WSU Sociology Students at Work for You!

Sociology 433, an undergraduate class at Washington State University, has been researching options and resources for topics that are important to your rural communities as you work to reduce poverty. Topics include: affordable housing, neighborhood safety, youth activities and much, much more.

Your community may be in contact with one of these teams, but all of their research may be relevant to the issues you are addressing. Click to the Horizons website http://www.horizons.wsu.edu/project/horizons3/community.html to read about their work.

Good by Mr Martinez

One of our best has left us for a new place and a new position. Mr Martinez has gone to Pasco HS. He will now teach and inspire a new group of students in a new location, but he will always be remember here, with us, in our hearts.

He was our teacher, our mentor, our counselor. He believed in us and was there for us when others wouldn't stand by us. When we needed him he became our shoulder to cry on, our chauffer, our chaperone, but mostly our friend. He will be missed, and we await the day when he returns to teach us once more.

4-H Teen Conferance

Fourteen students participated in the Washington State 4-H Teen Conferance, from June 28 to June 30. Classes included subject matters varing from wind, solar and hydropower to teen entrepenership. Local Horizons Coach Tony Garcia was on hand to give a presentation on Alternative Financing to Your Education.

Community Survey

Students assisted the North Columbia Community Action Council in distributing and acquiring the 2009 Community Survey. The survey a pamphlet 15 pages long consisting of 45 quetions gathering knowledge of community members experience, participation, invovlement of thier community and people's ideas of how to improve poverty in their region. Students acted as interpretors for those who spoke and/or read only in Spanish. The students handed out 250 surveys in the first round. In return North Columbia Community Action Council sponsored 14 studetns to attend the 4-H Summer teen Connference, held in Pullman.

Student Cultural Exchange

La Voz de Los Jovenes was invited to attend a 2-day student culutrual exchange with some youth from Eqaudor at Washington State University in Pullman. Six students from the program were selected to represent Wahluke High School and meet with the equador students to discuss poverty and what it looks like, what can be done and how to find some common ground to dealing with poverty issues even from across the world.

During the workshop students were given the chance to particiapte in a wall climbing exercise, some were more than happy to particpate, some were happy to provide the much needed encouragment and moral support.

Part of the workshops was to teach students abouts creating documentaries.

Community Gang Awerness Seminar

The Horizons Program, Voz de Los Jovenes and the Wahluke School District sponosred an evening workshop to inform the community on the growing gang problems and what parents and other community members should look for and whay they can do to help in the preventiatve efforts to stem the growing problem.

Nearly 200 community members were in attendance.

Leadership Plenty Facilitator Training

Cesar Martinez (Staff Advisor) and a group of 5 students particiapted in the Leadership Plenty Facilitor Training;

Pictured (Left to Right):

Club Recognition

La Voz De Los Jovenes has been recognized as an official (and sanctioned) high school club by the Principal and Superintendent of the Wahluke School Distrcit.

Study Circles

After completion of the facilitator training and the several community meeting the following action items were identified:

• Establishment of a Horizons Club at the Wahluke High School
• Improve and/or increase local Public Transportation
• Increase the understanding that higher education plays in reducing poverty, and how it can be accessed
• Increase participation in local governmental agencies by youth.
• Increase knowledge of the gang presence (and preventative measures) to the community
• Increase knowledge of how parent can access local educational establishment.
• Increase community knowledge of existing social service programs and how to better access their services
• Increase the communities knowledge and prevention efforts in teen pregnancy, domestic violence and other factors that contribute to generational poverty.
• Increase the knowledge and provide the skills that help in the communities grant writing and fundraising efforts to increase community sustainability.

Message to the Community

Why a Youth Project?

True poverty reduction must start in the hearts and minds of the people who live it day-to-day. But to truly maintain long term poverty reduction we must reach youth. It is there that we will end the cycle of generational poverty, it is there that we must plant the idea that a life without poverty is truly achievable. We always tell youth that the future is theirs - what we are doing with a youth project is exactly that - we are giving them the training, the skills and the desire to change their future and that of their community.

- Tony Garcia
- Horizons Community Coach