4-H Youth Development with Vanessa Spero

The Independent Life

In this episode, we continue our conversation about the Florida AgrAbility project and talk about how important this program is to our farmers in Florida and to our community. If you haven't had a chance to listen to our previous episode on AgrAbility with Lindsey Head and Serap Gorucu, we highly encourage you to take a listen and learn about the Who, What, and Why of Florida AgrAbility. In this conversation, Vanessa lays the ground work for her enthusiasm for disability advocacy, as a mother of a son who has down syndrome. Vanessa Spero works for the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension as a 4-H Youth Development Agent. She earned her BS from Cornell University in Animal Sciences and her MS from Florida Institute of Technology in Environmental Education. Vanessa joined extension in 2007 and has worked for extension for 15 years. Previously she had volunteered with the Peace Corps in West Africa, the Jane Goodall Institute in East Africa, and owned and operated her own non-profit in East Africa. Her interests led her to a pursue a career in non-formal education with a focus on teaching about the environment. More specifically within Extension, her programs began to focus on gardening with youth. By teaming up with the Family and Consumer Sciences Agent in Brevard (Elizabeth Shephard), she began targeting healthy eating and nutrition concepts as part of her programming. Over the years she has presented at national conferences (North American Association for Environmental Education, National Association of Extension 4-H Agents, Extension Professionals of Florida, etc.), received awards (National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Environmental Education Award, Florida Association of Extension 4-H Agents Program in Excellence Award, etc.), and secured grant funding (United Healthcare, Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Florida Department of Agricultural and Consumer Sciences, etc.), to promote gardening and healthy eating initiatives.

Episode Resources:

• Florida 4-H: https://florida4h.ifas.ufl.edu/
• A Soccer for Success Innovation: https://ussoccerfoundation.org/blog/a-soccer-for-success-innovation/

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