Helping young moms build a brighter future
The Beyond New Beginnings (BNB) program provides affordable housing to pregnant and parenting teen students. The Chaska building also serves as a hub for classes, playtime, meals and family gatherings. In this supportive setting, Samantha Roth, an Extension educator and accredited financial counselor, meets with mothers to discuss finances, including bill payments, budgeting, credit, debt issues, and other challenges they face.
Tatiana, a mom to three, learned how to make — and stick to — a budget. “After meeting with Sam, I felt so much better and have been making all the required payments to keep my apartment,” said Tatiana.
“The moms who participate in the Beyond New Program are committed to making a better life for themselves and their children,” said Jill Engeswick, co-founder and program director of BNB. “They appreciate Sam’s empathetic advice, as well as her experience and knowledge.”
“I’m not here to judge or to tell you what to do. I am here to help you reach your goals,” said Roth.
Highlights
- 4-H in Carver County allows all K-13 youth to explore what 4-H offers through a series of free, hands-on, interactive learning experiences called “Day to Dabble.”
- Extension’s agricultural business management team delivered farmland rent workshops in Cologne.
- U of M Farm Family of the Year: The Hoen family
- Master Naturalist volunteers participated in National Public Lands Day in Chaska. This annual event of the National Environmental Education Foundation promotes enjoyment and volunteer conservation of public lands.
- Extension’s Pesticide Safety and Environmental Education Team delivered recertification training for commercial/noncommercial pesticide applicator licenses for categories A/E: Turf and Ornamental.
- After a successful pilot course in Chaska, Extension educators in the Water Resource Center have partnered with the University’s Erosion and Stormwater Control Certification Program to develop an annual day-long plant identification and maintenance training event for stormwater maintenance workers.
- SuperShelf locations: Bountiful Basket Food Shelf (Cologne), Bountiful Basket Food Shelf (Chaska), Gather and Grow Food Shelf Connection Center (Waconia), Gather and Grow Food Shelf Connection Center (Watertown), Southwest Carver County Food Shelf, Waconia United Food Shelf
- The Climate Adaptation Partnership is developing new resources on future groundwater and soil moisture conditions for Carver County, based on long-term precipitation changes. This information will allow communities to weigh issues such as proposed data centers and future drinking water availability using the best available science.
Carver County office
Extension has 14 regional offices supporting all 87 counties in Minnesota.
Carver County partners with Extension to deliver practical education and research you can use at home, at work and in your community. More about Extension in our county.
About the Minnesota 87 project
Spend time in any Minnesota county, and you will almost certainly encounter University of Minnesota Extension. Our faculty and staff, volunteers, participants, alumni and partners are woven into the fabric of rural, urban and suburban Minnesota life. This project showcases Extension in action through photos, stories and a sampling of the many ways Extension has touched the lives of people in every county.