What are the most important criteria for a program like ¡Salir Adelante! to be successful? One of the biggest ones is understanding and being responsive to your audience. In our early days, youth and families told us how we could engage them even more ef- fectively. We listened to what they said and developed ¡Salir Adelante! as a result. We created sessions that built on the knowledge and experiences of families, incorporated phrases and activities that were culturally fa- miliar, and actively engaged them in learn- ing, reflecting, and applying. During each session, families gather in the beginning, then divide into youth and parent groups, and then come back together as families. It’s critical to have strong partnerships with local school systems so that you are clear about the schools’ expectations and can help participants be clear on them, too. It is also really important to identify complemen- tary goals with local Latino organizations and ways to work together to complement each other’s efforts. In Iowa, volunteers and staff from local Latino organizations are commonly trained to facilitate ¡Salir Ad- elante! in collaboration with Extension staff. And communities need to see the value and support ¡Salir Adelante! locally—in Iowa, 19 community teams have been trained so far. Our Extension administration has been very supportive of ¡Salir Adelante! and has helped provide funding for the development of the curriculum and for initial training of Extension staff and their community partners. Our statewide work team has received grants to help support training additional Extension staff and their local partners to im- plement the program and has offered mini grants that require a local cash match. ■
leadership expert, focusing on how to better communicate as a team and integrate diverse perspectives. The Extension Founda- tion’s Catalysts also have helped us improve how we articulate our value proposition and talk about our outcomes in broader, economic terms. Over these last few years, we’ve also learned to be more intentional about collaborating with other educators in our Extension organization. We can’t assume that it’s obvious to everyone how we can complement each other. Just because it makes sense to us doesn’t mean it won’t take time and effort for other educators to see how our programs can align with theirs. One of the outcomes of being more intentional is that we have built a stronger relationship with our 4-H program. Because we had intentional conversations and iden- tified common goals across human sciences and 4-H, we have a 4-H specialist on our statewide ¡Salir Adelante! work team, who works with human sciences to train Exten- sion staff and their community partners to implement ¡Salir Adelante! Furthermore, 4-H and Human Sciences Extension and Outreach r ecently were awarded a five-year USDA NIFA CYFAR grant to grow and build sustainability in ¡Salir Adelante! in two Iowa communities . Local county extension directors and 4-H program staff have partnered with Human Sciences Extension and Outreach to incorporate ¡Salir Adelante! into their county-level career and college readiness programs.
“Salir Adelante is fun. It helped my family grow closer and learn ways we can afford college.” —Youth “¡Salir Adelante! is helping us better un- derstand how to be in the lives of our children in a way that we can help them get ahead and have a career.” —Parent “Salir Adelante helped us connect with families we haven’t been able to connect with.” —School Principal
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