4-H Volunteering & Mentoring

I'd like to welcome you to the Michigan Forage Volunteer webinar recording for the Heart of Forage Cultivating Developmental Relations with Youth. We're going to explore how you can build those really key relationships with youth to help them on a thriving pathway. This is part of a series of webinars that we've been doing since 2023. The upcoming dates that are happening in 2025 are on the screen. You can also see the link that is on the screen, and that will lead you to all the past recordings and registration for upcoming ones or ones that will be planned for the future. So when we really start to think about building developmental relationships with youth, it's important to do some reflection, and that's what we're going to focus on during this recording. So to get us started is I want you to think about the last time you felt really excited about something you were doing. What were you doing? It's key to think about those things that get us excited and what we were doing. It helps us understand what gets us excited, what some of the things that make us tick and go, Then it's really key to ask youth these same questions so that you know what gets them excited and what they really enjoy. When you know those things about the youth within the foraging experiences you're working with, you can help guide them on a thriving pathway because it could be their spark you found, and then you could figure out how you make connections for them through different avenues you might have or helping them explore other ways to expand Fast Spark. So when we talk about developmental relationships, it's part of the Forage thrive model, and this is the Forage thrive model. It helps us understand how the level of forage engagement a youth has can play a predictable role in the youth's overall development. The Forage thrive model takes place through local, statewide, and national forage experiences. You are that youth are engaged with. For each volunteers like yourself help youth with this experience to help them on a pathway to thriving. Being happy or having everything they need does not mean that youth is thriving. We're going to spend some time specifically looking at the importance of developmental relationships the importance of development relationships have in helping youth thrive. High quality four H program settings provide youth a place to belong, matter and explore their personal settings. These foster developmental relationships with youth, relationships that express care, challenge growth, and share power. These components help ensure that a four H program is providing a nourishing place where youth can belong and grow. While we're focusing on the relationships piece of the Forage Thrive model, they also provides a space that you belong, matter, and explore their personal spark. You as a volunteer, have a really key role in helping with the development of all these skills. You can provide a level of engagement and belonging that all play a role in helping build those developmental relationships and help them on that thriving pathway. Through helping youth develop their spark, you walk them down the pathway of belonging, relationships, and engagement in the program. So what is a spark? A spark is a passion for self identified interest or skill that metaphorically lights a fire in a young person's life, providing positive energy, joy, purpose, and direction. Think back to why you reflected on something that got you really excited. That could be a spark, it could be that piece. We need to know those things about youth. The relationships volunteers have with for each members is key in helping you discover their sparks, which can change regularly. When engaging with youth and their spark, you are setting that youth on a thriving pathway. You, the volunteer, does not need to be an expert in that spark topic to have an impact on youth. You just need to encourage and help them discover more. So to help us get started, let's take a moment to reflect on the definition of developmental relations that's used in the Forage Thrive medal. It's a secure attachment between youth and caring adults that are reflected in mutual warmth, respect, and trust. As a Forage volunteer, think about what you're currently doing to help to build developmental relationships with the youth you're engaging with. What are the things you do to help build those relationships with the youth in your forage experiences? Do you listen to them? Do you give them opportunities to explore areas of interest? Do you push them to try something new? Do you connect them with others? Those are all simple things you can do to help build those developmental relationships with youth by just listening, caring, connecting them with others, helping them on that thriving pathway. At this time, I'd like you to get out a piece of paper and a writing utensil. We're going to work through a tool to help you to start thinking about who helped you during your formative years. Those years 0-25, you're going to write down up to three people for each of the topic areas I'm going to have you reflect on and you can use the same person repeatedly. Just think about who might have impacted you in each of those areas. Have that piece of paper and writing utensil. I'm going to walk through each of the areas and give you a moment to reflect. You can always pause the video if I haven't given you long enough time to reflect. First, think about three people who showed you that you matter to them. This could be being someone you could trust, someone who really paid attention to you when you were together, someone that made you feel known and valued. This could have been done showing that they enjoyed being with you or praising you for your efforts and your achievements. List those up to three people that helped you in this category when you were 0-25. In the next category, think about the people who pushed you to keep getting better. Who are the three people who up did some of the following things for you? Expected you to live up to your potential, push you to go further, helped you learn from mistakes and setbacks, insist that you take responsibility for your actions. Write down up to three names. So the next area I want you to reflect on is who helped you complete tasks and achieve your goals. This could be done guiding you through hard situations and system, building your confidence to take charge of your life, standing up for when you needed it, putting in place limits that kept you on track. So record up to three names of people who helped you in this area in your formative years. The next category to look at is who treated with you respect and gave you a say? Who were the people that may have done this by taking you seriously and treating you fairly, involving you in decisions that affected you, working with you to solve problems and reach a goal, creating opportunities for you to take action and lead. So record those names on your piece of paper. So the last category we're going to reflect on is who connected you with people and places that broadened your world. This could have been done could have been done through exposing you to new ideas, experiences, and places, inspiring you to see possibilities for your future, or introducing you to other people who helped you grow. So now what I'd like you to do is look back at that list you recorded. Which person did you list in the largest number of categories? For me, I had my parents, but I also had my four H educator from when I was a four H member. She had a huge impact on my formative years and helping me and being someone who was really key in pushing me. Then take a moment to reflect on which person on your list was a bit of surprise because you had not previously thought about how that person influenced your development. For me, this was one of my softball coaches. I didn't expect to see someone like that. They were only a coach for a couple of years. We didn't have a long term relationship, but they did have an impact because they pushed me to do things and try positions I hadn't thought of, had really pushed me outside of my comfort zone, and those were things and they did it in a way that helped me grow. So It's important to see that we don't have to necessarily have a long term relationship with someone to have an impact. It's important for us to think about who were these people? What were the things they did? Jot down some ideas of what sticks out that these people did for you and remember those. This might be some useful tips as you are working with the foragers within your forage clubs or groups or different settings where you volunteer with forage. So each of the categories that had you reflect on are people who correlate to one of the major elements of developmental relationships. Young people are more likely to grow up successfully when they experience developmental relationships with important people in their lives. Developmental relations are relationships are those close connections through which young people discover who they are, cultivate abilities to shape their own lives and learn how to engage with and contribute to the world around them. The Search Institute has identified five elements expressed in 20 specific actions that make relationships powerful in young people's lives. Each of these categories has a really important piece I had you think about, and so they fall into express care. Those are the people that you show youth how they matter to them, how they matter. There's that challenge group. Those are the ones where we push you to get better at something. That providing support element is helping complete tasks and achievable goals. That share power is treating them with respect and giving them a say in those expanding possibilities, connecting them with people that broaden their world. In each of these five categories are some specific actions that can be done to help on that category and define those. As a four H volunteer, what are you currently doing to help build mental relationships with youth you are engaging with? Write those down. What we're going to do next is I'm going to share a whole bunch of ideas on each of the five areas, and you're going to reflect on the ideas on the screen and think about which ones you're already doing well and then which ones you want to be more intentional about. I'm going to ask you to pick one or two in each area to be intentional about and try and figure out how you can put that into action in the next four activities that you're working with. First, an express care. Here are some ideas that can be done to help express that care and build that element. What are the things you're doing well? Take note of those, and then think about what's one thing you can be more intentional about 02, Next is challenge growth. Take a moment to read through the list. What are some things that you do well already? And then pick out one or two that you can be intentional about. Next area to look at is providing support. What are some of the things on the list list you already do that show you're providing support to youth? And then what's one or two things you can be more intentional about in your forage experiences. Next is sharing power. Take a moment to look through this list. What are some of the things you already do well in your forage experiences to show that you share power with youth? Then what's something you can be more intentional about than your forage experiences to demonstrate the sharing power area? Next, in the last area is expanding possibilities. Take a moment to read through this list. What are the ones you already do well when you're working with rs? And then what is one or two that you can add some intentionality behind as you work with them to be more intentional with? When we really think about all of the areas of developmental relationships, it's really important that we think about and build youth voice. Youth voice empowers young people to actively participate in shaping their forage experiences. When the adults present actively listen and hear what young people are saying, it gives the young person a sense of ownership over their four clubs. As adults involved in forage, listening to youth voice can provide us with valuable insight and perspectives we sometimes miss. Fage is a great space for youth to have an opportunity to try out their voice. This will teach youth leadership skills and ways to have positive impact on their Forage program. Think about how you ask youth how they want to be involved. When you start to ask them questions and really listen, you're going to hear some great ideas, and then use and then share the ideas you're hearing and let them run with it for planning. This is the opportunity for you to try things out in a safe space and make mistakes and fail at times and that's okay if they make mistakes and fail, but be there as a person to help guide them through that and learn from it so that they learn how to make a change the next time they might come up with come up to a similar opportunity. Really embrace that youth voice and help youth have a say in their forage experiences and giving them opportunities to plan and implement what they're hoping to have happen in their forage experience. Thank you for taking time to listen to this short video. I want you to just take a moment to look back on your list of things you want to be intentional about and figure out how you're going to be intentional with those actions in the next few forage activities that you're involved with.