View Static Version
Loading

We Grow Durham County N.C. Cooperative Extension, Durham County Center

Fall 2022

We Grow Empowered Citizens

Over 8000 youth showed up to voice their vote in the 2022 Kids Voting Durham Midterm Elections. Youth voted in schools, online, at Main and North Regional Durham Libraries and – for the first time since 2019 at precincts around Durham on Election Day.

Durham’s County Commissioners, Mayor & City Council, and School Board made the return to precincts a special event as “celebrity volunteers” at Kids Voting Durham’s Pearsontown Precinct, where they recognized youth voters with an I Voted sticker and talked with them about local government. County Commissioners Chair Brenda Howerton & County Commissioners Wendy Jacobs and Heidi Carter , Mayor Elaine O’Neal & City Council member Javiera Cabellero, and School Board members Natalie Beyer, Emily Chavez, and Jovonia Lewis all came out to make the voting experience special for youth and families.

Kids Voting Durham youth leaders, Durham 4-H, and our LPFAST program partnered to hold a bilingual Election Day activity center where youth and families made their own I Voted buttons, got to choose and English or Spanish Language book on community, created a Durham Wish Tree, and hammed it up in the I Voted selfie booth.

Durham wasn’t the only county to get in on the voting action for youth this year. Through our partnership with NC 4-H, over 1000 youth in 15 counties were able to cast a vote in this election, as were 2500 Orange County Schools students.

Want to know more about how the kids voted? Go to www.kidsvotingdurham.org/blog-1 to see the results and latest election reports!

We Grow Winter Warmth

The Welcome Baby Team has set a milestone goal to collect and distribute 400 children’s coats to Durham’s youngest citizens, keeping them warm and cozy this winter! We are calling on support from our community to help us reach our goal by donating new or gently used clean children’s coats sizes NB-8 years.

Drive Dates: November 1st , 2022 – January 6th , 2023

Current drop-off locations:

Durham Cooperative Extension (Welcome Baby) 8:30am-5:00pm (721 Foster St.)

Durham County Library Locations. Hours: M-W 9:30am-8:00pm and Th-SU 9:30am-6:00pm

  • Southwest Regional-3605 Shannon Rd
  • South Regional- 4505 S. Alston Ave
  • North Regional- 221 Milton Rd
  • Main Library- 300 N. Roxboro St
  • East Regional- 211 Lick Creek Lane
  • Bragtown Branch- 3200 Dearborn Dr

A special thanks to our long-standing partnership with Durham County libraries as collection sites.

For coat distribution days and program information please follow Welcome Baby on Facebook and or Instagram.

To partner with Welcome Baby and host a mini drive or establish a drop off location, please contact Cindy Riley by phone 919-560-7319 or email ckriley@dconc.gov

We Grow Youth Leaders

Durham 4-H is growing! In November, 25 youth joined the newly chartered Pura Vida Horse Club and began meeting weekly to learn different horsemanship skills. Throughout the winter they will learn the basics of how to groom, train, and care for many different types of mature horses. In the spring, each horse club member will be paired with a young foal to train and grow with throughout the year. Club members are excited to develop different leadership skills as they work with their young horses and many students hope to compete in 2023 state and district horse competitions.

The Pura Vida Horse Farm, located in northern Durham, is home to over 70 horses and two life-long veterinarians, Ellen Ziemer and Jerry Waddle. Ellen and Jerry are generously leading up the horse club with the facilitation and instructional support of Jim Thomas, a renowned and experienced horse trainer. While the farm primarily breeds and trains horses to excel at the highest level of competition, the owners are also parents of former Durham 4-H’ers and have experienced the life long benefits and opportunities it provides for youth.

If you’re an adult with a special interest or talent to share, consider starting a club with 4-H, the nation’s oldest youth development organization. Contact Durham’s 4-H agent at amauney@ncsu.edu to get started.

We Grow Tree Keepers

Durham County is proud to welcome our newest class of 24 Durham Tree Keepers! Tree Keepers are essential volunteers who have accumulated the knowledge and skills to assist and serve a leadership role in volunteer tree planting and tree care activities. Tree Keepers lead small groups of volunteers, provide quality control, and teach others how to plant and care for trees. This year's class went through a three session training, focusing on general tree biology, planting, pruning, and volunteer leadership. This year's program was spearheaded by the Durham County Horticulture Program and Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Durham County.

Even though they've just graduated, this year's new leaders have already joined the ranks of the larger Tree Keeper program. Most recently, they helped at a recent tree planting on Chapel Hill Road. While Tree Keepers worked with Keep Durham Beautiful this time, they also serve the city of Durham and Trees Durham to coordinate and help lead plantings. Having trained lead volunteer makes all the difference in getting hundreds (and sometimes thousands!) of trees each year planted correctly so that they can shade our city for years to come.

To learn more about the Tree Keeper program, and other ways to get involved, contact Ashley Troth at ashley_troth@ncsu.edu.

Volunteer Spotlight

Alex Gooding

Briggs Ave Community Garden Volunteer

Briggs Ave Community Garden is run by our amazing volunteer force. One of our volunteers is Alex Gooding who is the Coordinator of the Campus Harvest Food Pantry at Durham Tech and helps bring in and lead student volunteers from the college. She is a graduate of Campbell University with a Master of Science in Public Health.

Every week she and the student volunteers from the college come to the garden to harvest produce for the food pantry. She explains “The produce given allows our shoppers to have fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables every week.” On average she oversees 20 Durham Tech volunteers. When asked what her favorite part of working at the garden is, she responds “My favorite part about volunteering at Briggs is getting to work alongside students and community members, hand in soiled hand, learning how to grow fresh food for myself and others.”

Her job duties entail leading pantry programming, education, and management. She also supports student advocacy and basic needs resource connections.

In her free time, she enjoys hiking with her dog and baking delicious treats for friends and family.

If you would like to share some of your time with Durham County Cooperative Extension and give back to our community, please reach out to Erin at ematoko@dconc.gov

Employee Spotlight

Kokou Nayo

City-County Immigrant & Refugee Affairs Coordinator

Durham County Cooperative Extension is proud to highlight our newest employee, Kokou Nayo, who is the first City-County Immigrant & Refugee Affairs Coordinator. Nayo comes to us from Church World Service’s office in Durham where he was previously the Refugee Community Organizer.

Nayo was born in Togo in West Africa and grew up surrounded by a community of people from many different countries. “This really opened my mind on how to work with people from different cultures.” He speaks Ifè, Ewe, French, English, Hausa, German, and several other African dialects.

He initially went to school in Togo, but since immigrating to the United States he attended UNC Greensboro to finish his undergraduate degree in social work. After finishing there, Nayo moved to UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work for his Masters with a concentration in community management and policy practice.

His main objective over the next few years is to see programs offered from the county and city that are inclusive to the immigrant and refugee community. “The purpose of my position is to facilitate refugee and immigrant integration in Durham’s civic, economic and cultural life. I help bridge Durham resources in the immigrant and refugee communities in Durham.”

Nayo has 4 children and a wife who is a physician with the State. Nayo told us that he grew up playing soccer and continues playing to this day. He says “If I am not playing soccer it feels like something is missing.” He also enjoys running, biking and exploring the Tobacco Trails around Durham. One of his favorite parts of being in Durham is when on the trails he encounters members of city council and other elected officials, making him feel that the people who serve Durham are truly a part of the community as well.

If you would like to share some of your time with Durham County Cooperative Extension and give back to our community, please reach out to Erin at ematoko@dconc.gov

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity and prohibit discrimination and harassment regardless of age, color, disability, family and marital status, genetic information, national origin, political beliefs, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity, sexual orientation and veteran status. NC State, N.C. A&T, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.

North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Durham County Center 721 Foster Street, Durham, NC 27701* (919) 560-0525

Credits:

Created with images by sonyakamoz - "Family praying holding hands at Thanksgiving table. Flat-lay of feasting peoples hands over Friendsgiving table with Autumn food, candles, roasted turkey and pumpkin pie over wooden table, top view" • Sergey Ryzhov - "Winter children sports jacket on hanger in store"

NextPrevious