Hampshire (UNH) and the nationwide landgrant university system.
Housed within the UNH Cooperative Extension in Durham, NH, NH 4-H supports the 10 counties of the state comprisedof a mix of rural and urban communities. NH 4-H is currently serving over 2,300 NH youth in primarily club and special interest programming, and less intensively reaching an additional 1,500-2,000 youth eachyear through school programs. The organizational structure of 4-H within NH includes a 4-H State Leader (Dr. Kate Guerdat), several 4-H Field Specialists focused on mission mandate content areas (STEM-Makers, AgriScience, Healthy Living- Nutrition, 4-H Outdoors), and a locally based4-H ProgramManager in each of the 10 counties. The program is overseenby the State 4-H Leader who is supported by the Youth and Family TeamLead, Associate Director of Extension, and the Vice Provost for Outreachand Community Engagement/Director of Extension. Dr. Guerdat currently supervises eachof the 4-H ProgramManagers as well as several of the 4-H Field Specialists. As State 4-H Leader, Dr. Guerdat developed and implements a 4-H Pathways model of programming that aims to grow and sustainyouth engagement along a continuum. The model emphasizes the importance of introductory learning opportunities that light a spark in youth which is then followed by multiple opportunities to further engage in positive youth development experiences. Pairing the theoretical underpinnings of sequential learning theory with MaryArnold’s Thrive model, the NH 4 -H Pathways approach aims to engage youth in a project area with multiple touchpoints throughout the program year, if not lifetime. The model alsoenhances performance management as the field specialists are responsible for developing their content area pathways, completewith resources, training, and evaluation tools for local and regional implementation. The model allows for county 4-H program managers tochoose pathways to offer, ultimately assisting inplanning, goal setting, and impact evaluation. Overall, the NH 4-H program is experiencing a need for re-envisioning an organizational structure to better support youth in a time of ‘newnormal’ as well as enhanced alignment withuniversity priorities. The NH 4-H leadership team is embarking on a strategic planning process to not only continue to ‘grow the green’ in local communities, but also better integrate ‘the green’ into the University that supports them.
UNIVERSITYOF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
The 4-H Programunder the auspices of the University of the Virgin Islands School of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service has been changing over time. Early on, 4-H programming efforts were modeled after in-school 4-H clubs then common in many southern region states. However, teachers were not identifying themselves as volunteers; they were willing to participate if 4-H activities took place during the regular school day and were not committed to supporting or participating in activities out of school-time. This challenge served as the impetus to refocus on developing more traditional community 4-H clubs and special interest groups. In our current economic climatemaintaining volunteer commitment to support community clubs waned with only one community club still thriving. Special interest clubs also continue to be popular and supported basedon mutual interest in a particular topic, however, leadership is often more targeted and can be episodic if a volunteer moves on.
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