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May-June, 2024
Volume 5, Issue 3
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Working to improve lives, communities, the environment, and economies throughout Pima County. | | |
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Summer Camps Help Kids Grow
& Learn
Backpacking, planting, cooking, blacksmithing, river-rafting, caving, hiking, and so much more. This summer 4-H Tucson Village Farm (TVF) is hosting 22 different summer camps for young people ages 5-18. TVF’s dedicated staff, volunteers, and AmeriCorps spend hours designing and developing engaging and effective summer programs, but why? Well, summer camps and outdoor adventures play a crucial role in the growth and development of young people by providing unique opportunities for learning, personal growth, and social interaction. These experiences go beyond the traditional classroom setting, offering hands-on experiences that foster independence, resilience, and a sense of belonging. Whether it is 4-H Adventure Camp in Prescott, Pottery Camp, or Backpacking Camp, young people have the chance to step out of their comfort zones, embrace challenges, take risks, and develop problem-solving skills. Such experiences build resilience and confidence, as individuals learn to overcome obstacles and adapt to unfamiliar situations. We find that kids naturally take to the teamwork approach and often form bonds with other youth from diverse backgrounds as they work together towards common goals. Away from the distractions of everyday life, young people have the space to reflect on their strengths, interests, and values. Opportunities for personal growth and self-discovery are ever-present and they may discover new passions, develop leadership skills, and gain a better understanding of themselves and others. These experiences can be transformative, shaping their identities and guiding their future aspirations. If you or a young person you know is interested in participating, please check out the TVF Camps Website.
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Director's Note
Pima Extension has 55,000 Engagements in 2023
I am delighted to share the Pima Extension 2023 Annual Report with all of you. Last year, we continued to grow - delivering 136,000 hours of education and outreach with 55,000 engagements across all of our programs. Our dedicated faculty, staff, and volunteers reached into the community to bring horticulture and landscaping, invasive species mitigation, 4-H, parenting, nutrition, and wellness education and activities to youth and adults throughout the county. We could not reach all these stakeholders alone. Volunteers, partners, board members, and donors multiply our impact and expand our ability to reach and serve the community. Our enthusiastic and very special volunteer crews for the Master Gardener, 4-H club, and 4-H Tucson Village Farm programs provided over 50,000 hours of volunteer service in 2023. Donors and community partners were huge contributors, for example, last year Tucson Village Farm was able to build a greenhouse, establish an orchard, and vastly improve its art room. We have more exciting improvements in the works for our unit next year. Finally, our reach deepened in the community as The Garden Kitchen, Family Engagement, and EFNEP programs worked with community and organizational partners to provide health and nutrition education and opportunities to some of the most vulnerable in our county. With our outstanding faculty and staff, I welcome you to read our 2023 Annual Report and get to know us even better. Join us at Pima Extension for enriching learning experiences, finding new communities, and fun!
Claire L. Zucker
Director, Pima County Cooperative Extension
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Pima EFNEP Introduces New Curriculum
One of the best ways to eat smart is to eat more meals at home. When you eat at home, you can control the fat, sodium, sugar, and portion sizes of your food - and eating at home is also a great way to stretch your food dollars. Pima Extension’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is implementing a new curriculum called Families Eating Smart and Moving More. This is one of the top three curricula utilized by EFNEP nationally and it is infusing our program with fresh ideas, new recipes, and fun physical activities that help participants learn simple solutions to eat smart and move more every day. EFNEP staff members across the state participated in extensive training so that educational content and methods are consistent and up to date. Pima EFNEP will use the curriculum to encourage families to build healthy habits such as increasing fruit and vegetable intake, eating together as a family, reducing screen/sedentary time, controlling portion sizes, and limiting consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. What nutritious meal will you prepare for yourself or your family today? Try out these Quick, Easy and Healthy Recipes or check out the USDA site MyPlate Kitchen for some great recipe ideas.
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Another Awesome Pima County Fair
The Pima County 4-H end-of-year competitions continued to impress in 2024. Our 11-day Pima County Fair included two days for the highly anticipated Pima County Junior Livestock Sales Inc. auction. At the auction, 4-H youth succeeded through and through. Livestock sales were outstanding, with $1,370,768 raised through large stock sales and $191,150 raised through small stock sales, totaling $1,561,918. The funds go straight back to youth to help them fund new projects next year and to help them build their college funds. We are so grateful to buyers and bidders from the community, who supported so many of the 4-H and FFA youth in Pima County at this event. Aside from the auction proceeds, youth were also recognized for their abilities in the show ring. These youth competed with their animals day in and day out, hoping their projects would win best of breed, grand champion in market, Arizona bred and fed, etc. Many youths were awarded buckles, ribbons, and plaques, most of which were generously donated by businesses or members of the Pima County Community, but youths also helped by fundraising to pay for the awards. Awards given for Grand and Reserve Champion Showmen went to youth members who were the best that day at showcasing and working their animals. Members were also awarded ribbons for their work in Old Pueblo Hall (OPH), which was thriving this year. Because every member exhibiting livestock at the fair also submitted a project to OPH, the hall was filled with educational posters, welding projects, artwork, and more! Members' projects were judged by a team and then awarded ribbons according to their placings, many of whom were awarded blue ribbons for outstanding work. Our 4-H team looks forward to another successful year in the Pima County 4-H Club Program. We can’t wait to see how the members thrive in the 2024-2025 project year.
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Smartscape Team Shares Wise-Water- Landscaping Message in Hermosillo, Mexico
The Pima Smartscape program, in collaboration with Hermosillo, Sonora’s Department of Parks & Recreation, and Fundación Ser Natura, an environmental conservation non-profit NGO, presented a two-day seminar for landscape professionals in the city of Hermosillo, Mexico. Smartscape staff was invited because of the success of their program strategies and the depth of the education that the program provides in both English and en Español. This seminar covered the Smartscape Series fundamentals and exemplified ways these practices are implemented in the Tucson Urban Landscape. The seminar received outstanding interest with 285 registrants, although only 100 of them were able to attend because of the site’s capacity limit. Participants ranged from landscape professionals and environmental engineers to conservation activists and city administrators. Interviews with partners and seminar participants helped Smartscape staff better understand community needs both in Mexico and for our public here in Tucson. In addition, the collaboration gave Smartscape new tools and improved its outreach to Tucson’s Hispanic community. We are excited that the experience gained by Smartscape staff combined with local outreach efforts has greatly increased participation in the Smartscape Professional Series en Español. Attendance has more than doubled in the past year.
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Combatting Stinknet in Pima County
Buffelgrass has been the most infamous, ecosystem-threatening invasive plant in Southern Arizona for many years now. Unfortunately, it now has some serious competition in the form of a little yellow flower called stinknet. This pungent annual is a triple threat: it outcompetes native plants, causes severe allergies, and is highly flammable. With the heavy winter rains this year, stinknet is having a big spring. At Casa Grande National Ruins National Monument, 70 miles northwest of Tucson, the stinknet infestation became so severe that the picnic area was closed to visitors for over a month, due to health and safety concerns. While Maricopa and Pinal Counties have enormous swaths of desert taken over by stinknet, so far Pima County has been able to stave off such takeovers. There are many reasons for this, one of which is the outreach work done by organizations like Tucson Audubon, Pima County, Saguaro National Park, The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, as well as the Pima Extension Invasives Program. These organizations have gone far and wide to encourage people to report stinknet sightings, and because of this, dozens of stinknet populations have been stopped before they had a chance to spread. Pima Extension’s Ben Tully was interviewed for AZPM’s “The Buzz” radio program about stinknet in April, along with Saguaro National Park’s Frankie Foley. Recognizing and reporting stinknet is a huge part of keeping our desert and our neighborhoods safe from this nasty, flammable invader. Report stinknet and help Pima County stay free of this newest invasive threat.
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Helping Early Childhood Centers Nurture Their Own Gardens
One of the goals of The Garden Kitchen's programming is to create self-sufficiency at early childhood center (ECE) gardens so that programming is maintained long after Extension’s involvement. To prepare ECE staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to start and maintain a garden, The Garden Kitchen has created a three-hour gardening workshop. Once the workshop is completed by staff, the ECE receives the tools necessary to cultivate their garden as well as continued technical assistance when needed. As a result of this long-term support, deep relationships are built between The Garden Kitchen staff and ECE educators. For example, after four years of a fruitful relationship, Ili Uusim Mahatawapo now has over 13 above-ground garden beds, many containers, and a traditional milpas garden, all cared for by students, teachers, and administrators, with little involvement from Extension. Their success has gained the attention of D.C. Head Start administrators who visited to see the garden in full bloom. The Garden Kitchen is now able to move on to organizing field trips to this site to help inspire other local Head Start staff to start or expand gardening at their sites.
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Teens and Caregivers Build Financial Expertise in "Money Talks" Class
Are you wishing that conversations about money were more productive in your home? Interested in increasing communication and planning big expenses as a family? With these ideals in mind, the Family Engagement Program at Pima Extension recently created and launched Money Talks: Family Edition for caregivers and their teens. Held in the hallowed halls of Tucson High this past spring, this all-hands-on-deck program offered parallel activities for caregivers and their teens, dinner, childcare, and raffle drawings each week. Ten families attended eight sessions filled with activities including financial gardening, validating feelings, photo voice projects, and the escape room adventure. Many thanks to the principal Elizabeth Rivera who is a strong advocate for financial literacy. After completing the series, adults said they loved learning about the role of emotions in their own spending as well as how to include teens in family money matters. Teens were impacted by the snowball effect of debt and how to invest in themselves. Funded by the Children Youth and Families at Risk Program, Money Talks was developed in collaboration with the UA Take Charge America Institute and UACE Gila. For more information and to sign up for the Fall Money Talks series.
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Congratulations to Veronique
We are excited to share that The Garden Kitchen’s Community Outreach Assistant Veronique Villalba won a “Promising Employee Award” from the UArizona LatinX Faculty & Staff Association (LFSA). In presenting the award, LFSA cited Veronique’s strong investment in community-building and her work to provide the best resources and support for her Early Childhood Education sites, co-workers, and the greater Tucson community. Veronique has been an active participant in LFSA since 2022. Her contributions to Pima Extension are many and we are so happy that she has received this well-deserved recognition. Congratulations Veronique!
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UArizona Pima County Cooperative Extension
Programs and Upcoming Events
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Agriculture and Natural Resources
Residents and growers have ready access to research-based horticultural information at PCCE. Get gardening answers from our Master Gardener experts and learn about water conservation, xeriscape, irrigation, and more through our Smartscape courses.
Master Gardener | Smartscape | Invasives Species Program
Family and Consumer Health Sciences
PCCE health education helps people improve their nutrition, family dynamics, and lives. Parents and caregivers gain tools to enrich children’s lives through the Family Engagement Program. Find nutritional and life-skills education through the SNAP-Ed/Garden Kitchen and EFNEP programs.
Family Engagement Program | SNAP-ED & The Garden Kitchen |
Expanded Food and Nutritional Education Program (EFNEP)
4-H Youth Development
Youth build lifelong skills and have great fun through Cooperative Extension 4-H. Become involved in one of our many clubs or projects, capped by participation at the County Fair. Enjoy seed-to-table programming at Tucson Village Farm, a working urban farm built by and for the youth of our community.
4-H Clubs | Tucson Village Farm | High Ropes Course |
Ranch Education | Juntos Program
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Pima County Cooperative Extension
Website | 2022 Annual Report
Main Office: 4210 N Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719-1109
Green Valley Location: 530 E Whitehouse Canyon Rd
South Tucson, The Garden Kitchen: 2205 S 4th Avenue
Email: pcce@arizona.edu
Our Main Office on Campbell is open M-F 8:30 - 4:30
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All PCCE program subscribers also receive our bi-monthly Round-Up. To be removed from the Round-Up e-list, choose the "Update Profile" link below. Do not choose the "Unsubscribe" link unless you wish to be removed from all PCCE program correspondence
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