Out of 54 people, only twohands go up. Both make lengthy statements.
With respect, Bev, and we all respect all that you have accomplished for 4-H nationally, why arewe fixing something that is not broken? We have thriving programs in the counties. We eachunderstand our community; eachof us is actually part of that community, most of us for our whole lives. We hear a lot fromWashington about being customer-centric. Hell, pardon me Bev, we have been customer- centric for decades becausewe know our communities. We are on the streets, in the fields, on the county roads all the time. No one knows our people the way we do. We have some of the largest county fairs, with some of the highest youth participation rates. Our state fair is the envy of most states – at least those that managed to still keep a fair going. Last year, five of our blue medal animal sciences kids made enough selling their steers to fund their first year in college. Not many other people can say that. And those kids went to the capitol building and got keys to the state fromthe Governor. He’s got that picture hanging outside his office door for every visitor to see. When most states are struggling withvolunteers, we still have committed adult mentors to our youth. We have county legislatures that are behind us. We know what we are doing. We know how to do it. We have proven that. We ARE quality when it comes to positive youth development.
Heads nod. Applause breaks out in the back rows.
I get it, Bev says. And I amthe first one to say that your success is why I applied for this job. I was, and I remain, tremendously impressedwith your success. That is wonderful for now. But it will not be wonderful forever. In fact, look at the demographics, it will not even be wonderful five years from now. Our world is changing. Your world is changing. We need to get out in front of that change. And this is not just about diversity. We need to understandclearly what our value proposition is to our youth – exactlywhat are we accomplishing – if we can keep our quality at the very top of every other youth serving organization in the state. Should we not want that? Should we not want for every young person what our 4-Hers have now? Should we not want to know what works? Should we not want to be sure that something that is demonstrably and measurablyworking in one county can be understood and rolled out to the rest of the counties?
Not for me. Not for us. But for the kids.
Now, you all know how to reach me. I will be having a digital quarterly meeting with all of us to share our changes and initiatives. In themeantime, the Regional Coordinators will be scheduling regional meetings to begin to get into specifics about how to roll out this more coordinated model. They will report progress tome weekly. Let me add that the President and Provost of the university are behind this. I have spoken personally to them. They have approved this gathering in of content and quality. And the Director of Extensionhas approved and endorsedwhat we are doing. So, let’s all join in and make this work. We are all trying to accomplish the same thing – strong youth people and an LGU second tonone in the nation.
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