| NMOST attended the National Service-Learning Conference in March |
| In March, NMOST brought a delegation of 7 attendees to the National Service-Learning Conference in St Paul, Minnesota. This included 3 youth leaders and 2 program leaders from the Youth Agricultural Cooperative in Albuquerque, the Director of the Lovington Youth Center, and a member of NMOST’s staff. At the conference, they attended workshops and deep dive sessions, presented to youth and program leaders from around the country, and made connections that will help NMOST and local programs expand service-learning and improve program quality in New Mexico. The Youth Agricultural Cooperative’s Lightning Talk Youth leaders from the Albuquerque-based Youth Agricultural Cooperative (YoAgCo) highlighted their program’s shared decision-making model during a Lightning Talk session. They explained that youth members vote on all programming decisions, from the size of the cohort to which garden to visit the next day. Youth members even designed the cooperative’s logo, which was displayed on the iPad in the middle of the table. This shared decision-making model helped youth participants gain confidence in themselves, get more comfortable with public speaking, and start to view themselves as leaders. Youth leaders also discussed the cooperative’s impact in the community; they’ve built benches for a local elementary school and helped out at a local farmers’ market. NMOST’s Workshop on Partnerships in Afterschool Ian Gates, Special Projects Coordinator at the New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network, co-facilitated a workshop focused on “Community Partners Can Be Your Afterschool Program’s Superpower.” In the 75-minute session, Ian and Pam Siebert from the National Youth Leadership Council talked about how OST leaders can bring their service-learning projects to the next level through strong, reciprocal community partnerships. They tasked attendees with examining their role in the community, identifying new partners, and having discussions about the depth and breadth of partnerships in out-of-school time. At the end, participants developed elevator pitches for new community partners. |