On June 5 and 6, Jill Sump, project manager, and Katheryn Ernst, intern, attended the Colorado State FFA Convention in Pueblo. The FFA members had the opportunity to interact with the staff by playing a hearing loss game based off of the Arkansas AgrAbility team's hearing loss informational bookmark. This kept the attention and excitement about AgrAbility high throughout the convention. Jill and Katheryn were able to make new connections with FFA advisors and various community workers from across the state to help spread the word about AgrAbility services.
The AgrAbility team remained busy by making presentations to Goodwill branches across the state to help remind employees about the Goodwill mission and how their work supports these programs. The AgrAbility team was able to participate in an employee meeting where they presented information about AgrAbility and answered a number of great questions.
The AgrAbility team hosted its annual Professionals' Workshop on June 22 at the Agricultural Research, Development, and Education Center, an extension of Colorado State University. The workshop was extremely successful. Most of the participants were counselors with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) offices. Colorado AgrAbility works closely with DVR to help Colorado farmers and ranchers continue in production agriculture. The workshop included reviews of a livestock handling facility, farm equipment, and three types of irrigation systems. The participants unanimously agreed that the tour, enabling them to physically see the tasks and equipment, was the most beneficial and educational piece to the workshop.
CAP is in the process of trying new ways to reach rural communities. The program has worked with county extension agents as well as with 4-H and FFA Chapters all across the state. Staff members are going to attend many county fairs in July and August with a booth to interact with 4-H members and their families and hang fliers around the fairgrounds with information about CAP. Another approach that the AgrAbility team has attempted is advertising services in numerous printed and online publications. One publication out of Lamar, Colorado, called The Tri-State Exchange: The Buy, Sell, Trade, and Auction Guide, featured the benefits of AgrAbility on June 28. CAP has also advertised on AM and FM radio stations across the state. The first radio interview will be Friday, June 29 with more being scheduled for next month.
Submitted by Katheryn Ernst