Cathann Kress Director, Youth Development National 4-H Headquarters CSREES, USDA

1. Transforming the Lives of Youth Cathann KressDirector, Youth DevelopmentNational 4-H HeadquartersCSREES, USDA Why 4-H Matters

2. I pledge: • My head to clearer thinking, • My heart to greater loyalty, • My hands to larger service and • My health to better living, for my Club, my Community, my Country and my World.

3. Our pledge identifies both our: • Guiding Principles • Intended Outcomes

4. Guiding Principles: The Essential Elements

5. I pledge my head to clearer thinking… OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDEPENDENCE • To develop responsibility, youth need to know that they are able to influence people and events through decision-making and action.

6. I pledge my heart to greater loyalty… OPPORTUNITIES FOR BELONGING • Current research emphasizes the importance for youth to have opportunities for long-term consistent relationships with adults other than parents. This research suggests that a sense of belonging may be the single most powerful positive ingredient we can add into the lives of children and youth.

7. I pledge my health to better living… OPPORTUNITIES FOR MASTERY • To develop self-confidence youth need to feel and believe they are capable and they must experience success at solving problems and meeting challenges.

8. I pledge my hands to larger service… OPPORTUNITIES FOR GENEROSITY • By participating in community service, youth connect to communities and learn to give back. These experiences help youth understand the "big picture" of life and find purpose and meaning.

9. Intended Outcomes of 4-H Young people who are: • Trained to think, plan and reason • Trained to be kind and sympathetic • Trained to be useful, helpful and skillful • Able to resist disease, enjoy life and make for efficiency

10. Source? 1912 USDA circular

11. HEAD -- educational commitment and achievement HEART -- responsive, caring relationships HANDS -- civic and social responsibility HEALTH -- healthy lifestyles 1995 National 4-H Base Program Outcomes

12. Marketable skills thru effective education On-going relationships with caring adults Opportunities to serve Healthy start for a healthy future Safe places, structured activities America’s Promise, 1997

13. Does 4-H still matter? • Relevant and meaningful outcomes • Effective program principles

14. What is 4-H? • Programmatic outreach of the Land Grant University to our youngest citizens in their communities. • The Land Grant Idea taken to youth.

15. The Land Grant Idea • Access to higher education for those with limited resources; • Just good practical science; • Science applied to practical problems; • Education for people of the state with problems to solve; • All this and more…

16. What is the Land Grant Idea? • It is a set of beliefs about the social role of the university. • Educating and training the professional cadres of an industrial, increasingly urban, society; • Providing broad access to higher education, irrespective of wealth or social status; • Working to improve the welfare and social status of the largest and most disadvantaged groups in society.

17. The Land Grant Idea • The Land Grant vision was of an institution that could be a training ground for democratic life and civic practice and that could quickly move knowledge from the laboratory to the community.

18. 1912, Marius Malgren, Hickory, VA

19. Canning Clubs Food Preservation

20. Leading Community Change Raised 209 bushels of corn on one acre (Averages at that time were 45 bushels per acre). Led to food safety techniques becoming standard practice.

21. Some things cannot be taught, but must be experienced. • Children and youth learn best when they can “do” – Experiential Education • Leading by Example – Youth are early adopters and will change their communities.

22. As the nature of the society that sustains the university changes in fundamental ways, the social role of the university will very slowly undergo change in response to that new social reality. James Bonnen, 1998

23. What does America need from 4-H during its second century?

24. The Land Grant University must be careful to commit its limited resources to outreach activities that are legitimate for a university and are of major social significance.

25. What is legitimate? What has major social significance? • How will we define what this outreach should be so that we know what we are talking about, can manage it effectively, and can communicate its meaning to others?

26. Degree of consensus in the community • Creation and organization of clientele (who is our constituency?) • Having command of enough knowledge of the problem being addressed

27. The Land Grant Mission & 4-H • An idea – not a set of academic fields • This idea is applicable to all the academic programs of the university. • Basic concept is that knowledge has consequences and utility, both for individuals and society. • Mission: to serve society by providing access to knowledge to everyone who desires it and can benefit from the experience.

28. How do we serve youth through our programs?

29. Approaches to 4-H Youth Development Focus: Risks & Risk Factors Target: Social Norms & Communities Goal: Eliminate or Reduce Problems Focus: Skills & Knowledge Focus: Developmental Needs Target: Individual Learners Target: Opportunities for Youth Goal: Competency in knowledge or skill Goal: Maturity

30. Understanding the Different Approaches Developed by Cathann A. Kress, Ph.D. EDUCATION YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

31. Approaches to 4-H CONTENT Belonging Mastery Independence Generosity

32. CONTEXT – circumstances and conditions which surround an event or individual; the circumstances or settings which determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of an event. • CONTENT – information and experiences created by individuals, institutions, and technology to benefit audiences in venues that they value.

33. Approaches to 4-H Youth Development CONTENT Belonging Mastery Independence Generosity School Enrichment

34. All Youth need: • To know they are cared about by others (Attachment, Belonging, Connection) • To feel and believe they are capable and successful (Achievement, Mastery, Competence) • To know they are able to influence people and events (Autonomy, Power, Confidence) • To practice helping others through their own generosity (Altruism, Purpose, Contribution)

35. Educational Opportunities • Opportunities to explore dimensions of the human experience from many perspectives (personal) • Opportunities to examine the many kinds of social organizations that humankind has invested (organizational) • Opportunities to experiment with the contrasting ways in which we explore and interpret our own lives and the natural world around us through the methodologies and assumptions of various fields (technical)

36. What does America need from 4-H during its second century?

37. 1. To remember our central mission is based on the Land Grant Idea • The Imperative vs. The Important • A Covenant vs. A Contract

38. What does it mean to have a COVENANT with youth? • A covenant rests on a shared commitment to: Ideas, Issues, Values, Goals • Covenants are a promise to hold a vision that honors youth

39. 2. To create opportunities to meet the basic needs of youth: • Belonging • Mastery • Independence • Generosity

40. Why meet youth needs? • If youth needs are unmet, they become defining factors in the lives of youth • If youth needs are met in positive ways, youth develop CHARACTER and are more likely to CONTRIBUTE

41. 3. To remember our UNIQUE purpose and plans Engagement of Resources Vision of 4-H Youth Development Programs Needs of youth and communities

42. 4. To EVALUATE our impacts

43. Evaluation helps us understand our current reality- where we are - and how far we are from our vision - where we want to be

44. 5. To make sure our programs CHANGE

45. How do we change? • We must be drawn to what we want to create not simply repelled by what we have. “People don’t resist change, they resist being changed.”

46. 6. To remember the DREAMSof youth

47. 4-H Study Does participation make a difference in the lives of youth?

48. What difference does 4-H Club participation make? • Two year study • To what extent and in what ways do 4-H Clubs influence and contribute to the “context” for positive youth development?

49. Youth Development defined… • In this study, youth development was understood as a process of growing up and developing one’s capacities in positive ways -Walker & Dunham, 1994

50. Is success related to active participation and involvement in public demonstrations, community service projects, and events? • Is success due to the relationships developed and the long-term membership?