What happens when young people ask to play a role in serving their community? Many times adults get discouraged because either young people show up late or cancel out at the last minute. For the last seven months, however, young people have surprised and made a believer of me again. Our hip-hop generation is not all lost; they are survivors and busy working to prepare for their futures.
It all started when my son asked if I would be on a business advisory board for a student organization on his junior college campus. I attended the first meeting and was surprised that their goals were similar to my work at Extension. A light came on in my head and I saw the potential for a great partnership that was just written for the Extension team project, Tapping at Post-Secondary schools.
The Sam Walton Foundation and several other corporations sponsor the SIFE organization. SIFE stands for Students in Free Enterprise. The goal of the organization is to get students involved in free enterprise and to empower their community with the knowledge they learn from attending workshops and seminars on business practices.
The students set up schedules and began tutoring and mentoring students at community centers and Boys and Girls Clubs. I was asked if Extension had any projects or programs that the team could include in their community service projects. Well, you know what the answer was... after all we are in the business of providing educational research-based information to the community.
After several training sessions on Unlocking your Leadership Potential, BIZ World and Welcome to The Real World, which are just some of the Extension programs we offer, I had a team of volunteers that were second to none. They have been working in the community with skills and the type of professionalism that would make any community proud. The SIFE team went to Birmingham in April and competed in the regional conference for two- and four-year colleges in the Southern Region. The team from Mobile that had been working with children and youth in areas that many agencies will not go in, won first place for their presentation on the innovative uses of Extension programs.
Through our work in Extension, we have the potential to empower a generation of young people to give back to their community because we have the resources that help them accomplish their goals and our goals at the same time. When young people ask "what 's in it for me" tell them to just ask the SIFE team from Mobile-- now a regional champion with an opportunity to attend the national competition in Kansas City.