Annual Report of Home Demonstration Agent, Maricopa County 1955
Item Type text; Report
Authors University of Arizona. Agricultural Extension Service. Home Demonstration Agents; Pace, Isabell; Nelsen, Betty Jo; Bunge, Martha
Publisher University of Arizona
Rights Public Domain: This material has been identified as being free of known restrictions under U.S. copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
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Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/637390 ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT
OF'
. M!S. ISABELL PACE, HOME DFMONSTRATIQN AGENT
Bm."lI 30 NELSEN, ASS' 'f. " HOME DEMONSTRATION AGENT
MARTHA BUHGE, �SS IT., HOME DEMONSTRATION AGENT
MARICOPA COUNT!'
From December 1954 to Dee_ber 19;� - SUl-1MARf OF ADULT HOME DEMONSTRATION WORK • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• x XXXI
FORECAST FOR 1956- • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT OF HOME DEMONSTRATION 'WORK •••••••••• 1-2
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 Program plans for 1955 •
Foods • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• _. 2
Home Management • • • • • • • • • • • • • • * • *_ • • • • • •• • 3
Clothing • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3 Special Interest suggestions • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3 How the home demonstration program lTaS carried on •• * * •••• 3 4
How county program was developed • • • • • • * • • • • • • • • • 4 5
Forecast • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5
HOME MANAGEMENT AND FtJRlUSHINGS PROJECT • • • • • • * • • • • • • • • 6
What your group learned • * • • * • • • • • • • • • ••••••• 6 -
Make home tasks easier • • • • • • • • •• ••••• 7
- Making draperies-. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 7 S
Other •• • • .'. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • s
FOODS AND NUTRITION • . . . . . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 9
Food in relation to weight control • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 9 10
TEXTILES AND CLOTHING •••• ...... 11
Reaqy-to-wear techniques or the professional touCh • • • • • • • 11 New fibers, fabrics, blends, and finishes •••••••••••• 11 12 Western shirts, 1954 clothing project •••••••••••••• 12 13 Miscellaneous clothing • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 13 An unusual experience related to clothing • • • • • • • • • •• • 13
MISCELLANIDUS, NOT BASIC PROJECTS ......
Health • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 14
Misce118�eous and recreational events • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 14
Annual homemakers rally dB.y • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 14 Homemakers cooperate • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 14 State fair cooperation • • • • • • * • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 15 SUMMARY OF ADULT HOME DH·IONSTRATION WORK
Isabell Pace, Home Demonstration Agent Betty Jo Nelsen, Assistant Home Demonstration Agent Martha M. Bunge, Assistant Home Demonstration Agent
MARICOPA COUNTY, DECEMBER 1, 1954 TO NOVEMBER 30, 1955
The Home Demonstration Agent and Assistant Agent Nelsen seI"V'ed the entire twelve months.
Assistant Agent Nelsen supervised girls 4-H Homemaking giving most of her time to the Junior Program. Agent Pace gave 4-H assistance as occasion demanded.
Assistant Agent Bunge was assigned to Maricopa County on J� 15, 1955, and has given time to both 4-H Club and Adult projects and activities as well as to becoming acquainted with office procedures and county geography, products and communities.
The Agent is responsible for administration of Extension Service prog�ms and activities with adult women of the county, which includes working with specially organized groups known as Homemaker Clubs. Also with other groups who elect to carry a part or all of the planned programs. She has over-all supervision of other homemaking projects including girl's 4-H clubs.
The assistant agents participate ,in subject matter training meetings whenever schedules permit and on occasions work with adult groups and usually attend spec:ial. activities and functions such as County Homemakers Rally Day; county-vdde Homemaker Club Council meetings, district events and State events.
In the fall of 1955, the three agents shared the clothing project meetings dealing with "New Fibers, Fabrics, and Finishes."
The agents presented careru1� worked out demonstrations and discussions with fifteen organizations in as many communities. Miss Helen L. Church, Clothing Specialist, gave able assistance by way of loan of fabric swatches, assembling or shaping subject matter amassed through the months into a leaflet which was mimeo graphed in our office and provided for all members and to others interested.
Other projects were presented through leader training meetings.
Assist��t Agents in addition to supervising girls 4-H work train leaders with help from the State Extension Specialists through meetings, home Visits, club visits, and printed and mimeographed material and illustrative kits.
There is close cooperation in 4-H club work with the Assistant County Agent assigned to 4-H Agriculture work and general supervision.
Assisting with planning and executing the county-wide program for adults is the Homemaker's club council made up of delegates (elected officers) and project leaders from local Homemaker Clubs.
An annual program planning council meeting is held early in October previous to the new club year, to which delegates bring, from their local membership, suggestions arrived at through consideration of community problems, member interests and program sequence.
-1- Specialists assisted the agent, in their various £ields, by supplYing current ideas, new developments and trends in advance of the planning. The agent prepared a circular summarizing such ideas and interests and reviewing, in outline form recent programs to stimulate thinking and aquaint new members with the back ground. Through the years club members have developed quite a technique for eval uating extension programs and activities as demonstrated at the most recent planning meeting. Project leaders were asked to conduct local discussions and to bring to the county-wide planning meeting suggestions arrived at loca�.
The Homemaker's county-vfde program represents the three major areas of home making nutrition, food, selection' and preparation� clothing and its related phases; Home furnishings or home management as a'�ar:ted'·pr_ogr.am ;g.eem.s::'�to..llrleeifima'te ttu11y the interests of the greater number of women.
Women attending the planning meeting were divided into discussion groups of approximately twenty women with a chairman. and recorder. Out of each group came recommended problems to be voted on following listings as given by chairman of groups,
The program f9r the following year 'is thus determined. This suggested progr�a is then referred to the-State Office for approval and calendaring in relation to specialists time, evailab1e::bulletins, other source materia.l, etc.,
the as and carried , Briefly outlined, 1955, program planned out county-wf.de , foLl.ows
CLOTHING
Objectives
Learn ready-to-wear techniques to To get a professional look, trims and finish apply to home sewirig�. ing tecrilliques, belts, etc.
To learn about the new fibers, To better understand how to select end fabrics, and finishes. Their uses handle yardage and ready made gannents. and care required. \'bat is the Value of labels especially. material?
Check on continuing project ''Making Western Shirts!' How many, satisfactions, members a,ctively participating.
FOODS
, Problems Obj ective,s
I. Projecto Uses for pressure B,etter utilization of this piece of equip saucepsn in meal planning end prep ment. To eliminate fear through safe pr.ac aration. tices.
II. Project. Food in relationg to To better understand dangers of overweight. weight control and physical well How to assist handicapped persons. Tie-in being. with Heart Association activity.
HOUSE AND FURNISHINGS
Problems Objective.§.
Project I. A·,.;B.C.' s of electricity. Better use of electrica�ly operated equipment
-xx- How may 'We be served safely end greater safet.Y in homes. Know approved well? Equipment study. procedures.
Project II. Bett'er ways of doing Better use of energies of homemakers, ailing household tasks. Time and motion or handicapped, or physically ok give more studies in relation· to needful tasks. leisure time. 'What taSks can be eliminated or simplified.
SPECIP� INTERESTS
Under this heading local clubs planned crafts, health talks, first aid courses, T.V. programs, recreational events such as picnics; swim parties; f8nd� nights and had programs missed earlier.
For the most part each group proVided the leadership from own groups, pro fessional people or from neighbor clubs.
The agent conducted one Se\dng Machine Clinic, six machines were cleaned.
Methods employed to put over the adult program included: (1) In-service training of agents. (2) Training of local leaders, agents and specialists cooperating in one such meeting in each major field and subject matter helps when practical. (3) Agent and leader demonstrations relating to projects, method demonstrations and workshops, leaders and members participating. Distribution of printed and mimeographed bulletins was far reaching and in no way limited to organized groups. Such bul.Letdria-may be county, state, or of U.S.D.A. sources. Telephone and office contacts are widely, used; publicity articles, circular letters, reports and T.Vo programs each played a part in putting over programs.
County agents, cormnercial and service people gave splendid cooperation on occasions. Both adult and 4-H club councils gave valuable year-round cooperation. Three adult council meetings were held and executive committee meetings as seemed needful.
The Januar,y Council meeting featured officer and project leader training and problem clearances.
May was the Annual Homemakers Rally Day held in the Sunnyslope district with that club hostesses. Skits of humorous nature by clubs, exhibits, brief reports from club presidents, presentation of cards of appreciation to officers and leaders by the agent, pot-luch luncheon followed by installation of club officers for the sucoeeding year by State Leader Jean M. Stewart, and presentation of corsages to outgoing and in-coming officers by the hostess club. A specialty was the presen tation of the "Council Cup" to agent Nelsen. This cup goes to the outstanding 4-H club.
The October Council Meeting according to a long established custom, was given over to program planning by delegates representing twelve communities with 64 attending. Two communities 1-rere excused for emergency reasons.
BRIEF STATISTIC.AL Sm�1ARY
The following summar,y further indicates methods employed with facts and estimates to show results, distribution of agents time and efforts, 4-H and adult figures appear.
- XXX- Primarily Adult Home Primarily 4-H Demonstration Work Club Work
Months of service 12 16 Days devoted to adult 'Work 266 80 DB¥S devoted to 4-H Club (homemaking) 23 306 Home visits 67 123, Telephone ·calls 578 613' News artieles prepared 21 0 T. V. Programs 5 5
No�;·.: Attendance No • Attendance ..
� Leader training meetings . 15:·:· 383 15 137 Other meetings agent participating 74,: 1454', 93 5.838.
Adult meetings by leaders 129 . 1911
�.� �- , 4;H meetings by leaders - _- .... 293 2322
An estimated 2,100 families were reached by one or more methods and phases of the work this year and an estimated roo for the first time. The population of county areas is gro�ng very fast, new people use our office freely as an informa tion center. I�Specialty 'crops as dates, figs, citrus, olives, and pecans bring the major number of calls. Food freezing continues to be a major interest due to the long SUIJD1ler season. Bulletins largely meet this demand.
Adult education classes conducted by various agencies in Ppoenix area regularly recommend Extension Service matter bulletins to this is indeed subject enrollees; . an avenue for distribution 'with the emphasis on clothing construction.
As a result, apparently, of aT.V. program in which a portable sewing cabinet was assembled and a sewing center set up, fifty of these leaflets went out like hot cakes. Not to organized groups but to individual requests county-�de.
Fourteen "Homemaker Clubsn carried the entire program as planned. Another club, newly organized and made up of young mothers with small children dropped out when two most active officers moved away. Early in the summer eleven Relief Society groups of the L.D.S. East Phoenix Stake participated in the clothing pro grams and received assistance with their food preparation and service programs along with other Relief Society organizations in the Salt River Valley.
FORECAST FOR 1956
The same general procedure was followed in evaluating community problems and review of past programs as well as consideration of possible Extension Service assistance were used in planning for the 1956 program •
. ' .... Even though local leaders have developed an ability to put over project work following training meetings, the tendenc.y is to request more work than is feasible in the work months.
With no Extension Nutritionist at the State level it bids fair to be a ver,y bu8,Y 1956 for the agents since one half of the training meetings are alrea� the agents responsibility to plan and put over.
- xxxx - ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT of HOME D»fONSTRATION WORK in
Maricopa County From December 1, 1954 to November 30, 1955
Isabell Pace, Home Demonstration Agent Betty Jo Nelsen", Asslt., Home Demonstration Agent Martha Bunge,. Ass't., Home Demonstration Agent
ORGANIZATION AND PLANS
The Agent and Assistant Agent Nelsen each served the entire twelve months. Assistant Agent Bunge served from July 15, to November .30, 1955, or four and one-
halt months. " � .' ,
Supel"'lTision of the womens Extension Service Program. in th� county is the re sponsibility oi the Home Demonstration Agent, she also has an',over�� responsibility for correlating activities and policies of the homemaking staff and for the gen eral well being of the girls 4-H Club programs, chiefly in an advisoey- capacity.
Assista.nt Agent Nelsen has, through the year, supervised directly girls 4-H Club. 'Work, and has 'Worked closely with the Assistant County Agent assigned to administer the junior "agricul.tural 4-H work in the county.
Bobh Assistant Home Agents" have 'Worked with selecting and training 4-H leaders, assisting with local organization and planning also with various achieve ment events and in preparing illustrative materials, leader letters, printed and ·mimeographed leader helps and subject manuals for members, through State Of'fice Cooperation. A monthly joint staff meeting and weekly home demonstration staff conferences serve to keep agents abreast of current needs and developments, policies and programs. Schedules are worked out and plans made to care for the nnexpected and special events and activities of a large and diversified county with ever changing demands. These conferences serve as a clearing house and make for a smooth running set-up, orienting new 'Workers, etc;
The Assistant Home Agents participated in adult, in-service workshops and leader training meetings related to the planned program and on occasions attended local clubs to assist or present a project demonstration. They likewise participa ted in special events, and activities of an adult nature.
I Arizona and especially Phoenix area. and Maricopa County as a whole is growing so iast,individual problems, as well as those of groups and communities, bring m� changes of attitudes/sometimes unrest and almost bewilderment. Rural club groups find themsel�es taken into the metropolitan areas. Expansion particularly in school districts, greater activity such as parent teacher association has con sistently drafted "leadership" developed in homemaker clubs to the extent that has t� discouraged some groups and really handicapped others. Women express a desire to-organize clubs �thin, the city boundaries--ofrice personnel plus lack of space ior large gatherings and demonstrations, does not at this time warrant such expansion. Individuals are urged to contact alreaqy organized groups if and when one exists in a vicinity, transp6rtation often interferes with such a plan.
- 1 - "Better Homes Through Improved Conditions, Good Family Relationships and Better Skills,ft �th all members contributing their share is the over-all goal when planning and executing the Homemakers program.
The Home Demonstration Work functions through cooperative planning with the fifteen homemaker clubs organized expressly for the purpose of enjoying the "Extension Service program and Latter Day Saints Relief Societies who elect to carry one or more projects or, even more often, look to the agent for assistance through conferences, bulletins, and illustrative helps with their own intensive program. The State Leeder and Subject Matter Specialists each were cooperative, as were the Agricultural Agents and Information Specialists to assist with information and ideas. A splendid relationship exists in the county office force of twelve Exten sion Service 'Workers, plus office personnel.
Relief Society groups have a heavy program of their ovn which does not always fit into the problems of the homemakers program, hence they do not so adequately or promptly relay material acquired at training meetings rior do �hey consistently give as complete reports as to achievements as do homemakers clubs. Much eppre eiated bulletin assistance through their leaders in relation to food, selection, preparation, and service. On other occasions the agent gave talks and a.ssisted with discussions and conferences.
Local homemaker clubs elect annually,-officers; a president, vice president, secretary-treasurer, reporter and name project leaders who automatically make up the County Council. Committees are named as need or occasion demends. Project leaders are urged to serve several years when possible as over a period of train ing and service as project leaders they develop self assurance, efficiency and recognition within the group and communit.y. Well trained and adjusted leaders are indeed a help to agents in getting programs over. In some areas leaders have become a real source of information, as they keep a file of bulletins for reference and loan to members and others. A recent trend, the agent has noticed; hovever-, is that more members are volunteering as leaders since they have come to realize the value of the training and closer contacts with the agent and specialists.
PROGRAM PLAN FOR 1955
" t The Homemak