Rural areas are aging, with fewer children staying to carry on the work of their parents. Farms are consolidating and commercializing. Small towns that flourished 50 years agohave shuttered downtowns. Schools are consolidating into a regional system; everyone is on a bus at 6 am and 3 pm. Meanwhile, the average age of the population in the four main towns is dropping with the influx of immigrants and refugees. About three years ago, local and state legislature elections began to lift the visibility of change. The economic welcome mat began to be rewoven to say, “welcome if….”. If you speakEnglish, if you work, if you hire local. The Governor, Ned Bloch, is up for re-election next year. Like any good politician, he is trying to straddle the change. He has publicly expressedhis concerns over the “end of our state as we know it,” while carefully and quietly supporting policies that encourage the new indu stries to growand employers to attract newworkers. Debate has since flourished at all levels of communities. The last school bond issue in Oakville failed. The legislature cut the university budget by 4% after the increase five years ago. The percent of state university graduates from in-state is down; the rate of university graduates leaving the state is up. But, new faces and new voices alsomean new advocacy for change. The nonprofit sector in the cities has exploded, with scores of new agencies providing social services, youth programs in immigrant languages, andESL classes. That is felt at the university as well, with demonstrations on campus about equal access andequal treatment.
4-H in the Crucible
Twenty years ago, 4-H served nearly4 0% of the state’s young people. Its clubs were spreadacross the state. The county and state fairs were front-page events. There was a waitlist for willing volunteers. Most volunteers were themselves 4-H alum, dedicated to the history and pedigree of 4-H in their communities. Recently, things seemto be changing. County 4-H staff are sharing concerns with the state 4-H Director about the loss of long-standing 4-H clubs as long tenured leaders age out and the difficulty in starting new clubs. Many counties have had difficulty forming and sustaining new clubs in the past several years. Tom Smith, the nephew of Mary from Save-a-Bunch, is the new state 4-H Director. He came back last year from being an Extensionagent in the Pacific Northwest. The Director job is a big promotion, one he has long thought he deserved. Make this work, Tom thinks, and if he does well, he canachieve tenure and be promoted. Lots of faculty in the Department retiring. Great way tobe back home. True, his wife, born and bred in Seattle , finds it a bit of a tight fit, but, he thinks, she’ll really love the people. And the tenure gives them real security. Great state, Tomthinks, lots of land, growing economy, growing population. Harness that togrow 4-H. Should be a no-brainer. Two weeks ago, Tom’s phone rang; area code seems tobe Oakville. Aha, he thought, now we are cookin’ with gas. Probably an opportunity to grow. The problem was he could not really understand the caller. She seemed to want to start a 4-H club, or that is what he concluded, but she had such a thick accent he could not really understand. Something about an El Nino. Maybe an inquiry about theweather? Storms coming?
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