Ruth Carter will be moving from Gila County to Maricopa County effective
July 1, 2002, and Jim Sprinkle will become the new County Extension
Director for Gila County also effective July 1, 2002. We appreciate the
strong programmatic leadership provided by Ruth over these past years and
we support Jim in his new role as CED.
* I'd like to thank all the agents and specialists who have completed
Extension publications during 2001. We have 59 new publications available
for consumers, growers, and the interested public. Another 38 publications
are in various stages of production. Thanks also go to Robert Casler, ECAT
publications coordinator. If you are thinking about writing a new
publication, see our guidelines at
http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/pubs/extpubs.html.
* Tucson is the first city in the Arizona to offer a "One Stop Shop"
specifically for grandparents and other relatives who have assumed care for
children of their extended families. The KARE Family Center, located at
4710 E 29th Street, Bldg 7, will have a grand opening celebration on
Thursday, February 7, from 3-5pm. The center provides resources for
families raising other people's children. In Pima County alone, nearly
8,000 grandparents have sole responsibility for one or more children under
18 living with them. For more information, call Dan Strasser, Grandparents
Raising Grandchildren Program Coordinator for Pima County Extension, at
323-4476 or Linda Block at 626-5161.
* Pima County Cooperative Extension and Arizona Department of Environmental
Quality are offering a hands-on workshop on straw bale privacy wall
construction with earthen plasters as the first in a series of workshops
about alternative construction techniques. Participants will receive
instruction and actually build a straw bale wall from start to finish. The
free standing wall will be constructed as part of the Our Yard Recycling
Garden Project located at 4210 N. Campbell. The dates are February 23, 24
and March 2 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Registration is limited to the
first 25 people. The fee is $50.00. To register and for more information,
call 626-5161.
* The Greenhouse Production and Engineering Design Short Course was held
January 20 - 23, with support from an Extension Enhancement Award.
Congratulations to Gene Giacomelli and Pat Rorabaugh for putting together
an excellent program. Besides Arizona, participants came from California,
Mexico, Washington, New Mexico, Oregon, North Carolina, Utah, Iowa,
Colorado, Illinois, Wyoming, and Kentucky.
* More than 75 delegates attended the Arizona Conversation on Youth
Development January 22nd and 23rd at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix.
Youth and adults attending the conversation from across the state were
challenged to generate ideas to enhance youth development in the 21st
Century. This event was part of the centennial celebration for 4-H which
will continue throughout the year. The Opening Session on Tuesday featured
Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano as the keynote speaker. Jana
Bommersbach, Emmy-award winning journalist, well-known Arizona author and
former 4-H member, moderated the conversation. On Wednesday, the results of
the conversation were reported at a luncheon attended by legislators, staff
and delegates. Secretary of State Betsy Bayless welcomed the group and
Ralph Romero, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Education
presented the keynote address. Delegates reported a wide variety of
findings, all of which will be taken by a team of 6 youth and three adults
to the National Conversation on February 27th - March 2nd in Washington,
D.C. Some of their ideas included: Developing youth advisory councils as
part of city and county governments; building and staffing facilities for
youth and teens while teaching work force and job skills; providing an
extensive system of job mentoring; increasing collaboration between youth
development organizations; and promoting a positive youth image by
increasing the voice of youth in the media.