Health Rocks Georgia 4-H

Summary

A tremendous number of Georgia teens engage in the high risk behaviors of smoking tobacco, underage drinking and abusing drugs. Georgia 4-H needed a positive youth development program to address these behaviors and impress upon the youth of Georgia the importance of healthy living and making good decisions. The Health Rocks! grant program provided funds and curriculum to address these needs

Situation

Approximately 23,000 (6%) Middle school student and 81,000 (19%) high school students in Georgia smoke cigarettes. In fact, over 11,000 adult Georgians die every year from tobacco-related illnesses – that is one out of every six deaths in adult Georgians. According to the Centers for Disease Control, tobacco kills more Georgians than alcohol, AIDS, drug overdoses, auto accidents, suicides, handgun murders, and fires combined. In addition, over $1.8 billion in healthcare costs is spent annually for adults ages 18 and older related to tobacco in our state. An additional $3.4 billion in lost productivity costs in adults aged 35 years and older is contributed to tobacco use. In addition, the state of Georgia ranks 39th highest among the 50 states for the cost per youth for underage drinking at a cost of $1,832 per year for each youth in the state, translating to $1.5 billion. Young people who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence. A shocking 32% of Georgia youth admit that they had their first drink before the age of 13. The number of American youths who used illicit drugs within the last year continues to inch downward, but stubbornly high levels of prescription-drug abuse persist.

Response

Georgia 4-H applied for and received a three year Health Rocks grant which awarded $90,000 for utilization of the Health Rocks! Program to address these risk behaviors in Georgia youth during the 2011 year. Health Rocks! is a wellness and life skills curriculum developed by National 4-H Council to reduce youth risk factors. The program focuses on positive youth development and life skills development as an approach to preparing young people to make healthy lifestyle choices. Health Rocks includes life skills such as decision making, critical thinking, and stress management is taught in a youth-adult partnership. The program promotes healthy lifestyle choices, targeting youth ages 8 to 16.

Impact

To receive these grants, Georgia 4-H agreed to reach 9,000 youth. Although the grant is currently still ongoing, Georgia 4-H has already reached over 9,000 youth includling both full and part time hours. Numbers will climb even higher as more reports come in from October - December 4-H club meetings. In addition, ninety-three youth and adults were trained as ambassadors to teach the curriculum in their counties and communities. Additionally, a statewide team of four youth, two County Extension Agents, one fund developer, one evaluator, and one Extension specialist were trained as National Health Rocks trainers at the national training held in Washington D.C. They also serve as the statewide training team. Trainings were also conducted in each of the four state Extension districts reaching 40 additional people with the Health Rocks curriculum. These counties will be encouraged to participate in the program in 2012. Currently, we are working on preparing for year three of this Health Rocks grant. Every county has reported great success with the curriculum. The following success story came from one of our Health Rocks counties: “I have been a 4-H agent for three years and this one particular day I was in a fifth grade classroom during the school day and was in the middle of my third club meeting that day. I was teaching from the Health Rocks curriculum and was going over the lesson “It's Risky Business”. I had just finished demonstrating an activity using a clear two liter coke bottle and a cigarette which basically demonstrates what happens to your lungs when you inhale cigarette smoke. I then proceeded to talk about what happens when you take risks such as smoking or even taking illegal drugs. This really generated a lot of discussion among the children. As the discussion continued several had comments to make but there was this one little girl who told me she had something to say but she didn't want to say it in front of everyone. I told her it was quite alright if she didn't want to say something in front of the whole class. We moved on to healthy decisions and good choices and what to do if you knew of someone involved in illegal activity of any kind. I told them they should tell an adult whether it be a neighbor, teacher, relative, preacher or friend of the family. After class this same little girl came to me and told me her mother “smoked weed all the time and made her smoke a blunt for punishment” I thanked her for telling me and told her she did the right thing. After class was over, I went and reported the whole incident to the school counselor and he contacted the Department of Family and Child Services. If I had not been teaching the Health Rocks curriculum in that classroom, I don't think the opportunity would have ever presented itself for me to find out this kind of disturbing information and pass it on to the proper authorities.” Health continues to Rock Georgia 4-H! We will continue this highly successful grant program as we move to year three of the three year Health Rocks grant.

State Issue

Healthy Lifestyle Choices for Youth

Details

• Year: 2011
• Geographic Scope: State
• County: Clarke
• Program Areas:
  • 4-H Youth