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OSU Extension reports education, scam-awareness and homebuyer classes for Medina County residents
Summary
OSU Extension outlined 4-H travel, senior and youth programs, a statewide scam-awareness training, tracking of county solar panels and a partnership delivering homebuyer education to Medina Metropolitan Housing Authority residents.
Kyle, representing OSU Extension, updated the board on program activity spanning 4-H, Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS), Master Gardener trainings and community-development work, including a recent partnership to provide homebuying and fiscal-literacy classes for public-housing residents.
Why it matters: Extension programming provides workforce and financial-literacy training, consumer-protection outreach and youth STEM experiences that county partners say support residents preparing for employment, homeownership and safer financial practices.
Key points from Kyle's report included: Sierra, a 4-H participant, will travel to Greece on an Ohio 4-H global immersion program; FCS staff are delivering Safe Sitter classes and the WITS brain-health program for seniors, plus Real Money Real World financial simulations to eighth graders in six Medina County schools; Master Gardener and OCVN trainings are planned; and community development will host a statewide “Identity theft, data breaches and scams” presentation on April 9 available live and via Zoom. Kyle noted local banks report an uptick in scams and referenced the recent Cuyahoga Municipal Court cyberattack on Feb. 23 that temporarily closed operations.
Extension also tracked county solar-panel performance and will continue grant-writing classes in August and September. Kyle described a partnership with Medina Metropolitan Housing Authority (MMHA) and Ohio CDC that provided 18 hours of homebuyer education for residents tied to an individual development account (IDA) match program: 17 residents registered and nine completed the course. The program drew guest speakers from the health department (on septic and wells), a title agency, bankers and insurance agents; the county–MMHA class was submitted for an Ohio State award and won an excellence-in-engaged-scholarship recognition.
MMHA’s Piper Morgan told the board the classes helped Housing Choice Voucher clients learn the homebuying process and that MMHA and Ohio CDC plan to seek another grant cycle to continue the partnership. Kyle also said the Safe Sitter program will be open to non-4-H youth, generally targeting sixth- to eighth-graders, and that solar panels have performed better than expected overall though cost-versus-production tradeoffs remain under review.
Ending: Extension staff asked the board to help publicize classes and noted registration details will be posted on the Extension website.
