Welcome to the 4-H Youth Retention Study website!

This multi-state research project, formally known as “Understanding Recruitment and Retention in the 4-H Club Program” was approved by NIFA-USDA in October 2018. In the pilot year (2014-2015), California and Idaho were involved. Over the past four years, starting with 2015-2016, as many as nine states have collected data. Currently, there are eight states involved in the research study (California, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Washington, and Wyoming) and a total of 20 Extension youth development professionals.

The goal of this research is to retain more youth in the 4-H program nationwide, as well as to recruit more youth to the program annually. This study surveys first-year members and their parents (adults) to better understand their experiences in the 4-H program and their intent to re-enrollment in the program for a second year.