Centennial Celebration

4-H marks 100 years with nationwide "Conversations," volunteer pledge drive

By Mary Ellen Bell

Evon Haney is smart and savvy beyond her 16 years. She spends her summers living with a relative in suburban Washington D.C. By comparison, she insists with some passion, Madison just doesn't have much to offer for teens.

"We need better transportation. The buses don't run after 10 and they don't go where we need to go," she says. "A taxi costs too much. Kids can't go anywhere without a car, so they hang on the street, and then they get in trouble."

Haney has joined a couple dozen other young people and a sprinkling of adults on a November evening at the Dane County UW-Extension Office to participate in the National Conversation on Youth Development in the 21st Century.

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin, (top center) addresses the Wisconsin Conversation on Youth Development at UW-Madison in January. 4-H members presented Kohl with an oversized check representing volunteer service hours pledged to local communities. Wisconsin has pledged more than 200,000 hours over the last few months, representing more than $1 million of voluntary service.

The National Conversation is sponsored and hosted by 4-H, the highly respected youth movement affiliated with land-grant universities and the federal cooperative extension system, in honor of the organization's 100th anniversary in 2002. In Wisconsin, 4-H is coordinated by UW-Extension's Cooperative Extension Division.

The "Conversation" begins at meetings like this one, as youth and adults gather in Extension office meeting rooms, church basements and school libraries all across the country to talk about creating the kind of community they want for youth in the next three to five years.

In January, the conversation moved to the state level, with governors, state legislators and business and political leaders. Then, for three days at the end of February, delegates from each state brought the conversation to Washington and national leaders.

Evon Haney, Derek Rose Jr., and Jennifer Classon (middle, left to right) work on recommendations during small group discussions at UW-Madison in January.

During each of these sessions, organizers collected pledge cards from participants who promise to perform voluntary community service during the next 12 months. National organizers hope to collect pledges totaling millions of hours of service to present to President George W. Bush during the event finale in the nation's capital.

"We hope that these local conversations will serve as a catalyst for action at all levels-community, state, and national," says Greg Hutchins, the state program leader for 4-H youth development programs at UW- Extension. "The 4-H movement has always had a strong public service dimension, and we're very pleased to be leading this National Conversation."

The 4-H movement also has a history of developing collaborations with other community groups that work with young people. In Dane County, the conversation drew participation from the Dane County Youth Commission, Madison School Community Recreation, Urban League of Greater Madison and Neighborhood House.

Maria Mitchell, St. Croix County 4-H member, and UW-Extension Chancellor Kevin Reilly (above) look over recommendations to make Wisconsin a better place for young people during the Wisconsin State Conversation. The recommendations from the 350 delegates will contribute to the national discussion on youth development.

When it was conceived 100 years ago, 4-H was an organization intended to spread modern agricultural practices developed at the land grant universities' research plots and laboratories to remote farm families. Today it is a dynamic education enrichment program with 6.8 million participants who are as likely to live in cities and suburbs as on farms.

Programs range from the arts and computers to rocketry, environmental education and animal sciences. While 4-H clubs abound, 4-H programs also exist in schools, special interest groups, camps and child care centers. The program also has spread internationally, with 4-H members and alumni participating in international educational exchanges in Europe, Mexico, Australia and Japan.