Overview

Volunteerism is a public health issue. Research has shown that volunteering for youth programs can increase attainment of skills (Grant, 2020). Further, volunteering can improve well-being and connection with others (Worker, 2020). Volunteering has important implications for the health and well-being of society.

In the 4-H program, volunteers play a critical role in supporting the positive development of youth. 4-H volunteers serve a myriad of roles, including club leaders, project leaders, camp chaperones, and volunteer enrollment coordinators. In these important roles, volunteers invest their time and expertise to support the healthy development of our young people.

Need for more understanding

While we know that volunteers play an important role in our society, more research is needed to understand:

1. What factors shape volunteer engagement in educational or youth service opportunities in the western region of the U.S.
2. Of these factors, which are most important in shaping volunteer engagement?

Through gaining more knowledge of the factors that can contribute to volunteer engagement, youth organizations such as 4-H can better understand factors that can shape the likelihood of volunteering in a youth organization. This knowledge can then help youth development organizations as they create strategies to increase the numbers of volunteers in their organization.

Methods

To research this topic, I conducted a study that used data obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2017 Current Population Survey on Volunteering and Civic Life, which is a probability sample of all civilian non-institutional populations age 16 or older living in households in the United States. The sample size (n=39,150) allowed for me to run a supervised machine learning decision tree to understand which factors shape volunteer engagement. Nineteen variables were added to the model, which measured factors pertaining to race/ethnicity, income, work status, education, citizenship, immigration, and retirement. The main outcome of interest what whether the person volunteered for an educational or youth service in the past 12 months (0=no, 1=yes).

Results

The results of this study were originally presented at the American Public Health Association annual meeting in Boston MA in 2022. Below are some of the findings.

1. The top five variables of importance (in order) included: monthly labor force, sex identity, educational attainment, marital status, and household type.
2. The likelihood of volunteering was 50-50 when people stated they were employed at work, unemployed, or not in the labor force due to "other" reasons.
3. Of those having the above employment status, females were more likely to volunteer (54%) compared to males (45%).
4. For those having the above employment status and identifying as female, more educational attainment was a factor that shaped whether a person was likely to volunteer.

So what does this mean?

These results have important implications for youth organizations, such as 4-H. First, when seeking to increase volunteers in 4-H, programs should consider targeting those who are unemployed. While the unemployed seek new job opportunities, having volunteer experiences can give them employable skills, such as leadership, communication, and mentoring skills. Also, allowing unemployed volunteers the opportunity to forge new relationships with other volunteers can provide an important buffer against stress and other challenges that someone who is experiencing unemployment often face.

Second, 4-H has an opportunity to further support female volunteers through providing support and other resources to increase their engagement. For example, some female adult volunteers may have young children of their own and may need extra support so they can volunteer in the 4-H program. Through helping female volunteers engage in the program, 4-H can provide a supportive environment that allows for the volunteers to thrive in their volunteer role.

Third, 4-H has an opportunity to further engage middle and high school students in volunteering. The 4-H program in California does this through various ways, such as their teens-as-teachers expanded learning opportunities. Also, summer camps often train high school students to serve as camp counselors. These experiences can provide young people with new leadership skills to help them prepare for college and their future career.

References

Grant, S., Maass, S., Vettern, R., Harrington, R., O'Neil, K., McGlaughlin, P., & Good, T. (2020). The impact of volunteering: A multi-state study of 4-H youth development volunteers. Journal of Youth Development, 15(4), 32-50. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2020.870 

Rodriguez, M. (2022). Using Machine Learning to Understand Volunteer Engagement [Poster]. APHA, Boston, MA. https://apha.confex.com/apha/2022/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/517822

Worker, S. M., Espinoza, D. M., Kok, C. M., Go, C., & Miller, J. C. (2020). Volunteer outcomes and impact: The contributions and consequences of volunteering in 4-H. Journal of Youth Development, 15(4), 6-31. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2020.847  

Overview

This past year, 4-H, CalFresh Healthy Living, and the Master Gardener Program in Sutter has been collaborating together to serve youth and their families. Funded by the Sierra Health Foundation, a positive youth development program was designed to include four program components: 1) 4-H Embryology and Water Wizards school programming, 2) CalFresh Healthy Living school programming, 3) Master Gardener school garden programming, and 4) a four-week Ag-Venture summer day camp. 

Guided by social-ecological theory, each program component was theorized to increase child well-being through the positive interactions between program staff and youth throughout the duration of the program. Anticipated outcomes included increases in youth's: 1) social skills and responsibility, 2) healthy eating and physical activity, 3) agriculture knowledge and skills, 4) exposure to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). These anticipated proximal outcomes were then theorized to influence youth's: 1) social competency, leadership, and energy balance and 2) college and career readiness. The anticipated distal outcomes include improving overall youth well being. See attached conceptual model.

How did 4-H, CalFresh, and Master Gardener collaborate?

Each week, staff from each program met together to talk about the program. These meetings talked about the following topics: 1) program design, 2) program implementation, 3) program evaluation, and 4) program dissemination. During these conversations, there were many research questions that surfaced. Here are some of the many topics that we uncovered:

• When seeking to target low-income families, should we charge a program fee for youth to participate in the Ag-Venture summer day camp? If so, how should we conceptualize a price that could help establish sustainability for future program implementations while also not "pricing out" the youth from participating?
• Who should staff the day-to-day operations of the youth programming? Should we use volunteers or hire part-time staff? Or should we incorporate a train-the-trainer approach and allow educators to deliver program components?
• What training was needed to ensure that all staff and volunteers have the necessary information to deliver high quality positive youth development programming? What should this training look like?
• How should we describe this entire initiative to external stakeholders? While the program was positive youth development, which is what 4-H does, CalFresh Healthy Living and the Master Gardener Program were also equally involved. 

These were some of the many discussions that our team had as we collaborated together as a team. There were certainly some disagreements, which is to be anticipated with group work, but overall the team came together to produce an innovative approach to Cooperative Extension programming among low-income families. These efforts were expected to support UC ANR's public value of "promoting healthy people and communities."

Preliminary results

While data collection is still occurring, here are some of the preliminary results based from questionnaires given to youth, parents, and educators.

• Older youth (grades 4-8) enjoyed the program, felt respected by camp staff, and learned new agriculture knowledge
• Younger youth (grades K-3) had fun at camp, felt camp counselors were nice, and learned more about science
• Parents were satisfied with communications from staff, felt the check-in procedure was easy, and were likely to recommend the summer day camp to other parents

Another result was that 36% of parents were familiar with the University of California Cooperative Extension. Note: A peer-reviewed manuscript with more results is being drafted and will be submitted to a journal in the near future. 

What lessons can we glean?

There are many lessons that we can learn from this innovative program. The following are some of the many lessons learned:

• Cooperative Extension program units can collaborate together to promote healthy people and communities.
• There is a need for more youth programming in the community.
• More research is needed on sustainable program staffing:
  • Hiring staff required significant time and logistical coordination.
  • Utilization of 4-H and Master Gardener volunteers may show promise for establishing a more sustainable staffing model.
  • Train-the-trainers appears to be a feasible staffing approach to delivering high-quality youth development programming in the schools.

References

Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2007). The Bioecological Model of Human Development. Handbook of Child Psychology, 793-828. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0114

Hsu, M. (2023). Ag-Venture campers dive ‘head first' into agriculture, natural resources. University of California Cooperative Extension. https://ucanr.edu/News/?routeName=newsstory&postnum=57709

Youth Living in Poverty

Poverty is a reality for many youth and their families. According to the Children's Defense Fund, nearly 10.5 million children were considered economically disadvantaged ("poor") in 2019. Many youth experience housing instability. During 2017-18, over 1.5 million school-aged children experienced homelessness (Children's Defense Fund). Youth that live in poverty can face challenging circumstances as they interact with others in various contexts, such as at home, at school, and more broadly in the community. Bronfenbrenner's ecological theoretical framework provides a helpful way to understand that adequate access to resources is vital to youth "thriving."

Structures that Can Perpetuate Poverty

While the topic of poverty can be very complex to understand, research reveals that structures can shape the ebb and flow of resources to underserved communities of color. In her famous article, "Levels of racism: A theoretic framework and a gardener's tale" describes a flower box analogy to illustrate some of the mechanisms that interrelate when seeking to understand the complexities that youth of color can experience, such as racism and limited access to resources.

Watch Video

Reflection Questions

• Read article here.
• In the article, Dr. Jones describes an allegory that contains two flower boxes. The first has rich fertile soil and the second has poor rocky soil. Is there a relation between “poor rocky soil” and poverty? If so, how?
• The allegory goes on to explain the “gardener” prefers red flowers over pink flowers. The pink flowers are planted in the poor rocky soil. Does the pink flower get to “decide” which flower box to reside within? How may this allegory relate to youth living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods?
• The allegory describes a structure whereby the gardener separates the soil into two different flower boxes. The system maintains that the rich fertile soil goes in one flower box and the poor rocky soil goes into a separate flower box. What structures are prevalent in your community and how do these structures gate keep access to economic resources for youth?
• A central figure in the allegory is “the gardener.” In your opinion, who is the gardener? Why?

Share Your Feedback

I invite you to share your thoughts by submitting a comment to this post. Your input and feedback is a valuable part of the exchange of ideas and information.

References

Arnold, M. E., & Gagnon, R. J. (2020). Positive youth development theory in practice: An update on the 4-H Thriving Model. Journal of youth development (Online), 15(6), 1-23. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2020.954 

Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2007). The Bioecological Model of Human Development. Handbook of Child Psychology, 793-828. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0114 

Jones, C. P. (2000). Levels of racism: A theoretic framework and a gardener's tale. American journal of public health, 90(8), 1212-1215. 

Overview of 4-H Champions Network

On Sunday, October 9, 2022, over thirty 4-H Champions convened in Madison Wisconsin to discuss innovative ways to implement the 4-H Thriving Model of positive youth development at the national, state, and county levels. The Regional 4-H Positive Youth Development Champion Network consists of up to two Thrive Champions per state who are organized according to geographical region of the United States, including U.S. territories. See https://padlet.com/maryarnold2/c1798n2yhz1sikcf Each Champion commits for a term of up to three years in order to disseminate the 4-H Thriving Model for their state-level constituencies. Before their term expires, Champions identify their successor in order to continue the work of implementing the 4-H Thriving Model.

What is the 4-H Thriving Model?

The 4-H Thriving Model, originally proposed by Dr. Mary Arnold, is a theoretical framework that helps practitioners understand how youth develop in 4-H, which can inform program planning and evaluation through a standardized theoretical model. The model provides a resiliency-based lens of youth development and highlights how high quality program contexts relate to youth proximal and distal outcomes. The model outlines three distinct structures: 1) 4-H developmental context, 2) youth thriving, and 3) positive youth development outcomes.

Key constructs of the model

Central to the model is the concept of a youth's "spark," which is defined as a "passion for a self-identified interest or skill, or a capacity that metaphorically lights a fire in the adolescent's life, providing energy, joy, purpose, and direction" (Scales et al., 2011, p. 264). This spark is assumed to provide a catalyst for change that, when coupled with a nurturing developmental context, can lead to indicators of youth's thriving, such as openness to challenge and discovery, hopeful purpose, transcendent awareness, pro-social orientation, positive emotionality, and intentional self-regulation. The result of thriving can lead to youth developmental outcomes, such as academic motivation, academic success, reduction in risk behaviors, healthful choices, social competence, personal standards, connection to others, and contribution to others.

For more information about the 4-H Thriving Model, please visit the website: https://helping-youth-thrive.extension.org/

References

Arnold, M. E., & Gagnon, R. J. (2020). Positive youth development theory in practice: An update on the 4-H Thriving Model. Journal of youth development (Online), 15(6), 1-23. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2020.954 

Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., & Roehlkepartain, E. C. (2011). Adolescent thriving: The role of sparks, relationships, and empowerment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 263-277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9578-6