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On behalf of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences, home of the
Rhode Island 4-H Youth Development Program, I wish to share with you our
near-term plans for 4-H. As you have probably heard, our State
4-H Program Coordinator, Jeff Hall, is retiring this
summer. Like you, I appreciate the significance of Jeff’s
retirement. Jeff has done an outstanding job of leading the
program through challenging times. His expertise, advocacy and
dedication will be missed by all.
Some might say this is now a time of major problems. However, I
feel it has presented us with an important opportunity to take a serious
look at our youth development programs and see how they can be strengthened
to address the contemporary needs of the youth of Rhode Island. To
this end, I am taking the following actions.
To address the challenge of vision and mission, we have initiated several
significant personnel changes. I have assigned Mrs. Marcia
Morreira, former director of the Cooperative Extension Education Center ,
to serve as the leader for our programs that deal with children, youth and
families. Marcia, a lifetime educator, originally joined the
University staff as a 4-H agent over 30 years ago, and has expertise in
organizational development. As the program leader, Marcia will
engage 4-H staff, volunteers and other 4-H stakeholders in a visioning
effort. The “visioning” effort will serve as the prelude to a
Federal review of all of our children, youth and family
programs. Indeed, I have requested from the Cooperative States
Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), a division of the USDA,
a comprehensive review of these programs. Although we have not
yet received a confirmation of the final date of the federal review, we
anticipate the review to commence between Fall and early
Winter. After the review, the evaluation team will prepare a
report, and provide us with recommendations upon which we can build a
future plan for our children, youth and families program area that will
include 4-H.
In addition to leading this review process, Marcia will assume a
number of important 4-H responsibilities for the interim including 4-H
policy and liability issues, conflict resolution and liaison between the
University and the 4-H Foundation. She will also head a 4-H
Transition Team that will be comprised of Kristy Horan, Clarice Coleman and
2 part-time, short-term, paid program assistants. Two very
active and experienced 4-H volunteers have agreed to join this team and
assume these part-time program assistant jobs to insure that 4-H programs
continue while we move through this review and planning
process. Kim Coulter has agreed to provide leadership for all of
the 4-H animal programs and Heidi Wright has agreed to provide leadership
for the teen programs, public presentation program and assist with the 4-H
judging and awards program. This team will meet regularly and
address any new issues or needs that may arise during this interim period.
These are challenging times for the 4-H program. I know there
are many of you that are deeply concerned about the future of 4-H in Rhode
Island . I ask you to join us in this review and planning
process so that together we can address the many challenges that face us
and find solutions that will meet the current and future needs of Rhode
Island’s youth.
Sincerely
Dr. Jeffrey R. Seemann
Dean of CELS and Director of CE and AES
Tel: 401-874-2957
eMail: jseemann@uri.edu
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