workers, educators, counselors, and other community service agencies on military culture, the deployment cycle, and how to foster resilience in kids. The goal is to increase understanding of the unique issues facing military youth.
- Speak Out for Military Kids is a youth-led, adult-supported project that generates community awareness of issues and concerns faced by suddenly military children and youth. Initiatives include local youth speakers' bureaus, public service announcements, and interactive theater productions.
- Hero Packs are filled with items designed to keep youth connected to deployed parents, such as stationary, envelopes, disposable cameras, and journals. Hero Packs also provide information on local support programs for youth.
- Mobile Technology Labs provide equipment such as laptop computers, video cameras, laminators, and software packages to help children and youth connect with their deployed parents. Youth learn how to use this equipment to send special information (e.g., report cards, sports photos, birthday celebrations) by e-mail. Parents can use the labs to tape stories and messages to leave behind when they are deployed.
For more information on Operation Military Kids, visit http://www.operationmilitarykids.org.
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Cathann Kress, Director of Youth Development, National 4-H Headquarters at USDA explained that the 4-H "is not just about cows and sows. It's all about creating educational and youth development opportunities." 4-H has developed partnerships with the Army and Air Force to support youth programs on military installations around the world. 4-H clubs in communities have also opened their doors to military youth living off post and to youth of National Guard and Reserve families. As military families move frequently, 4-H clubs provide military parents with the assurance that their children are in safe and nurturing environments.
Brooke Borelli, a sixth-grader and 4-H member at Bolling Air Force Base, explained that she and her family have moved seven times. "Changing schools and leaving friends behind is a hassle," she said. "I try to make a good friend everywhere I go, and 4-H helps make that happen." As with many military children, Brooke's mother has been deployed to Iraq.
The emotional cost of having a parent deployed overseas is high, according to Angela Huebner, Associate Professor, Department of Human Development, Virginia Polytechnic and State University. Dr. Huebner summarized the findings from a study supported by the Military Family Research Institute and the U.S. Department of Defense's Quality of Life Office that examined how adolescents in military families adapt when a parent is deployed.
"There is a lot of stress," she said. "Youth at those ages are going through enough normative changes as it is. Add to that an unstable family situation." Such children are very tuned into the stress of the at-home parents, as well. Many have a strong sense of wanting to protect the rest of the family. "In a way, they become little adults, taking on many new responsibilities at home," she said. Adolescents also demonstrated a great deal of resiliency when it comes to dealing with changes in their daily lives. Though their parent's deployment was a negative event in their lives, adolescents exhibited numerous adaptive responses. Nevertheless, other adolescents reported symptoms consistent with depression.
Eliza Nesmith, Chief, Community Programs, U.S. Air Force, said that State 4-H Military Liaisons coordinate work with Air Force Youth Programs and county 4-H staff to establish 4-H clubs on Air Force bases around the world. She attributed the following factors to achieving successful partnerships with 4-H:
- Finding common ground with partner groups.
- Developing and using positive personal contacts and relationships.
- Avoiding bureaucracy, when possible, and keeping management teams small.
- Having people at the table who have the authority to make decisions.
- Identifying a clear vision and keeping goals small and achievable.
- Meeting regularly to evaluate and reevaluate the status of the project.
- Building in sustainability of funding and other resources.
For more information on 4-H/military partnerships, visit: www.4hmilitarypartnerships.org.
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Children from Operation Military Kids reach out to parents overseas.
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The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is an independent body within the executive branch of the Federal Government. The Council's primary functions are to coordinate Federal juvenile delinquency prevention programs, Federal programs and activities that detain or care for unaccompanied juveniles, and Federal programs relating to missing and exploited children.
It is chaired by the Attorney General and includes the Administrator of OJJDP (vice chairperson); the Secretaries of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development; the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security; the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy; and the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service. As many as nine expert practitioners appointed by the President, the Senate Majority Leader, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives also serve as Council members.
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