I am pleased to announce that Dr. Lisa Lauxman will become Acting Assistant Director of the 4-H Youth Development
program effective April 4, 2005. We appreciate the many suggestions and observations that most of you provided in the survey we
conducted on the needs of the position . Currently we are trying to get an assessment of the Federal, State, and University funding
parameters so that we can see where we stand. Then the College will develop its new hiring plan for approval by the Provost. Finally,
we will move ahead in a National Search to fill a position that will support 4HYD and the total Extension program.
I would encourage everyone to read the new ?Fleet Safety Policy? policies and procedures at:
http://fp.arizona.edu/riskmgmt/fleet_safety.htm. Of most importance is a form that everyone that uses a vehicle on university
business needs to complete (Appendix B). According to Steve Holland, there should be a document that assigns this privilege.
If you want to list everyone on one memo, and just make a copy for everyone, that's fine. The key issue with use of personal
vehicles is that we have an obligation to verify that each individual has their own insurance. He suggests getting a copy
of each driver's insurance card and keeping that on file with the letter. This would need to be kept current as their personal
insurance renews.
The Maricopa Agricultural Center just completed five days of Desert Ag-Venture programming for over 300 visitors from throughout
the United States and Canada. The program highlighted aquaculture, the desert tree project, cotton, water management, vegetable
gardening techniques, entomology, our 4-H youth education outreach program, and more . . . It was a worthwhile
experience for all. Next stop along the way is Water/Science education which will include
elementary and high school students at the farm. If you want educators and students from your area to participate in this great
MAC Farm Ag-Literacy outreach experience, contact Victor Jimenez at (520) 568-2273, or e mail: vjimenez@ag.arizona.edu.
The National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) held its First Annual Conference in Las Vegas,
Nevada on February 15-18, 2005. Over 400 community development professionals from around the country attended. The University of
Arizona Cooperative Extension was well represented. Cynthia Flynn, Juanita O'Campo Waits, Steve Husman, and Beth Tucker presented
?Building System Capacity for Community Development.? Beth Tucker and Katy Proctor, for the Innovation Center of Youth & Community
Development, presented ?Youth-Adult Partnerships--Changing the Way Community Decisions are Made.? Matt Livingston and Dr. Cornelia
Butler Flora, Director - North Central Regional Center for Rural Development-Iowa State University, participated in the poster
session with the title of Participatory Rural Assessment: The Hopi Farmer Survey. Dr. Joe Hiller held a research roundtable on
the topic of ?Is Anybody Working in American Indian Country?? Matt Livingston served on the conference planning committee and
was a co-track chair for the conference.
The EFNEP program conducted in Cochise, Maricopa, Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz Counties served a total of 4,083 low income families,
with 15,828 persons in those families, 4,693 total youth (only Pima has a youth program) and utilized 409 volunteers. Nutrition
educators worked with 31 WIC offices and referred families to 29 Food Stamp offices. Area agencies provided $16,447 in contributions
for food demonstrations and $78,680 in other in-kind donations. EFNEP provides nutrition education through the county extension
office faculty and staff to low income families and their children helping them learn to improve their nutrition, health and well
being. In addition, the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program (FSNEP) which is part of the Arizona Nutrition Network sponsored
by USDA and the Department of Economic Security conducted program in Apache, Cochise, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal and
Santa Cruz counties. This Cooperative Extension program served 13, 126 food stamp eligible persons through community events,
12,562 children in schools, and 13, 377 adults and seniors. The rest of the network served 543,543 persons. Congratulations!
Impacts of our turfgrass research, extension, and education programming are highlighted in a new limited-edition brochure.
ARIZONA'S GRASS IS GREENER can be viewed at http://cals.arizona.edu/turf/publicationsturf.htm We will appreciate comments
about it so that we will be able to continue improving our products.