4-H Delivers

River Valley 4-H - ADA Upgrade Project

The Issue:
In 2010, members and leaders of the River Valley 4-H club volunteered to assist with parking at the Siskiyou Golden Fair. During the fair, the volunteers quickly discovered that parking access was inadequate. The difficult access was twofold, first the overall signage was difficult to see and in need of improvement. Second, there was a severe lack in the number of spaces available to handicapped patrons as the fairgrounds simply did not have enough spaces designated to accommodate the many people who needed more accessibility. These limitations often made parking difficult for everyone and prevented many handicapped individuals from visiting the fairgrounds.

What has 4-H Done?:
Members and leaders of the River Valley 4-H club researched what the costs would be to upgrade and add signs to make the parking lots more accessible to all fair patrons. While completing the research, some of the volunteers found that they did not fully understand what it meant to be disabled or were able to see the perspective of the disabled individuals. In response to this need, the club decided to undertake a project to educate its members about what it means to be disabled along with helping the fairgrounds to upgrade its access to parking. One of the teen members of the club had the opportunity to take part in a session at the 2010 State Leadership Conference that dealt with the ability to gain insight about disabled persons’ daily challenges. The conference session utilized the approach taught by New Perspectives which uses activities immersing participants in tasks that may be challenging to someone who has impaired vision, audition, or mobility. The River Valley 4-H club then integrated these perspective taking activities into their regular monthly meetings.

To continue with the service activity, the 4-H club submitted a proposal to the Fair Board and received permission to continue. Members of River Valley 4-H met and worked with the  CEO of the Siskiyou Golden Fair who took their ideas seriously. The CEO felt with the loss of funding from the state, the donation would come at a critical time. River Valley then had a plan and applied for a 2010 Service Learning Award. The club was approved for the grant and collaborated with the Siskiyou Golden Fair, CEO and Cal Trans to complete the project. 

The Payoff:
Upon completion of the service project, the Siskiyou Golden Fair parking structure was greatly improved with the addition of 18 new handicapped parking signs, 24 exit and entrance signs and 2 fair patron parking signs. Through additional donations, 18 moveable sign bases for use at the fairgrounds and for any club, local or countywide 4-H events were purchased and provided to the fairgrounds. The true benefits of the service project were seen during the following fair when over 20.,000 fairgoers parked at the fairgrounds. The River Valley 4-H club found that the most rewarding aspect of the Service-Learning ADA Project was the educational component and learning how to view new perspectives. Through discussions at club meetings and use of the 2010 California 4-H National Conference Delegation’s New Perspectives manual and hands on kit, the 4-H members have acquired a more extensive understanding of what it means to live with a disability.  

“Everything was so blurry, it made my head hurt.”
--Youth member after putting on glaucoma glasses while working with the New Perspectives toolkit