New Study Shows 4-H 'Carteens' Cuts Risky Teen Driving By a Third

Traffic crashes are the leading cause of teen deaths in America. This Ohio State program helps reduce them.

Can teens be safer drivers? OSU Extension's Jim Jordan thinks they can, knows how, and now has the numbers to prove it.

Jordan, a Butler County 4-H educator, works with 4-H's CarTeens program and studied it for his nearly finished Ohio State doctoral dissertation. CarTeens is an intervention program for first-time juvenile traffic offenders. Teens who complete it, Jordan's research shows, make a significant improvement in their driving. Their risky driving behaviors, such as speeding, decline by more than a third.

Jordan has seen the benefits firsthand.

About 10 percent of Butler County's traffic fatalities each year used to be teens. One year, a third of them were. The figures, Jordan said, "were alarming."

But since the county started a zero-tolerance policy for teen driving violations--an automatic citation and, for first-timers, a court mandate to attend 4-H CarTeens--"we've reduced that in some years to none."

OSU Extension developed CarTeens with the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Ohio's juvenile justice system and delivers it through 4-H.

CarTeens teachers are teens--4-H volunteers who usually have gone through CarTeens themselves. Juvenile-court judges, law-enforcement officials, and 4-H educators guide them.

Magistrate Steven Buck works with CarTeens through the Muskingum County Juvenile Court. "By any measure," Buck said, "CarTeens has been an effective program in Muskingum County: reducing the number of repeat juvenile traffic offenders, helping make parents and guardians aware of their responsibilities for their teen's driving, and increasing teens' awareness of responsible driving decisions and the impact those decisions have on others."

More than 8,400 Ohio teens participated in 4-H CarTeens in 2009.

"For a minimal tax dollar expense in facilitating CarTeens through OSU Extension, we all benefit immeasurably from reduced juvenile traffic accidents, injuries, and deaths," Buck said. "It's hard to imagine a better use of our tax dollars."

-- Kurt Knebusch

The Best Annuals Coming to a Garden Near You, Thanks to Ohio State

Between May and the first frost every year, visitors to Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences campus are welcomed to the colorful sight of hundreds of annuals flourishing on the corner of Woody Hayes Drive and Fyffe Court.

From geraniums to petunias to pansies, the plants are part of a floriculture program that evaluates the performance of the cultivars under Ohio's growing conditions. The ones that get good marks may eventually be marketed for someone's garden or flowerbed.

"The annuals trials benefit the companies who provide us with the plant material, the growers who need to determine the best cultivars to grow in their nurseries or greenhouses, and the public so folks can purchase the plants that best fit their gardens or landscapes," said Claudio Pasian, an Ohio State University Extension floriculture specialist.

The annuals trials, which started in 2000, have come a long way. Pasian and his colleagues started out evaluating about 100 cultivars. This year, they are looking at more than 700 cultivars. The material was provided for evaluation by the top floriculture breeding companies around the world.

"We are testing the cultivars for stresses typically experienced in the garden: heat, cold, too much rain, too little rain, pests, diseases, and lack of fertility," said Pasian. "We get plants that perform really well to those that don't perform at all to everything in between."

In 2009, 716 cultivars were evaluated and 31 of the top-performing plants were chosen for ground beds and containers. The list can be found at http://ohiofloriculture.osu.edu/archive/Dec09/Trials_09_Petunias.html.

-- Candace Pollock

A Day for Trees, A Link for Life

A program called 'Tree-mendous Day' showed kids why trees--and learning--are good.

Harold Schnell Elementary School's Denise Moore called it a "tree-mendous success."

Ohio State University Extension's Jim Chatfield described it both as a great partnership and permanent connection.

A young student named Aurora simply drew a picture of a tree, the sun, and flowers in crayon and captioned it, "My tree haz rain drop leevs."

All three were among the 550 people, including 450 first- through fifth-graders, who came together Aug. 18 for Harold Schnell Elementary's first-ever Tree-mendous Day in Dayton's Cox Arboretum MetroPark. The program celebrated trees and the good they do. Art, math, science, language, and history were part of the curriculum.

Teachers and parents from the school in West Carrollton, educators from the arboretum next door, Master Gardeners, Certified Volunteer Naturalists, and OSU Extension specialists teamed up to present it. An OSU Extension Innovative Grant to Extension's Sustainable Development Initiative was a catalyst. Aim: to develop a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) science curriculum on trees.

"We wanted to show that while, yes, trees are pretty, they're also an integral part of environmental health and more than pay for what they cost in terms of what they do environmentally," said Chatfield, a horticulture specialist and member of Extension's Why Trees Matter Signature Program team.

Each of the school's 40 "Bravo groups," groups with students from all five grades, adopted an arboretum tree as their own. They identified, measured, photographed, and wrote about it. Then they calculated the value of its environmental services, such as cleaning the air and reducing home energy use, with a computer program called i-Tree. They'll follow their tree through the year and beyond.

"The activities engaged our students' minds, muscles, and imaginations," said Moore, the school's computer lab coordinator. "One teacher told me every student in her first-grade class remembered what type of tree their adopted tree is."

"Seeing the students make that connection, seeing their excitement, seeing them involved in so many ways was very gratifying," said Chatfield, who added that the plan is to develop the program as a model for other schools.

-- Kurt Knebusch

Ohio 4-H Taking Lead in Developing Global 4-H Knowledge Center

When Bob Horton visited Tanzania, Zambia, and Kenya in January, he was struck by the number of children he saw--at least, compared to the relatively fewer number of adults.

"The AIDS epidemic has really taken a toll in sub-Saharan Africa," Horton said. "There are lots of children, but far fewer adults than one would expect to see."

Horton realized that in just a few years, many of those children will become Africa's farmers. But because their parents' generation has been ravaged by death and illness, those children need help in developing the skills that will empower them to become the farmers, agri-business people, and community leaders of 2025.

That's why Horton, an associate professor with Ohio State University Extension's 4-H Youth Development program, is working with colleagues at Ohio State and across the nation in a Global 4-H Network project that will establish a clearinghouse of land-grant university information and technical assistance for 4-H club leaders throughout Africa and provide them with timely, open access to that knowledge. The project is being supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Nike Foundation.

It is estimated that 200,000 young Africans participate in 4-H programs, but Horton said 75 percent of African 4-H leaders reported in 2009 that access to quality educational materials and technical support for staff is a challenge. The leaders asked for curriculum that was customized to African needs on topics such as entrepreneurship, income generation, vegetable gardening, sustainable agriculture, poultry science, and environmental sciences, and identified the need for technical assistance and capacity-building support in staff and volunteer development, financial management, and infrastructure.

Others at Ohio State who are involved in the project are Robert Agunga, associate professor of human and community resource development, and Mark Erbaugh, director of International Programs in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

-- Martha Filipic

Largest Ohio Solar Farm Dedicated in Upper Sandusky

OSU Extension "filling a need" to help communities take advantage of renewable energy opportunities

The dedication of Ohio's largest solar energy farm in Upper Sandusky demonstrates how Ohio State University Extension can play an invaluable role in the development of renewable energy projects, economic activity, and jobs throughout the state.

The Wyandot Solar facility was unveiled on Aug. 19 at a ceremony attended by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Ohio State President Gordon Gee, and representatives from New Jersey-based PSEG Solar Source, which owns the project.

At 12 megawatts of electricity generation capacity, the farm is one of the largest of its kind east of the Mississippi. Its more than 159,000 solar panels, ground-mounted on 80 acres of former farmland, can yield enough clean energy to keep the lights on and air conditioners humming at more than 9,000 homes when the sun is shining. Additionally, the project will help eliminate 14,030 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year.

"OSU Extension has played a very vital role in this project," Wyandot County Commissioner Mike Wheeler said. "We are in an agricultural- based area that had a definite need and all the items essential for a renewable energy project of this kind. What we lacked in the Commissioners' office was the expertise to convey that message properly. Extension's expertise and wealth of knowledge is unbelievable and helped us do that."

Eric Romich, who doubles as OSU Extension economic development and regional planning educator and director of the Wyandot County Office of Economic Development, said the lessons learned from working on this project make OSU Extension an invaluable resource for communities across Ohio looking to take advantage of renewable energy development opportunities.

"The demand for renewable energy projects will continue to grow in Ohio because the demand for energy is increasing and there are policies in place facilitating these kinds of projects," Romich explained. "OSU Extension is filling a need that exists in the state to help address these new opportunities."

A video of the dedication is available at http://go.osu.edu/9g.

-- Mauricio Espinoza

End Goal: Reducing Foreclosures

OSU Extension gains HUD approval for housing counseling

Ohio State University Extension has received approval to act as a housing counseling service agency by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Ten Extension educators and two program assistants are approved to offer three types of housing counseling: pre-purchase/homebuying education; resolving or preventing mortgage delinquency or default; and non-delinquency post-purchase financial education.

Many of Ohio's Extension educators have offered such programs in the past, but in recent years, partners have increasingly asked if the educators are HUD-approved, said Nancy Stehulak, a family and consumer sciences educator based in Henry County. Stehulak worked with Cäzilia Loibl, OSU Extension specialist and assistant professor in the Department of Consumer Sciences in the College of Education and Human Ecology, to gain the HUD approval.

"Our goal is to target rural areas, which are quite underserved with regard to housing counseling services and which have some of the highest foreclosure rates in the state," said Loibl, who is also a researcher with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

HUD requires counselors have at least one year's experience in conducting such sessions; the educators and program assistants provided workshops or individual counseling to several hundred clients between January and December 2009.

"Now with HUD approval, we hope to increase the number of staff devoted to this effort and the number of families served in Ohio," Loibl said.

Those offering HUD-approved sessions are listed on the OSU Extension Housing Counseling Services website: http://fcs.osu.edu/cs/house-counseling.php.

"Our workshops are open to everyone who wants a better understanding of mortgages and finances, but normally we partner with a local housing authority, Habitat for Humanity, or another organization that works directly with people who may be first-time homebuyers or just need some background on their rights and responsibilities before talking to a banker," Stehulak said. "We know that if people participate in a homebuyer education course, they are less likely to go into foreclosure."

-- Martha Filipic