News Stories

July 22, 2005

The University of California's 4-H Youth Development Club Program is offering an excellent experience to most of its participants, according to the results of a recent survey, which also revealed areas for improvement.
 
"One of the advantages of 4-H's administration by a major research university is our interest in taking a scientific approach to evaluating our programs," said Marianne Bird, the 4-H Youth Development advisor for Sacramento County UC Cooperative Extension. "Are we meeting our goals? Can we be doing something better? It can be risky to ask these questions, but we feel improving the experience for our members is worth it."
 
The evaluation examines five different areas that youth development research says are important to young people's growth: supportive relationships, safety, youth involvement, engaging activities and community connection. Strong youth development programs exhibit these components.
 
The survey was designed by Youth Development Strategies, Inc., (YDSI) of Philadelphia, Penn. Ninety-five 10- to 17-year-old 4-H members from four Sacramento County clubs filled out questionnaires and wrote out comments. The data were shipped to Philadelphia, where YDSI input the information into a computer database.
 
The results showed that 4-H is very strong in the development of supportive relationships between the youth and their leaders. Almost all the respondents, 91 percent, said they hear something nice from more than two leaders when they do something good. Only one quarter felt they couldn't approach a leader if they were upset or mad and 77 percent were comfortable going to a leader for help in a crisis.
 
"It's like a family," wrote one respondent. "For instance, I have about 12 ladies in this club I consider my mom."
 
Part of the 4-H mission is providing leadership and involvement opportunities to youth. The survey delved into how members perceived whether their ideas count, their role in decision-making, opportunities for leadership and their sense of belonging. Three-quarters said they had been involved in planning, only 4 percent felt their ideas never counted, but 22 percent said they don't help in making decisions. None of the respondents felt as if he or she didn't belong.
 
"When I am at a 4-H meeting, I feel comfortable and not judged by everything I do. I enjoy the experiences that I participate in, though I do feel a bit limited in project options," wrote a respondent.
 
Some comments indicated that youth and adult leaders may want to address the emergence of cliques within 4-H clubs.
 
"In 4-H there is a lot of group activities and the groups consist of people they know. The leaders don't usually mix it up," a child wrote.
 
True to its educational mission, 4-H scored highly in skill building. Most members indicated in the surveys they are growing and learning. Eighty percent said they feel challenged in the program.
 
"It's fun," wrote one child. "You could learn a whole lot of stuff that you can't learn in school."
 
On the downside, 68 percent reported that participation in 4-H clubs is at least sometimes boring. Clubs generally revolve around two types of meetings -- the monthly club meeting and the smaller project meetings. Some respondents complained specifically about the club meetings.
 
"Meetings are boring and say the same thing EVERY time," said one 4-H member. "At 4-H, I get extremely bored. They just drone on and on forever. They never stop talking," wrote another.
 
4-H strives to help youth connect with their communities. Only 5 percent of the respondents said they have "never" had a chance to help others in 4-H.
 
"Community involvement is an area where we shine," Bird said.
 
One member wrote on a survey, "Everybody is eager to help anyone and everyone when given the chance to."
 
Bird said the survey helps administrators, academics and 4-H leaders know where and how the organization is making an impact and where they can grow. The leaders will now take the data back to their clubs and ask the youth to tell them why they thought the membership responded as it did and what changes need to be made to address the concerns that have been expressed.
 
Next year, the survey will be conducted again to see if this new awareness leads to measurable differences in the results.
 
"I think we have a lot of good things to be proud of," Bird said. "We're not at an ending point now, we're at a jumping off point."