Georgia 4-H

Pre-Conference Research & Planning

The primary objectives of the conference are to:

Create an awareness of state/local issues.
Enhance youth-adult partnerships on the local level.
Equip youth to become active locally in the betterment of their community.

Program participants will experience these objectives through pre-conference assignments, experiential conference curriculum and county project plans of action. The key content issues for the conference include, Education, Economic Development, Health, Safety.

The Process: From Issues to Partnerships to Solutions

Pre-Summit: Teams researched their community and identified major issues, key resources and important contacts prior to the event. They were encouraged to identify strengths as well as weaknesses.
Issues Speakers and Discussions: Issues specialists on the topics of economic development, education, health and safety spoke to the youth and answered questions about participants’ primary concerns.
Youth-Adult Partnerships Training: Strong relationships are crucial to the Summit process, and there is a wealth of research on best practices for partnerships. A primary focus for the adults was the need to give up control and to empower youth to assume responsibility in the decision making process. For this session teams were mixed up so that participants could meet with their peers from around the state.
Program Development: Once teams decided on an issue to address, they received planning materials and training on how to get their project going. They developed a logic model to map their plan of action and worked with templates for promoting their project to collaborators and stakeholders.
Issue Meetings: Participants met in with other teams addressing similar issues and each team presented their project to the group. The participants were able to discuss challenges, share resources and brainstorm ideas together. The group then selected the best two teams to present at the Issue Based Town Hall Meetings.
Issue Based Town Hall Meetings: Once project plans were finalized, selected teams presented them to resource specialists from their Service Delivery Region. In addition to gaining hands on experience presenting proposals, teams learned about additional resources and partners. Participants in the Town Hall Meetings voted on one project to be the Gold Medal Winner for their topic.
Issuing a Challenge—Commissioner Mike Beatty: Commissioner Beatty, from the Department of Community Affairs, issues a challenge statement and encouraged participants to take what they learned back to their communities and to work for positive change.