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David Latona:
Welcome to Co-op Conversations with DEMCO, 
where we talk about the topics that impact your power,

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your co-op and your community. I'm your host, 
David Latona.

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Joining me today, this is exciting, 
we've got a long time seasoned veteran from DEMCO,

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Chanon Martin, DEMCO's Manager of Member and Community 
Engagement.

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Welcome, Chanon. We have so much to talk about today.

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Chanon Martin:
Glad to be here.

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David Latona:
Well, we're glad you're here. Now, 
Chanon, I've seen on our social channels and also through our

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communications that we have so many opportunities for youth in 
our service territory and in the communities

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that we serve. Tell us about the youth outreach, 
and why is that such a priority for an electric cooperative like

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DEMCO?

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Chanon Martin:
Well, DEMCO being your local electric cooperative, 
we are member-owned.

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We are your friends. We are your neighbors.

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We're your family. So invested in those youth programs, 
it helps youth understand the cooperative business model,

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and it shows in the value of a member-owned cooperative.

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These programs help us develop skills in young people who will go 
on to become employees of electric cooperatives.

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They will be community leaders. It allows us to enrich the lives 
of the children who live in all of the parishes that we serve.

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It's just the way that we power life and community.

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David Latona:
That is so great. I love to hear that about our investment.

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As you know, one of the largest co-ops in the country.

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That's exciting. What I read many times in our publication, 
and also on the radio advertisements for upcoming

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youth programs, is that we have an outreach that is such a 
priority that we start

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from birth. Is that even possible?

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Can you start a program for young people when they're born?

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How does that happen?

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Chanon Martin:
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is a free book program.

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It provides a book each month for children birth to age five, 
so parents can register children as soon as they are born.

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They receive these books that are age appropriate.

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They're able to have the excitement early on about reading.

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It gives them a chance to connect learning with DEMCO and their 
electric cooperative.

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They get to spend time with their families, 
and it just fosters this love for reading.

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It was the idea when Dolly Parton started this book giving 
program to bring excitement around reading.

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It helps with early childhood literacy, 
which is a big deal in the state of Louisiana.

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It's important to DEMCO. And so we said, 
let's back these programs up.

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And so we've had things that have existed for decades, 
but we've never had anything that focuses on children as young as

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birth to five.

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David Latona:
That is so exciting. They get a gift once a month in the mailbox 
from their co-op.

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And also, like you said, for them to be excited about reading.

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I know a child that's newly born is too young to read it 
themselves,

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but this will encourage those parents to read to your child, 
and it's just such a great program.

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I'm so excited to be a part of DEMCO and so proud that we have 
that program here.

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Chanon Martin:
So you mentioned that it's a gift each month.

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That's actually one of the things that sparked Dollie. She said 
to have the children's name on that book,

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because when you receive a gift, 
it's addressed to you.

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So each month this child will have a book that has their name.

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And so it has this idea of each month you get a gift, 
and it's just for you because it's personalized with that child's

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name on it. It also gives the child the opportunity to build a 
library that maybe later on in life,

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when their children are receiving those same books, 
they can put their library together and read those books with

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their children, and they can compare books that maybe they 
received when they were a child.

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You know, you have books that are staples, 
but there may be something different that now the new kids are

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not receiving. So it allows the parents to build this library for 
their children that they can then share with their children.

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David Latona:
So very exciting. What a great program for our state and for the 
communities served by DEMCO.

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Chanon, I don't remember anything that exciting when I was a kid.

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Of course, that was a very, very long time ago.

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I know after that age, birth to five years old, 
you've got even more opportunities for early elementary kids.

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Tell us about some of those programs available to our member 
schools.

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Chanon Martin:
So the children that are in elementary school, 
we offer safety and classroom presentations where we can talk to

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them about electrical safety. We can talk to them about careers.

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We participate in career fairs as young as children that are in 
third grade.

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Many elementary schools are offering those opportunities to, 
you know,

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to give the kids something to look forward to.

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It gives them exposure to careers that they may not think about.

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We have tabletop demonstrations where we can take students 
through daily scenarios at home,

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and it takes them from when they wake up for breakfast. How to be 
safe with preparing meals all the way to the at night when they

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are ready to take their bath, to hit the bed for the night.

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And we do this on a consistent basis in all seven parishes that 
we serve in all of the elementary schools that are in the areas

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that we serve. We have our bucket truck demonstrations.

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It showcases our trucks, the crews and the safety equipment that 
it takes to restore power,

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to build power lines and to keep the power flowing to homes and 
businesses in the communities that we serve.

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We also have the fire in the wire presentation.

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It is a live wire presentation that speaks of the dangers of 
electricity,

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but it also focuses on the safety around it.

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It also like our tabletop demonstration, 
it gives them real life scenarios of how quick an accident can

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happen, but they show them how to be safe.

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You know, what they should do in different scenarios. And so we 
use that live wire demonstration,

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fire in the wire, to make those presentations on the safety 
around electrical wires and equipment.

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We also have our fan favorite which is our magic show.

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The magic show is a partnership with Scott Davis, 
and it's called Making Accidents Disappear.

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He uses three magic words: stop, 
look and think.

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It is a crafty way for students to be entertained, 
but also educated on the safety aspect of being around

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electricity. It also helps give them something to remember.

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So when they're home, they can tell their parents about this 
magic show that was sponsored by their local electric cooperative

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and how exciting it was. But also, 
they're able to remember those three magic words that helps them

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be a whole lot safer around electricity.

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We offer that magic show once a year.

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It's typically in the fall. It's one week where we are visiting 
schools and all of the seven parishes that we serve.

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We reach out to schools, we say, 
"Hey, we have this exciting show that's fun,

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but it's also educational around electrical safety." And so we 
have those schools to tell us whether or not they're interested,

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and we work them into the schedule once a year.

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David Latona:
You probably know more than anybody.

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We have so many elementary schools in our service territory being 
those seven parishes.

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It's exciting, but I know at that next level, 
the teen years, those kids that may be the hardest to reach,

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right? But that your team has specific programing to engage those 
teens.

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Chanon Martin:
So in 9th and 10th grade, we have the Youth Cooperative 
Ambassador program.

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That program, it gives them an idea of what the electric 
cooperative business model is.

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It exposes them to the principles that cooperatives operate on.

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It also exposes them to careers.

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They get an opportunity to meet with DEMCO employees and talk 
about what is necessary to be a DEMCO employee.

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They learn about the governance of a cooperative.

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They learn what our board of directors are responsible for, 
how they're elected,

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the way that they're trained so that they are running the 
cooperative effectively.

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In addition to that, we partner with the Jumpstart Coalition, 
and they bring them this live presentation where they go through

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scenarios of, "Hey, this is your family dynamics, 
and this is how much you make.

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This is your career. Now you take this budget," and then the 
students have to walk through purchasing homes.

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They have to walk through paying their utility bills.

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They have to provide care for their children and feed their 
families.

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And then they go on to do a session on leadership.

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We partner with local community people to come in and talk about 
what is a leader,

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what does that look like to you?

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Students come in with a definition of what they feel a leader is,

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but they leave having a better idea of what leadership means, 
the roles and the responsibilities of a leader.

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Also in that program, the students participate in a community 
service project.

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It's usually one or two projects.

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We perform that outside of DEMCO.

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They meet here at our headquarters office, 
but those service projects are in the community.

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They're interacting with people that are a part of the seven 
parishes that we serve.

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And once the student becomes a Junior, 
we have a program that's existed for decades.

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It's our essay contest. 11th grade students are prompted to write 
an essay.

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For the last several years, it has been an essay to address an 
elected official,

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and they talk about topics that are important to them.

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We use some independent judges, 
and they narrow those hundreds of essays down to 12.

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And those 12 students come to a banquet.

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They make an oral presentation of those same essays, 
and then we select students that we send to D.C.

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for a week long trip, where they continue to learn more about 
cooperatives,

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they learn about governance, and they also get to expand their 
leadership skills.

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For our 12th grade students, we have two scholarship programs.

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Those programs, one is sponsored through our DEMCO Foundation, 
and students are eligible to apply for those scholarships.

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That information is available on our website.

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But DEMCO also has a scholarship through DEMCO, 
which is an annual drawing that we do each year.

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The DEMCO scholarship is awarded at the annual meeting.

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We also in addition to those scheduled programing, 
we also do classroom presentations and career fair visits with

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those high school students as well.

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David Latona:
That's so great. And I know your team through the foundation and 
also through the youth programs,

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you have other opportunities that are not necessarily scheduled.

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Like you said, there's the scholarships, 
but then also you guys do casual visits with them as well,

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right? Tell me a little more about the visits you make to schools 
and some of those appointments.

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Chanon Martin:
Absolutely. Many of the middle school and high schools have 
started JAG programs,

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and it's jobs across America for students.

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And so we will go out to those schools, 
and we talk to them about careers.

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Oftentimes when you think of an electric cooperative, 
the first or sometimes the only position that they are aware of

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are the linemen. And although they are skilled and highly 
important to the day-to-day operation of electric cooperatives,

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there are so many more opportunities for students to learn about 
careers in electric cooperatives.

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So we talked to them about, you know, 
we have mechanics because those same linemen drive trucks,

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so they need somebody to maintain those vehicles.

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We talk about the computers that they use.

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We have an IT department that makes sure that those computers are 
operating safely and efficiently.

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The people that communicate to our membership, 
they communicate to the public.

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So we talk about all those different positions and those careers 
and electric cooperatives,

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and it gives us an opportunity to let them know what the 
possibilities are of working in an electric cooperative.

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David Latona:
So great, so exciting. I know we've talked about a whole lot, 
but let's say our listeners,

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they want to know more about they have a seven year old or a 
newborn baby.

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How can they learn more about the opportunities that the youth 
programs department has for them and their families?

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Chanon Martin:
They can visit demco.org/community.

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David Latona:
Thank you all for listening to Co-op Conversations with DEMCO.

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Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

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If you liked what you heard, leave us a review and like and share 
the episode with a friend.

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For Chanon Martin, I'm David Latona, 
let's keep the conversation going.