Robeson County 4-H Is represented at North Carolina Association of County Commissioners

4-H prides itself on offering leadership building opportunities. This past weekend we had the opportunity to chose one Robeson County 4-H member to represent us at the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) meeting. Each county in the state had the opportunity to send on 4-H member to this elite opportunity. As part of their responsibilities the youth helped narrow down the top ten issues that are effecting youth in our state and possible ways to solve them. They also had the opportunity to meet with county commissioners and forge adult and youth partnerships that can make a difference right at home.

Korina Pittman of the Titans 4-H club was chosen as the Robeson County representative. She travelled to Greenville Friday afternoon to meet with the other delegates and get ready to meet with county commissioners from around the state. Attending the NCACC meeting on behalf of our Robeson County Commissioners were: Noah Woods, Raymond Cummings, Tommy Wellington, Hubert Sealey, Jerry Stephens and Assistant County Managers Rod Jenkins and Ricky Harris.

At this Summit, youth were determining the top ten issues which they felt affected them. These issues were presented by the4-H State Council Officers at the business meeting on Saturday. Sarah Kotizan with the state 4-H office shard the following list of top ten issues the youth selected:

1. Teen Pregnancy-Prevention, sex education, health issues, starts a chain reaction, tough decisions

2. Substance Abuse-Includes illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs, younger children trying tobacco

3. Drop-outs- The drop-out rate is at one-third in our state, dropout prevention programs

4. Violence Bullying, gangs, crime, physical harm, more education on safety issues, recognizing that your “unsafe” actions impact others such as friends and family

5. Recreation Community activities, intramural sports, youth centers, unstructured activities, paying for sports can be expensive, funding facilities, safe places, re-evaluate current park and recreation programs

6. Socio-economics Jobs for adults and teens, poverty and hunger, identity theft, family money management, small counties, loss of jobs, need jobs, low economic ratings, family income below average, grandparents with low incomes raising grandchildren, unemployment getting worse

7. Education Issues/School Funding Schools need money to provide more classes and extra curricular activities for youth, need to prepare for and find money to help pay for college, school improvement issues, youth want to feel their needs are recognized, more opportunities at school 8. Lack of youth voice in community Youth need to have their voice mentioned in political decisions, youth should take the initiative with governmental officials to have positions where they can express their opinions

9. Health Issues Obesity, healthy lifestyles education, healthy food in school cafeterias, chronic disease reduction

10. Lack of things to do Safe and effective activities for youth to participate in, partnership between youth development programs, safe places to be, constructive activities, positive activities

According to Korina this list will be discussed again at 4-H State Council Conference in November. For more information about 4-H State Council Conference please contact the 4-H office at (910) 671-3276. A big thank you goes out to our County representatives for making Korina feel so comfortable and to the NCACC for making this event possible.