4-H, Adair County

Last updated on May 7, 2008

4-H is a community of young people across America learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills.

Missouri 4-H prepares young people to become future leaders - from both rural and urban areas!

4-H is publicly supported by county, state and federal governments. Private resources, both human and financial, are used to enrich the learning experiences of youth and adults.

Description:
4-H programs empower youth to reach their full potential while working and learning in partnership with caring adults.

4-H is for ALL youth in both rural and urban settings.

4-H is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States.

4-H youth programming results in competent, capable, caring, contributing youth.

To achieve our goals, MU Extension/4-H will:

•Provide formal and non-formal community-focused experiential learning.
• Help youth develop skills that benefit them throughout life.
• Foster leadership and volunteerism in youth and adults.
• Build internal and external partnerships for programming and funding.
• Strengthen families and communities.
• Use research-based knowledge available from the land-grant university system and other
sources.

A necessary corollary of the youth development goal is the development of volunteers as
individuals/leaders in the 4-H program.

History:
4-H didn't really start in one time or place. It began around the start of the 20th century in the work of several people in different parts of the United States who were concerned about young people.

The seed of the 4-H idea of practical and “hands-on” learning came from the desire to make public school education more connected to country life. Early programs tied both public and private resources together for the purpose of helping rural youth.

During this time, researchers at experiment stations of the land-grant college system and USDA saw that adults in the farming community did not readily accept new agricultural discoveries. But, educators found that youth would "experiment" with these new ideas and then share their experiences and successes with the adults.

So rural youth programs became a way to introduce new agriculture technology to the adults. A.B. Graham started one such youth program in Ohio in 1902. It is considered the birth of the 4-H program in the U.S. When Congress created the Cooperative Extension Service at USDA in 1914, it included boys' and girls' club work. This soon became known as 4-H clubs - Head, Heart, Hands, and Health.

In recent years the 4-H program has been experiencing two significant trends.
One is that the basic purpose of 4-H is the personal growth of the member. By
using 4-H projects as important means for achievement and growth, members
build skills they can use the rest of their lives. 4-H educational experiences are
built around life skills that center on positive self esteem, communication and
decision making. Citizenship and leadership skills, learning how to learn, and
the ability to cope with change also are an important part of 4-H educational
programs. Life skills are built into 4-H projects, activities, and events that help
participants become contributing, productive, self-directed members of a
forward-moving society.
The second trend was toward program and organizational coordination,
combining 4-H organizations divided by gender and race into a single integrated
program. The program also incorporates life skills development into an
expanding number of delivery modes. In addition to the core 4-H community
club model, youth may participate through urban groups, community resource
development, special interest groups, EFNEP nutrition programs, school
enrichment, camping and interagency learning experiences.
4-H celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2002.
Today, after more than 100 years, 4-H offers youth opportunities in
communications, leadership, career development, livestock, home improvement,
and computer technology to 7 million American youth. Programs are found in
rural and urban areas throughout the country and similar programs around the
world. 4-H will continue to grow and develop with the head, heart, hands, and
health of youth.

Contact person: Michelle Klem, Program Specialist, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (660) 665-9866

Address:

503 E. Northtown Rd.
Kirksville, MO 63501
(See a map)

Web Site: http://extension.missouri.edu/adair/4h/index.shtml

Directions:

From the intersection of Hwy. 63 and Northtown Rd. in Kirksville, travel East approximately 1/10 of a mile. The Adair County University of Missouri Extension office, home of Adair County 4-H is on the left.

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