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National 4-H says members are better prepared

A recent survey finds 4-H experiences help better prepare young people for life skills after high school.

Heather Elliott with the National 4-H Council tells Brownfield out-of-school programming is filling education gaps.

“K12 education, while it’s phenomenal, cannot do it alone,” she says. “It really needs that out-of-school time support that young people are looking forward to help build their confidence, build the resiliency, the communication and teamwork skills, a lot of those life skills.”

Elliott says 4-H members however said they were more likely to be leaders, give back to their communities, and have hope for their futures.

“What we see in the results of 4-H is that regardless of their socioeconomic background, their race, their gender 4-Hers are two times more likely to want to be a leader, two times more likely to find hope and purpose, and four times more likely to give back to their communities,” she shares.

Elliott says 4-H members are the future of the agricultural workforce and the organization plans to expand its career and academic programming to fill the job gap.

A new Beyond Ready Initiative with the organization will focus on increasing 4-H memberships by more than four million new students by 2030.