4-H is America's largest out-of-school education program for boys and girls. It is a worldwide youth development program available in every state and many countries. Youths who participate in 4-H get what all young people need to succeed in life-the confidence, compassion and connections with caring adults to make contributions to their communities.

4-H is youth development. It is people sharing, learning, growing and becoming the best they can be.

4-H is life skills. Through real-life situations, 4-H helps youths develop life skills such as communication, citizenship, decision-making, leadership, interpersonal relations and community and global awareness. Youths learn these practical skills through hundreds of projects like cooking, wildlife, livestock, nutrition, sewing, archery and shooting sports, ceramics, electricity, computers, science, and many more.

4-H is one of a kind! It provides learning experiences in which youths, with help from parents, interested adults and older youths, grow personally as they develop skills for living. 4-H'ers have fun while they work and learn together. 4-H takes place in meetings, project groups, individual project work, schools, special activities or events. Skills learned through 4-H help youths become better members of their families, communities and world. 4-H participants explore careers and positive leisure-time activities. The 4-H Youth Development program creates an educational environment for positive development of culturally-diverse youths that enables them to reach their fullest potential. 4-H accomplishes its mission through non-informal education.

4-H is family and community-oriented. Parents play a critical role in volunteering with the program to support their children. A corps of more than 630,000 volunteer 4-H leaders share their time and talents to help 4-H'ers "learn by doing." Work on projects takes place at home, in the yard or around the kitchen table, with guidance from a parent, an older brother or sister, or a neighbor. The 4-H member needs the support and encouragement of a family and growing together through 4-H strengthens the family. 4-H members devote time to community service in a wide variety of projects, ranging from helping the elderly and disabled, to restoring historic sites, to landscaping public buildings to helping preserve their environment.

4-H is open to all. 4-H happens everywhere. It is in the city, suburbs and small towns, on farms and ranches. The 4-H program is open to all who wish to participate without regard to race, creed, gender, marital status, handicaps or disadvantages, economic or ethnic backgrounds.

4-H is a publicly-supported informal education program. County, state and federal funds are combined in a unique partnership to support this educational youth development program. The curriculum is provided through your land-grant university, which in Idaho is the University of Idaho. Private funds from individuals, businesses and organizations enhance the 4-H program by providing support for special events, awards, and recognition, educational materials and program enhancement.

4-H is flexible. Hundreds of projects and activities provide opportunities for all youths regardless of location, race or economic situation.

Today, 4-H involves more than 6.5 million young people-from the city, from the suburbs, from rural areas, from the farm, and everything in between. More importantly, the 45 million 4-H alumni point with pride to their experience in developing life skills--telling how much they gained from making oral presentations, record keeping, developing leadership, management and communication skills, practicing the responsibility of citizenship and meeting lifelong friends. 4-H youths are more likely than others to report that they:

• succeed in school, getting more A's than other youths,
• are involved as leaders in their school and the community,
• are looked up to as role models by other youths, and
• help others in their community.

4-H is conducted by the Cooperative Extension System of the nation's Land-Grant Universities through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and county governments across the country. 4-H today is having a strong impact on youths and on America. 

Membership is open to youths in kindergarten through the 12th grade. We always need and welcome adult volunteers. Extension offers a variety of adult classes and training to get you started.