Robeson County 4-H

  Lumber River United Way has a new Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program called VITA. I have attached the VITA rack cards and posters in English and Spanish.   Please share with employees and clients in your community.   VITA provides free tax return filing assistance to people who are low to moderate-income, have disabilities, are elders, or have low English proficiency.  Lumber River United Way is excited to be able to offer this service to our Bladen, Hoke, and Robeson County neighbors. The volunteers preparing returns are trained through VITA programs and certified through the IRS.     How does it work? First, go to the VITA section of the Lumber River United Way’s website to make your appointment.   https://www.lumberriveruw.org/ vita    When you make an appointment, you will receive an email with a confirmation of your appointment and a list of documents you should bring to your appointment.  A few days before you...

  All youth who have exhibited a livestock animal at the N.C. State Fair are eligible to apply for this scholarship, regardless of breed, class or show placement. Showmen and previous showmen are encouraged to apply for scholarships each year they are enrolled at an institute of higher learning at a minimum of 9 course hours per semester, including community colleges and technical schools.  ***New for 2022. Winners will only be eligible to receive the scholarship a maximum of 4 times. Years prior to 2022 will count towards the 4 years.  Completed applications are due to the N.C. State Fair Office or postmarked by 5:00 p.m. on March 1, 2022. All scholarships are paid directly to the educational institution. Verification of enrollment is required prior to payment. Failure to submit requested enrollment information will result in forfeit of scholarship for the current school year. You can download the scholarship application from this link.

  This is a great program and many of our 4-H youth have participated in, both at our NC Youth Institute and also the Global Youth Institute at the World Food Prize in Iowa. It is a good fit for youth interested in plant or animal systems agriculture, food and nutrition, agriculture engineering and community organizing.   We are offering this as both an in-person program on campus AND virtually on April 1st . I would love to talk to anyone more about this program!  All high school youth are invited to join us for the  2022 North Carolina Youth Institute  (NCYI), a program that provides a platform for youth to research and give recommendations to solve key global challenges that range from food insecurity, access to potable water, poverty, human rights, engineering issues, and more.  Write a paper : Youth select a country besides their own and research the challenges families face around food and write a paper with proposed community-based solution...

  Mark your calendars and save the date for our Spring NC 4-H Volunteer Training.  This training will be held on Saturday, May 21st at the Jane S. McKimmon Center in Raleigh. We are currently accepting workshop proposals.  To see the working agenda and/or to submit a workshop proposal visit :  https://go.ncsu.edu/ spring4htraining  .  Registration will be available soon.

  Happy Monday after an incredible snowy weekend.  Hope everyone was able to enjoy the not so often seen white stuff and has had more fun than headaches in the cold weather.  Since it is cold outside this might be a great time to get everyone re-enrolled in 4-H Online.  Volunteers and youth alike.  Please take a few moments to take care of this at 4-H Online. - Don't forget about our 4-H calendar photo contest.  By the end of the each month, you can submit photos that you have taken, and a blind panel of judges will chose a winner to be place in a year long calendar.  If you submit a winning photo you will receive a calendar with your winning photo in it.   Registration can be found on the app under programs and more information in our top 4 from December .  If you have any questions about this program please contact Wendy Maynor (wrmaynor@ncsu.edu) or Shea Ann DeJarnette (sadejarn@ncsu.edu). - NC 4-H Volunteer Leaders' Conference origi...

     This article was written for the Robesonian by our own Shea Ann DeJarnette, 4-H Youth Development Extension Agent.      Welcome to 2022. What’s great about a new year are the possibilities and hope for a positive future. We have lots of things we are looking forward to in our lives, communities, and world this year. That being said, we have a lot of things to look forward to in 4-H. We started back, masked, face to face last year and even had overnight camp. So imagine how much more we might be doing this year.       I am going to qualify all of this by saying we will make sure everything we do involves a safe environment for all our youth and volunteers. Right now, what that means is smaller numbers and everyone wearing a mask when we aren’t outside, socially distanced. We have found our youth really have no issue wearing masks or following the guidelines. Most of the time they tell us they are so excited to be in a different envir...

  We have made the decision to cancel Volunteer Leaders' Conference for 2022 due to COVID.  The Association does have business to conduct, so we will hold a virtual business meeting on Saturday, February 5 from 10:00 - 11:30 am.  Following a short statewide business meeting including electing State officers and voting on bylaw and constitution changes , districts will have the opportunity to go into breakout rooms for district business meetings.  To attend this meeting, please   register here   and more information will be sent to you.  We miss seeing everyone face to face and our plan is to have a face to face Spring Training Day where we will recognize award winners, will have workshops, and have networking opportunities.  As soon as we know that date and more, I'll be back in touch.  Please go ahead and mark your calendar for February 3-4, 2023 for Volunteer Leaders' Conference 2023. Stay Well,  Sarah

  The NC 4-H State Council is excited to announce that starting this year there will be five (5) district and state 4-H officer positions available for youth members. The new officer position is "Member Engagement."   This is an exciting new role for our council system.  Please take a few minutes and review the attached document for details and SHARE the information with your youth membership. Several districts have started their initial plans for their Teen Retreats, and it's the council hopes that this new leadership opportunity will be one that our youth will be interested in and willing to run for.  Please contact me directly if you have any questions. Many thanks, Mitzi

Well folks it's back!  4-H 2.0 has been rolled out for North Carolina for 2022 and it is time for you to re-enroll your family, child, and or update your volunteer status.  When you are done we will receive an email saying it has been submitted and we will approve it.    Adult Volunteers when you start you need to choose that you are a level 1 or level 2 volunteer.  Most of you will be level 1.  There is a training video you must watch in its entirety (even though you watched it last year).  The system will let us know if you watched it and then we will be able to re-enroll you.  Also please make sure to check your screening section.  It is important to fill out as much of that as you can.     Parents please double check your child's clubs and if the are a member at large please make sure it is Robeson County not Alamance.  If you get stuck in the club section just back out and come back to it.  We are asking tha...

  Application Deadline EXTENDED to February 15, 2022 - USDA/1890 National Scholars Program   The USDA/1890 National Scholars Program The USDA/1890 National Scholars Program seeks to increase the number of minorities studying agriculture, food, natural resource sciences, and related disciplines. The program provides full tuition, employment, employee benefits, fees, books, and room and board each year for up to 4 years to selected students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in agriculture, food science, natural resource science, or a related academic discipline at one of 19 designated 1890s land-grant universities and Tuskegee University. The scholarship may be renewed each year, contingent upon satisfactory academic performance and normal progress toward the bachelor’s degree.   Scholars accepted into the program will be eligible for noncompetitive conversion to a permanent appointment with USDA upon successful completion of their degree requirements by the end of the agreement...

 Please see the announcement from NC A&T concerning their Tinker Box Pilot Program.  If your family fits the criteria and you are willing to be part of the program beginning to end please contact Shea Ann or Wendy at sadejarn@ncsu.edu or wrmaynor@ncsu.edu for more information or to register.  This is a first come first serve program so contact us as soon as possible if you are interested.   NC 4-H Tinker Box Pilot Program   Research Background   Research shows that when there is disconnect between school and home or community life, students can feel like science is impractical or in contradiction with their lives, which may be one of the most important reasons why some students don’t engage deeply in science (Chakraverty, Newcomer, Puzio, Tai, 2020). Research also shows that young people develop both interest and skills in STEM when someone from their family is involved. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of 21,000 8 th graders surveyed said that family members ta...

      Do you have young plant geeks in your life? Was their  Monstera   a best friend during the pandemic? Tell them that they are not alone and to consider coming to the   Horticultural Science Summer Institute , July 10-15, 2022!  This in-person, residential, pre-college program is an  action-packed week  of plant propagation, tree climbing, chromosome squashing, and friend-making.   Applications are open  on NCSU's Reporter system (families will need to create a " Brickyard " account) and we welcome all high school youth to apply.  Once accepted, camp registration is $650, but scholarships are available for 4-H youth ($500 registration fee, I will confirm 4-H membership with you) and I have a limited number of full scholarships for underserved youth with financial need and an interest in horticulture (contact me if you have a youth in mind). Please share widely and feel free to cross-post or cut and paste this...

  Please see a great opportunity for your 4-H'ers to participate in a Winter/Spring Pen Pal Program.   The online registration for U.S. youth starts on  January 10, 2022  at 9:00am Pacific Time! We are capping U.S. registrations at  60 youth participants . (This registration cap is needed to ensure balance for both the U.S. and international registrations.) Please note that the  registration deadline is January 21, or as soon as 60 spots are filled (whichever comes first)   Attached please find the Program Details PDF for State Coordinators and Promotional Flier for this next edition of the pen pal program series. Please review the attachments and feel free to contact us with any additional questions you may have. We hope you’ll join us in promoting intercultural communication and friendship this winter/spring!   Program Outline: Program Dates: February 1 – April 25, 2022. Participation requirement: Age 9-18 and from an active States' 4-...

  BIWEEKLY UPDATE | JANUARY 2022 JMG NLT REDUCING FOOD WASTE LET BULBS BLOOM JUMP INTO SPRING GARDENING WITH US! REGISTER FOR JMG NLT 2022 TODAY. Join us for a hands-on, fun-filled 3 days of JMG training in College Station, TX on  February 21st-23rd, 2022!  You will learn about JMG curricula, community partnerships, program implementation, and more.  Register by January 23rd  for the best pricing and room availability. LEARN MORE REGISTER NOW! WANT TO REDUCE YOUR FOOD WASTE? Here's a bright idea from our friends at Dinner Tonight! Since it is soup season, consider making your own broth with scraps leftover from cut vegetables. You will be left with chicken for meal prep and broth for a yummy soup of your choice! LEARN MORE PLANNING FOR SPRING FLOWERS? Looking for a way to allow kids to see growth even during the winter months? Consider using flower bulbs. Whether you choose to try blooms that don't need chilling and can yield blooms in February or blooms that do...