Penn State Extension Program Wins 2007 Family Strengthening Award
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Pennsylvania's PROSPER (PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) program has been recognized as a Program of Distinction by the National 4-H Council and will receive a 4-H Families Count: Family Strengthening Award from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. A Penn State team led by Mark Greenberg, Bennett Chair of Prevention Research and director of Penn State's Prevention Research Center, administers the project in collaboration with faculty at Iowa State University.
PROSPER establishes teams of Penn State prevention scientists, Penn State Cooperative Extension educators, local school administrators, students, health and social service providers, and community leaders to develop community partnerships that strengthen families and help middle- and high-school students avoid substance abuse and behavioral problems. In its first five years, the project reached more than 10,000 youth in 28 communities throughout Pennsylvania and Iowa.
Families Count awards are given to programs that are recognized by the National 4-H Council's Programs of Distinction program as promoting family strengths by connecting families to social networks, economic opportunities and/or services and support. The programs must target disadvantaged families and must take place in a rural areas with populations no greater than 50,000. They must include a connection with a land-grant university and a youth/adult partnership, and must show a strong possibility of sustainability.
This year's awardees will be presented with a $10,000 stipend during the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents conference to be held in Atlanta in October 2007. A subsequent $5,000 award is given to recipients upon completion of a replication plan. The Families Count: Family Strengthening Awards are funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and have been offered through the National 4-H Council for three years.
"We look forward to the impact these programs will continue to have upon young people and their families," says Donald Floyd Jr., president and CEO of the National 4-H Council. "We offer congratulations and best wishes for success."
Pennsylvania 4-H is a nonformal development education program of Penn State Cooperative Extension (http://www.extension.psu.edu/) for youth between the ages of 8 and 19, and is part of a community of young people across America learning leadership, citizenship and life skills.
This press release courtesy of Penn State's Department of Public Information
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