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USU Extension highlights local youth programs, medical interpreting graduates and new outdoor initiative
Summary
Maria Velasco of Utah State University Extension summarized three years of local outreach in Moab—4‑H enrollment gains, a community health worker model adapted for youth, a new medical interpreting cohort of about 13 graduates, and a UCOR‑funded 'Roots' outdoors program to expand youth access to nature and career exploration.
Maria Velasco, assistant professor and director with Utah State University Extension Home and Community, told the Moab City Council that the program has expanded youth outreach and services across Grand County. "MOAB, it's a very special community that likes face to face," Velasco said, describing how staff worked one‑on‑one with families to boost 4‑H participation and career‑exploration trips to university labs.
Velasco listed program achievements including increased 4‑H enrollment, a regional award for youth programming, and partnerships that sent local youth to national leadership events. She described the CUBE program and a pilot to certify youth as community health ambassadors under a 2022 bill recognizing community health workers: those youth "are licensed" under state rules and will be able to work in peer‑to‑peer prevention and outreach activities. Velasco also noted a recent local medical‑interpreting program that graduated about 13 participants, including two high‑school graduates who plan to remain in Moab and work as interpreters.
Council members asked whether graduates would find local work; Velasco said many already have jobs at local organizations, including the Moab Free Clinic and local schools, and noted that the program issues a Utah interpreter license number that helps participants seek remote and agency work. Velasco offered to circulate a virtual copy of the program report for council review and invited continued city support and partnership on future grants and outreach.
