State-wide capacity:   The building blocks for state-wide capacity to support programming for at-risk children, youth, and families, and to integrate them into Extension base programs statewide, reside primarily with the previous five years of the CYFAR State Strengthening Initiative.

The purpose of the West Virginia CYFAR State Strengthening Initiative was to develop and support community-based programs and to meet the needs of at-risk children, youth, and families in the state. The project achieved great progress in reaching these objectives by:

• Increasing West Virginia University Extension Service's capacity to understand and address the needs of low-income families in West Virginia . A critical achievement that strengthened state capacity and integrated programming with at-risk audiences into Extension base programs statewide was the development and institutionalization of an Extension-wide Social Justice/Reaching Underserved Team.

• A survey of WVU Extension faculty, both state-based and county-based, was conducted last year to determine the scope of our efforts in reaching underserved populations, particularly children and families at risk. About 60 percent or 89 faculty members returned the surveys. Nearly all, 95 percent, said that they worked with people living in poverty, and four-fifths or 81 percent said that they worked with people of diverse racial backgrounds. The latter statistic is particularly noteworthy since West Virginia has a very low minority rate, approximately 5%. A large majority, 83.9 percent of the respondents, said that they planned programs to address the needs of diverse audiences and 74.7 percent of respondents said that they recruited volunteers from groups not historically a part of Extension. With regard to a common vision for working with children and families at risk, 62 percent of the respondents agreed that WVU Extension has articulated a clear vision for working with underserved children, youths, and families and 72.4 percent agreed that WVU Extension has a clear, long-term commitment to work with this group of citizens.
  
• Extension is continuing an ongoing, sustainable process that accomplishes the CYFAR mission. Team activities are numerous and include:

• workshop sessions that help Extension faculty and others understand the dimensions of poverty;
• in-service training sessions and simulation exercises that are conducted as part of continuing education programs for social workers, community-organization managers, welfare-rights advocates, public administrators, and others;
• provision of reference materials, such as fact sheets, relating to issues relevant to at-risk and low income population;
• maintaining a web site dedicated to program resources and issues;
• internship and service learning opportunities for WVU graduate students who develop an understanding of, and interest in, serving those in need;
• presentations and participation in CYFAR national conferences.
  
• The CYFAR program has provided a foundation for specialized training and professional development within Extension state-wide. The Reaching the Underserved survey indicated that 62.9 percent of Extension faculty members say that their own work includes a plan that addresses issues related to underserved children, youth, and families. Even more, 70.6 percent of faculty members, agree that their supervisors support them in allocating their time to work with underserved groups. More than three-fourths of the faculty respondents (77.0 percent) agreed that that they were skilled in working with diverse populations, and a similar number (77.3 percent) agreed that they were comfortable working with diverse audiences.
  
• Our New Communities focus on afterschool programming for at-risk youth and families is a logical progression, building on our state-wide capacity and expanded and strengthened Extension base program.
  

Outcomes for Children, Youth, Parent/Families, and Communities:   A plan has been developed and methodology is being put in place to achieve and document impacts in our Primary Outcome: School age youth will demonstrate knowledge, skills, attitudes and behavior necessary for fulfilling contributing lives.

Community coordinators and program assistants have established relationships and credibility with their sites. Site staffs are receptive to receiving training and to an infusion of new projects and activities for the youth. A priority focus is linking academically sound, fun activities into each program. New and supplemental curriculum will be aimed at improving reading comprehension and math.

A needs assessment is determining the type of after-school activities to be offered. Curricula will be identified and developed based on this and student records. The site coordinator will collect data on the type and frequency of educational enrichment activities at their sites. Stakeholders, including Extension professionals, will be trained in the skills needed to offer afterschool programs. Their skills will be assessed using pre- and post-measures. General student academic information at each site will be examined to determine academic need and progress. Student attendance at school and at the afterschool program will also be analyzed. Students will also be asked to rate their satisfaction with the program.

Ultimately, we hope to begin demonstrating the improvement of educational enrichment activities available in each site, improvement in youth academic achievement, decrease in youth absenteeism at school, increased skills by afterschool program staff, and increased understanding of afterschool needs by Extension personnel.