Childhood Health

Voz De La Familia Program Reaches Latinos

Colquitt County is home to 15,000 Latinos. These farm workers and their families need basic life skills to help them improve their quality of life. Since 2003, the Colquitt County Extension's Voz de la Familia (the Voice of the Family) program has been funded through USDA's Children Youth and Families at Risk New Communities Project Grant. The five-year, $250,000 project grant is a comprehensive family-centered community outreach program.

The Colquitt County Extension CYFAR program has conducted 4-H and after-school programming for community and farm worker children as well as educational programs for Latino children, parents, and farm workers. Through combined funding from the USDA CYFAR project and the University of Georgia Extension's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, Colquitt County Extension hired and trained two individuals from the original CYFAR program families as Extension program assistants to conduct educational programming for Latino farm worker families.

The Voz de la Familia program has provided education for families in nutrition, food safety, child development and parenting skills, home maintenance, consumer financial literacy, and personal and family safety. Education taught by Extension program assistants has been provided through extensive home-based classes for 54 families, and 15 lunch and learn sessions and family programs for migrant Head Start, reaching families with 590 educational contact hours.

Educational farm worker camp programs were conducted in collaboration with Ellenton Health Clinic for 275 farm workers providing 275 educational contact hours. Extension provided nutrition and health education and the clinic performed blood glucose testing and blood pressure screenings. Extension program assistants continue to provide support and education for both children and their parents enrolled in Colquitt County's Communities in Schools 21st Century Learning Center after-school program at the Ellenton Clinic site. Forty-eight 21st Century youth participated in the 4-H after-school and summer programs. In addition, 25 children attended summer camp at Rock Eagle 4-H Center. Children in the program significantly increased their performance on Georgia's Criterion Referenced Curriculum Test. (2006)

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