EXTENSION Center takes its beginning steps • BY JoYcE BowER Like new parents, organizers of Hardy County's only licensed day care center have undergone a birth. It took years of labor before their "baby" was born March 3, 1997. That was opening day for the appropriately named Begin- ning Steps. With careful nurturing, the Beginning Steps Child Care Center has matured over the past few months. Enrollment has grown from I 0 to 70 children. The average daily attendance is 30 babies, toddlers, and preschoolers; five kindergarten students who spend a half-day there; and seven children who participate in an after-school program. Three caregivers welcomed the first 10 children. The 6,000- square-foot center now has eight staff members caring for the children grouped according to their ages: babies between 12 weeks and 18 months old, younger and older toddlers, 3- and 4-year-olds, and older children. Having enough good child care is a priority in Hardy County. One of the state's fastest- growing counties, it has a low unemployment rate (3 .1 percent) and many employed parents. Its population is around 11,000 people. From its conception to its birth and its first months of existence, Beginning Steps has been a true community project. The collabo- continued on Page 3 Nicole Wright, staff member at the Beginning Steps Child Care Center, he Ips two children with a crah project.
Three caregivers welcomed the first 10 children. The 6,000- square-foot center now has eight staff members caring for the children grouped according to their ages: babies between 12 weeks and 18 months old, younger and older toddlers, 3-and 4-year-olds, and older children. Having enough good child care is a priority in Hardy County. One of the state's fastest- growing counties, it • BY JoYcE BowER
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EXTENSION
Center takes its beginning steps • BY JoYcE BowER
Like new parents, organizers of
Hardy County's only licensed day
care center have undergone a
birth. It took years of labor before their "baby" was born March 3,
1997. That was opening day for
the appropriately named Begin
ning Steps.
With careful nurturing, the
Beginning Steps Child Care
Center has matured over the past
few months. Enrollment has
grown from I 0 to 70 children.
The average daily attendance is 30
babies, toddlers, and preschoolers;
five kindergarten
students who
spend a half-day
there; and seven
children who
participate in an after-school
program.
Three caregivers welcomed the
first 10 children. The 6,000-
square-foot center now has eight staff members caring for the
children grouped according to
their ages: babies between 12
weeks and 18 months old,
younger and older toddlers, 3- and 4-year-olds, and
older children.
Having enough
good child care is a
priority in Hardy
County. One of the
state's fastest
growing counties, it
has a low unemployment rate (3 .1
percent) and many employed
parents. Its population is around
11,000 people.
From its conception to its birth
and its first months of existence,
Beginning Steps has been a true
community project. The collabo-
continued on Page 3
Nicole Wright, staff member at the
Beginning Steps Child Care Center, he Ips
two children with a crah project.
Greetings
As I mentioned in the last issue of Vision, the West Virginia University Extension Service is moving toward a statewide, WVU-wide, system of outreach and public service. To do this, we in extension will be collaborating with many new and traditional partners, both within and outside the university.
As articles in this issue make clear, our state's citizens and communities can reap greater benefits when many partners pool their resources and work together to solve problems.
In Hardy County, for example, a coalition of community groups, business and industry, churches, volunteers, and agencies-including extension-worked to plan, fund, build, and staff a licensed child care center. As one organizer said, the project "worked because the community wanted it to work."
Another story details the pollination problems facing Eastern Panhandle orchardists after mites decimated the honey bees. Growers turned to extension faculty, who looked to research scientists at WVU and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for assistance. The project even involved local high school students, who built pollen-bee nesting boxes to sell to producers.
I'm excited about a new statewide collaboration that will link the fields
2
of agriculture and medicine. Under the Agromedicine Program, health sciences professors from WVU and Marshall University will train state physicians to treat people injured in farm accidents involving equipment or chemicals. Doctors also will have a hot-line number to call with their questions about occupational injuries. During Farm Day at the Legislature Jan. 21, I will represent extension in signing the memorandum of understanding creating the program. Many other partners will sign, including representatives of the Farm Bureau, the W.Va. Department of Agriculture, the WVU and MU schools of medicine, and the WVU College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences.
Another current cooperative effort is the West Virginia Honor Roll program for 101 outstanding high school juniors in the state. The WVUsponsored program features career exploration symposia this winter at WVU, Marshall University, and Concord College. After each threeday symposium, the students return to their high schools to serve as peer mentors, the goal being to increase the college-going rate in our state. WVU's two symposia were held at Jackson's Mill State 4-H Camp and Conference Center in December.
As pointed out recently by WVU President David Hardesty, Jackson's Mill is being developed as a special-mission regional campus of the university.
I am pleased to report we have a new executive director of Jackson's Mill. David R. Mann, a native West Virginian and 4-H All Star, joined us Dec. 1. He is the ideal person to lead Jackson's Mill as it enhances its
service to state youth and adults. David's extraordinary accomplishments in developing youth camping programs, his diverse background in hotel and restaurant management, and his strong administrative and people skills are what is needed at the Mill.
We are working together, with other university officials and other stakeholders, to restate the mission of Jackson's Mill and to fulfill our vision for it: "Jackson's Mill is a WVU campus that provides youth and adults a unique natural and historic setting for community living and study."
As we enter a new year, I'm looking forward to continuing collaborations with our many partners as we take WVU's research- and experience-based knowledge and service to citizens throughout West Virginia.
Lawrence S. Cote Associate Provost & Director
~mission of the
(}!/ W~~ Virginia University
Extension Service is to form
learning partnerships with the
people of west Virginia to enable
them to improve their lives and
communities. To these partnerships,
we bring useful research- and
experience-based knowledge that
facilitates critical thinking and skill
development.
Extension Vision : Fall/Winter 1997-98
continued from Page 1
rative effort involved many local
groups, including the WVU
Extension Service and the Family
Issues Task Force.
"It's a community project that
worked because the community
wanted it to work," said Paige
Alexander, director of special
projects with the Hardy County
Extension Office.
"No one said no when we
asked," she commented, naming
industry, businesses, churches,
banks, agencies, and individuals.
"Everyone pitched in, not really
caring who got the credit."
As project director for Begin
ning Steps, Alexander traveled to
centers in other states to see what
they had done and to talk with
providers about setting up a
facility. Much of the project's
early stages was funded by a
planning grant from the Benedum
Foundation, "our lifeline to
getting this done," Alexander
noted. She also worked with the
architect, applied to other funding
sources, and ordered equipment.
Before Alexander started
working on the nuts and bolts,
Extension Agent Miriam
Leatherman and other community
leaders worked on the planning
stages.
The initial dream of
starting a day care
center came from the
Center director Becky Newman enjoys a happy moment with a toddler.
Family Issues Task Force, a
community improvement group
that organized after the disastrous
flood of 1985. But it took expan
sion of the county's poultry
industry to help make the dream
come true.
Industry opened the door
"There's been a need here for a
long time, and the task force
investigated lots of options," said
Leatherman. "Finally, the person
nel director of Wampler-Longacre
Foods [now WLR Foods] came to
the task force and requested help
in obtaining a day care center.
After training new employees, the
company was losing some of
them because of the lack of
child care."
The agent continued, "Industry
asking for a center opened the
door for the Rural Development
Authority (RDA) to get involved
in the bricks-and-mortar aspect of
the project."
After community groups spent years of planning for Hardy County's first licensed day care center, construction of the 6,000· square-foot facility got under way in 1996.
Mallie Combs, executive
director of the RDA, agrees.
"When we did industry retention
visits, child care was identified as
a need because of absenteeism in
the workplace. Then, Miriam
took the lead to do surveys of
employees." Of the 62 employees
from four local companies who
answered the surveys, 52 said
they needed some form of child
care. The RDA and the task force
applied to the Appalachian
Regional Commission and the
Governor's Partnership
Grant in April 1993.
Land, construc-
tion, and
equipment
cost approxi-
mately
As a public
entity, the
RDA owns the pwperty and is
eligible to receive funds, but it
leases the facility to the center's
board of directors for $1 per year.
Although she calls the venture
"industry driven," Combs also
emphasizes the community
collaboration aspect: "We all
work well together here and share
the same vision. Working coop
eratively allowed us to combine
resources and achieve lots of things."
Combs is a member of the
center's board of directors, which
is headed by Leatherman. The
agent and the school system's
director of special education share
the task of supervising the
center's program.
Alexander says that much of
her colleague's work as board
president involves things "you
don't really see because it's
behind the scenes, and Miriam's
very good at keeping
ahead of
prob
lems."
4
One of the agent's aims is to make
the center "palatable to parents
who have not used one before,"
stated the project director.
Grant County resident Jeff
Herrick, a physical therapist who
works in Hardy County, is presi
dent of the center's parents'
group. His two children previ
ously attended a day care center in
Pittsburgh. He sees his role as a
board member as a "go-between,
to serve as a parent representative
and relay their concerns." Ac
cording to Herrick,
the parents are
committed to
having a center that
is "the best it
possibly can be.
We know what the
best ones have, and
we want ours to have
the same things."
Both Alexander and
Leatherman praised
local companies for their
generous help with opening and
maintaining Beginning Steps,
including building cabinets,
setting up equipment, providing
mulch under outdoor play equip
ment, installing a fence, mowing
the grass-the list goes on. "It's
not money in hand, but it
might as well be,"
Alexander remarked.
Children's needs important
Tom Widder, vice president for
engineering at Hester Industries,
predicts that his company and
others will continue to support the
center. "The Hester family is
community-minded and commit
ted to the project and has let me
do what I need to do," he said.
As vice president of the
center's board of directors,
Widder has worked hard to see
that Beginning Steps suits the
needs of kids: "It's a
service to parents,
but the children
are what's
important."
He's
pleased with
the center's
location, which
was obtained with
the help of the RDA
and the county
commission. It's in
the "next develop
ment area for Moorefield, near the
new middle school, the industrial
park, the Moorefield bypass, and
maybe Corridor H."
Widder calls staffing "our
biggest challenge because we try
to accommodate walk-ins, which
is difficult after the weekly staff
schedule is set. Many people
Extension Vision: Fall/Winter 1997-98
Extension Agent Miriam Leatherman chats with a part-time center aHendee before she leaves for her kindergarten session at a local school.
don't realize we have to follow
rules and regulations on how
many staff we must have to care
for certain numbers of children.
"We have very good staff," he continued. "This is Becky's
[Newman] first job, and it's been
a learning experience for her and
for us, because being on the board
is not even part-time work-you
do what you have to do."
Before joining the center,
Director Becky Newman worked
as a nanny for a Morgantown
family. "I'm glad I could get a
job in my field in my hometown,"
said the 1996 WVU graduate,
who has a degree in child devel
opment.
Newman is pleased that five of
her staff -the lead teacher in each
Extension Vision: Fall/Winter 1997-98
Margaret Ann Redman (center), a local care provider for many years, loves working with children.
room-are taking a child develop
ment course that Leatherman
requested Shepherd College to
conduct in Moorefield. Their
tuition is covered by a Family
Resource Network training grant
received by the center.
Such staff training will help the
center become what organizers
envisioned from the beginning:
that Beginning Steps would be
more than a care-giving center ...
that it would be a developmental
center for children.
"We have a good staff, and
they want the center to be what
we want it to be," observed
Alexander.
Her words were echoed by
staff member Margaret Ann Redman ("Nan" to the children):
After a busy morning filled with lots of developmentally appropriate activities, the children are ready for their afternoon naps at Beginning Steps.
G'day for 1m in Australia & in West Virginia Smooth traveling requires sound
planning. Before leaving for Australia, Allison (Ali) Ebert smoothed out numerous international travel details by working with Rich Fleisher, WVU Extension's international specialist. • BY JERRY KESSEL & FLORITA MONTGOMERY
A few months ago if you had
said "good day" to Allison Ebert,
you'd probably have received the
same response.
Offer that greeting now, and
she just might answer you with a bright "g' day."
Why? Because she's just back
from Australia, Ali is. And that's
where "g' day" is the preferred
version of "good day."
Ali, as she prefers to be called,
is West Virginia's 1997 Interna
tional4-H Youth Exchangee (IFYE).
The IFYE program is an in
depth learning experience for
young adults to live and work
with host families in one of 25
countries. Programs vary from
country to country.
Some emphasize an agricul
tural work experience with
families or in a
training center. Others emphasize Soon, that belief will be con-
working with a youth development firmed for her again. In January, the
program. next leg of her journey begins-a
Although West Virginia's IFYEs journey that will draw from her
have been shipping out to foreign every day life in Australia.
countries since the 1940s, Ali was Only this time, Ali will live with
the first to be assigned to Australia. West Virginia host families. As she
The daughter of Garland and tours the state for the next six
Charnelle Ebert of Burlington, the months, she'll reverse her recent
22-year-old traveler lived with host experiences. Her slides and stories
families in Australia from mid- will be about Australia and Austra
September until late December. As lians. Her audiences again will be
a working ambassador, her main mostly young people-4-H'ers and
task was just to be Ali-a represen- their classmates in schools and
tative of West Virginia, U.S.A. community groups throughout the
Ali is a firm believer that "the
things we experience
every day help us
to prepare for
things that
happen in the
Mountain State.
She'll know what her West
Virginia audiences want to hear.
She's been a member of and
worked with many youth groups.
"Shop till you drop" takes on a new meaning in Melbourne's Victoria Market, which offers more than 1,000 stalls to shoppers. Ali discovered that Victoria Market sells everything from fresh fruits to dried skins. She also "bought" a liHie local history in this major Melbourne attraction, which
she reports has been providing trade in the middle of the city since 1859 and is the
city's only surviving market from the 19th century.
Good manners dictate a gift for each host family. Charnelle Ebert, Ali's mother, puts the finishing touches on what may become a West Virginia heirloom for an Australian family.
After a 22-hour flight to Melbourne, Australia, Ali is ready to step into her international adventure. It begins with many introductions: first, to David Dunn (right), an Australian Rural Youth coordinator; next, to other IFYEs from Japan, Switzerland, and Sweden (already in the van); and then, to the van itselfAli's first experience with a vehicle that has a right-side steering wheel. Next introduction: David driving the van on the left side of the road!
Ali (left) went down to South Australia, and guess who she met in Gawler? Angela Branson! Last year, Angela just happened to have been a youth exchangee to Sweden. And that's where Angela met Ali's friend, Mary Williams-who last year was West Virginia's exchangee to Sweden. "We laughed about how it seemed to be a small world," Ali said.
A 4-H club member in Mineral
County for 12 years, Ali first
joined the Antioch Crusaders.
That club later merged with the
Klover 4-H Club to become the
Klover Crusaders.
Ali's many 4-H activities prove
she was more than just a 4-H
member in name only. She
participated on forestry, livestock,
and poultry 4-H judging teams,
and completed projects about
rabbits, sheep, and cattle.
Growing up on the family farm
gave Ali more than an opportunity
to pursue a variety of 4-H agricul
tural projects. It also prepared her
for Australia.
Ali's host families probably
were happy to discover that their
hard-working guest was experi
enced in making hay, running
farm machinery, and doing basic
farm repairs.
The well-rounded IFYE also
brought her community and
Extension Vision: Fall/Winter 1997-98
college experiences to her cultural
exchange.
While a high school student,
she became a member of the
Burlington Volunteer Fire Depart
ment. She also belongs to the
Country Lanes Extension Home
makers Club, who helped her
prepare gifts for her host families
in Australia.
She began her college career at
Potomac State College, where she
was a guard for the women's
basketball team. "That was a
wonderful experience," she said.
"It taught me a lot about people."
She graduated from WVU in
December 1996 with a bachelor of
science degree in psychology.
Eventually, Ali intends to pursue a
career in the criminal justice
system, perhaps with the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI),
Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), or Food and Drug Admin
istration ( FDA).
But, in the meantime, Ali will
be touring her home state, sharing
a bit of her new accent and a lot of
her new understanding about the
land "down under."
Allison Ebert will speak about
her Australian experiences
somewhere near you. Check with
your county's WVU Extension
Office for details.
• The International Extension Program of the West Virginia University Extension Service conducts the I FYE program in the Mountain State. The IFYE Alumni Association and the CD International Program Services oversee the program notionally. Funding assistance for the IFYE program is provided by 4-H clubs, 4-H alumni, friends of 4-H, and the West Virginia 4-H and WVU Foundation Inc.
Lawrence S. Cote Associate Provost for Extension & Public Service; Director, Cooperative Extension Service P.O. Box 6031, Knapp Hall Morgantown, WV 26505-6031
Helping you put knowledge to work ES97-JOO
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Morgantown, WV