Developed by Kirk A. Astroth, Extension Curriculum Specialist, and Betty McCoy, State 4-H Program Leader, Montana State University, Extension Service, Bozeman.
Portions of this guide were adapted from:
- McFarland, M.M. (1985). Starting and Maintaining 4-H Clubs: A Handbook for Agents (4-H 506). Kansas Cooperative Extension Service, Manhattan, Kansas.
- Florida Cooperative Extension Service. (1988). Starting a 4-H Club. (1988). Gainesville, FL: Florida Cooperative Extension Service.
- Rowe, Corinne. (n.d.). Expanding 4-H to New Audiences. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho, Idaho Cooperative Extension Service.
- Michigan State University. (1987). Starting 4-H Clubs. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Service.
No single Extension Service concept or program is more widely known or
recognized than 4-H. The technique of organizing boys and girls into clubs through
which Extension programs could help youth learn both practical and life skills was one of
the early innovations in education--and it succeeded admirably.
At one time, in the early years of the 20th century, 4-H clubs were started to meet
the needs of people in a specific area. For example, someone had a garden full
of excess, over-ripe tomatoes, and a canning club was organized to preserve the
tomatoes for future use.
4-H projects--strictly rural in the early days--have now diversified to appeal
to boys and girls wherever they live and whatever their interests. Over time,
clubs began to develop multiple interests rather than focusing on just one
projectand thus, community clubs developed to meet the diverse needs and interests of
young people and families.
Today, 4-H comes in many forms and sizes--from single project clubs like
horse or rabbit clubs to large community clubs that over youngsters many projects
in which to be involved. The model still remains relevant--a small group of
kids working with at least one caring adult, learning things of interest.
During the 1990's, 4-H has gained in popularity in both rural and urban
areas. Parents are anxious to have their children involved in positive, educational
programs outside of school hours where they learn valuable life skills that will serve
their children for the rest of their lives. 4-H offers that environment--but only if
we learn how to develop new clubs and a network of trained volunteers who
can lead these groups.
You may be inspired to start a new club for several reasons. Perhaps
someone--a county commissioner, a parent, a teacher--asks you to do it. Or you
recognize a large group of youngsters who seem to be "hanging out" with nothing
to doyoungsters who need some positive outlets for their energy. Or an
existing club has become too large, perhaps because of an excellent recruitment
and publicity program. Or a parent or an Ambassador who wants to start a
new club themselves.
With the advent of the national 4-H ad campaign: "Youth Voices in
Action"--and the initiation of 4-H Cloverbuds programs in the state, agents and
volunteers need some guidelines for organizing new 4-H clubs. 4-H faculty are
constantly faced with deciding the best way to
start 4-H clubs that will most effectively achieve the 4-H mission.
Whatever the reason, this handbook has been developed for you. To help
you learn how to start and support effective 4-H groups. Assuming that you are
now eager to start a new group for any of these reasons, what is the first step?
This handbook provides Extension faculty and volunteers with a
process, not a prescription, for starting clubs within
their counties. You will need to adapt this process to meet your needs and the
needs of youth and families in your county. Two major club structures currently exist in Montana 4-H: the
community club and the project club.
A community club involves members of a variety of ages and interests.
Its average size may be as small as eight members and as large as 30 members,
but it may be over 100 members. All members attend a general club meeting
which may be held bimonthly or more often throughout the year. Club
meetings include conducting some business, group-building activities and educational
programs. Each club member also participates in one or more project groups
which meet at other times in a variable schedule during the year under guidance of
a project leader.
The community club is typically managed and advised by one or more
organizational leaders, usually with the support of parents and project leaders.
A project club centers around one project, and all club members
participate in that project. The average club size
is 10-20 members. Club meetings are held seasonally or throughout the year on
a weekly or monthly basis, and they focus on project work and business.
Additional club activities may be scheduled for group-building, family involvement,
and community service.
The type of club structure that works best will be determined by the
situation within the community. Each structure has benefits, but some factors indicate
which type of club is best to start.
The project club is usually the simplest type of club to start because of its
focus on a single subject. Sometimes, project club members become interested in
more 4-H opportunities or the club attracts members with diversified interests.
If this occurs, the club may need to find additional adult support, and it
may evolve into a community club to fulfill the changing needs and interests of
the members.
· many projects are offered
· you have a large number of youths and volunteers.
· you have a small number of volunteers. There are many ways to start new clubs--through schools, in a local
neighborhood, through interested parents, through community organizations, in
a geographic area, on a county basis or through a division of an existing club.
It's important for you to determine the method of organizing that will be most effective
in your situation.
First, we'll outline the general process for organizing any new group using
a school, and then we'll talk about how this process is
adapted to various settings to be most effective.
Your first step in starting a 4-H club would be to determine the area where
you want to begin. Start with a location that holds the most promise for success or
may have shown the greatest interest as a result of some promotional campaign. Where
is the greatest need? What area has few opportunities for young people to
be positively engaged? What audience have other organizations left behind or
ignored? You may want to conduct a preliminary needs assessment to determine where
to begin.
There are 10 basic steps to organizing a 4-H club using a school as the
starting contact point. The process of completing these steps takes time. You must take
this into account and allow for the time necessary to make starting and
maintaining clubs a priority. Recruitment is only
one part of the awareness and interest step in
this process. Using this 10-step process will aid in recruiting volunteers
because you can be more focused on the specific volunteer roles needed. However,
by thinking through all the steps and focusing on results, you guard against
making the process too complex.
Prior to any contacts with youth or parents, get in touch with the
superintendent of schools. At the time of the
initial contact, the school superintendent should be informed of the purpose and
educational value of the 4-H program, its link to the land-grant university, and its
focus on life skill development and learning. Remember--research has clearly
demonstrated that young people involved in extracurricular activities outside of
school hours engage in less at-risk behaviors, have higher levels of academic
achievement, and generally develop more positive problem-solving skills than
youth who are not involved in such programs.
Explain the ways 4-H functions through adult volunteer leaders, with training
and resources of Montana State University Extension Service. The superintendent
of schools may also want to know the funding sources of the
program--USDA/state/county. Seek advice on
procedures, contact persons and other tips to
build support for your efforts from the beginning.
After visiting with the superintendent of schools, you will want to contact
the
principal of the school or schools through which you are planning to conduct
your organizing efforts. The principal will want to know the same information that
you presented to the superintendent of schools and will need to know what
expectations you have, if any, from the school
administration. It will help you in gaining approval and endorsement of your efforts
to organize a club of youths from that school if you ask advice of the principal
about the program and get permission to use the school as a communication vehicle.
With the approval and support of the school administration, you can begin
step 2. If no previous 4-H contacts have been made with youth, you might start with
the survey of youth found in the appendix of this
book. This survey will give you a guide to areas of interest and activities
of the potential 4-H members.
Simultaneously, you may want to contact parents in the area. A
promotional brochure such as "More Than You
Ever Imagined" can be attached to a letter to parents and sent home with each child
in school. The youth-interest survey might be combined with an interest survey
of parents and should be returned to the school within two or three days.
Those who are interested will respond immediately. If you wait too long, the
surveys
will be lost. In an average community, you can expect to distribute
approximately five times as many surveys and parent letters as will be returned.
Try to get permission from the principal or from the PTA/PTO president
to make a presentation at either a school assembly and/or a PTA/PTO
meeting. This presentation should be no more than 5 minutes long and should be
well-prepared and lively. A 4-H Ambassador would be an ideal person for this
presentation with an enthusiastic older 4-H member or adult 4-H volunteer leader
as a support person or as an alternative. Montana 4-H also have several
excellent promotional videos that you could use for such a presentation:
· This is 4-H
· 4-H Is More
· 4-H...More Than You Ever Imagined
· You and Your Child in 4-H
· You Know Us If You Know the Inside Story
Some counties have had success in distributing 4-H promotional literature
to youth during enrollment days at their schools. Junior leaders can be used
to hand out literature at that time. A 4-H display can draw interest to your
literature table, especially if it involves live animals or action. Within a week after the surveys are returned, send to those who
responded positively a written invitation to attend
an informational meeting for parents and youth in their community. The school is
a good place for this meeting, but you may know of other places that people would
be more comfortable attending a meeting--a church or a local community center.
Display posters announcing the informational meeting in the school or other
appropriate places. Involve your Ambassadors in helping announce this meeting.
Your goal is to try and get both youth and adults to this initial meeting so that
the entire family understands the purpose and opportunities available in 4-H from
the outset. Make use of all good, high-quality materials and visual aids that portray
4-H as a vital and dynamic educational program.
For future reference, keep a list of those who attend with addresses and
phone numbers. This meeting should be informal and completely informational--but
FUN! Have some activities planned to get everyone involved and be sure to arrange
for some kind of refreshments. Remember the old adage: "The quickest way to a
person's heart may be through their stomach."
You should distribute copies of the Montana 4-H Clover Project Selection Guide
to each family attending and point out the various projects in which they can
be involved.
This is not the time to ask adults to volunteer for anything! The purpose
of this meeting is to help parents understand what it means to be in 4-H and what
the range of opportunities are. Another date can be set for organization.
Emphasize that 4-H is a family program. Participants in 4-H clubs
(both youth and parents) work together to decide what kind of club they want.
You may also want to show a video of 4-H in action to suggest programs. It is
also appropriate to have sample literature describing popular or potential
projects--member manuals are especially helpful. Choose some of the newer ones--such
as the cat project, any of the materials from the "Skills for Living" animal
science series, the new foods project books, or
others that you feel are especially attractive.
The informational meeting is probably the most important step in getting a
4-H club started. However, while the meeting will indicate the degree of members
and parent interest, it may not resolve the question of leadership. The First Meeting
The following informational meeting outline could be used as a guide for organizing
this first meeting:
1. Group Building activity.
2. Ambassador presentation and/or video tape--"4-H is More" or "4-H...More than
You Ever Imagined."
3. Present the model of support--Federal (USDA), State (land-grant university)
County (county commission). Mention private fund involvement but explain that these are
foundation funds and not United Way dollars. Describe the parts of Extension--agriculture,
family and consumer science, 4-H, community development, and others.
4. Talk about the life skills taught, using tangible skills taught through project work
and group interaction skills taught through club and group activities. Emphasize the benefits
of 4-H to youth, adults and community.
5. Discuss the ingredients of a club:
· Five or more kids
· One or more adult leaders
· Be organized with club officers
· A yearly program plan
· Completed application for a charter
Be sure to discuss expectations of volunteers and parents relative to the club.
6. Present some examples of projects and project materials. Project displays from
other clubs would involved "satisfied customers". Explain support provided by county and
state 4-H staff in terms of resources, training and materials.
7. Ask those who are interested in forming a 4-H club to sign up (name, address,
phone number and possible project interests) for a parent organizational meeting to be held in
the next week. Urge parents to discuss 4-H with their children so that they can come to
this meeting with clear expectations for the group.
8. Demonstrate the 4-H pledge and close with refreshments. One of the final questions that should be raised at the informational meeting
is: "Should we start a new 4-H club in this community?" The answer to this
question should be based on written and verbal feedback generated during the
meeting. The final decision should rest with the meeting participants and with the
adult volunteers who agree to take on some leadership roles.
This must be their decision because they have to feel
a responsibility for the new club. As an Extension faculty member, you
should only be prepared to answer questions and coordinate efforts in the desired
directionnot take on a leadership roles.
Often, the informational meeting ends with a definite interest and a
tentative commitment of leadership. You and/or the volunteers will need to make
follow-up contacts before the next step to answer questions and build leader
commitment. Be sure to encourage this
"behind-the-scenes" volunteer work. This is
the foundation of community leadership development and community organizing.
If the group decides to start a club, have them set dates for planning sessions and
a club organizational meeting. Ask for volunteers to assist at these meetings.
If the group is large, it is possible that more than one club may be started. If
the people who volunteers to act as club leaders are inexperienced, they
should begin working with 8-15 members since larger groups are more difficult to
work with initially.
Make personal contact with all those parents who signed up as a result of
the informational meeting. This can be done by you or by the members of your
Ambassador group. This personal contact can result in ideas for possible adult leadership.
You may find that scheduling a planning session with some of the key
individuals will be helpful. Meet with the prospective leaders and a few older members (if
there are any) to plan and prepare all aspects of the impending organizational meeting.
During the course of this organizational meeting, it is important to emphasize
the essentials of a 4-H club: members and leaders working together in an
educational, learning environment. The following parent organizational format may be useful:
1. Group-building activity.
2. Determine what parents want to happen for their children as a result of
belonging to this group. Brainstorming works well for this step. Review project interests.
3. Determine the age of youth represented by the parents at this meeting.
Present information on appropriate methods and activities for teaching these ages. "Ages
& Stages" information can be found in many 4-H publications--especially the "Skills
for Living" animal science series.
4. Present club format options (see Appendix for ideas).
Assist the group in designing the format they desire. Notea club is not locked into any specific format. If,
after a year, a different structure is desired, a club should feel comfortable in making
the change. A simpler format is usually more comfortable for new clubs.
5. Take an inventory of parents' skills, noting what each parent is willing to teach
or help with. You'll find some sample survey forms in the Appendix.
6. Explain the role of the club organizational leader and help the group select either
a temporary or long-term leader or leaders. The job description for
organizational leaders is in the Appendix.
7. Determine the dates and times of future 4-H club meetings. These will depend
on the type of club structure selected.
8. Determine the location of the club meetings.
9. Decide who will be in charge of contacting members about meetings. This
task can be shared through a "telephone committee" or other ways.
10. Plan the first club meeting to include
· a group building activity
· a decision-making portion
· an educational program
· recreation
· refreshments
11. Schedule a training session for organizational leaders to be held before the
first club meeting. The focus of this training should be on basic roles and
responsibilities. Introduce leaders at this training to the club organizational leader's handbook
"The Leading Edge." (conducted by the organizational leader)
2. Decision-making
3. Program
A good program for a first meeting is a one-time project for the group
because it is active and involves everyone and gives each person something concrete
to take home. A good video could also be used effectively. Project talks or
demonstrations are probably not appropriate for a new club at this time.
Recreation in addition to initial group building may be included.
(If you're organizing a 4-H Cloverbuds group, the Montana 4-H Cloverbuds
manual for agents and leaders contains outlines for the first three meetings. You may want
to refer to this section). If people volunteer for a job, especially for a leadership role, they will be eager
to do a good job. If we expect 4-H leaders to perform to our satisfaction and to
their own personal fulfillment, we must train them. Conduct this training as soon
as possible after adults have volunteered so the interest of these leaders can be
maintained and their questions answered.
Some parents will be too busy to attend a night training meeting. You may want
to consider providing copies of the video series-- "Letters to New
Leaders"--to them to view at home during their
own time.
The training provided for individuals depends on their roles. Montana 4-H
has several resources that can be used to support leaders:
· Getting Started as a 4-H Project Leader
· The Leading Edge: 4-H Club Leader's Handbook
· 4-H Officer training materials
· "Decision-making in Youth
Groups" video tape
· Demonstrations
· Public Speaking
Be sure to distribute any needed materials to volunteer leaders at this
meeting. You should also provide one set of the club officer materials to each new
club. You may also want to provide a gavel and set of flags (U.S. and 4-H) for each
new club. It is at this meeting that the club becomes organized and ready to begin functioning. You
may want to be involved with this or you may have turned the meeting over to the new club
leaders. However, it is extremely important that you follow-up on the
results of this meeting. The following format is suggested:
1. Group Building
2. Introduction of volunteers by club leader(s).
3. Election of officers for the next months or year.
4. Vote for a club name.
5. Vote on club constitution and bylaws (see sample from the 4-H Secretary's
Book (#2FM045S) at the end of this page).
6. Establish some club goals--keep them simple the first year.
Some suggestions include:
Meet each month
Visit another club
Participate in the fair
Have a demonstration at each meeting
Attend county camp
7. Set date for the program planning committee (which may be the officers) to meet to
put details to the goals set.
8. Have a fun activity.
9. Refreshments
10. Adjourn Following the second meeting, officers will need to work with the person
elected to the specific office to which they are assigned to prepare them for the
next meeting. By the third meeting, officers should begin to "try their stuff."
Also, following the second meeting, the program committee (or officers) will need
to meet to review the work done by the club in the goal setting process. They will
also need to work out the details deemed necessary to make these goals and
activities happen. The program committee, working with the club leader(s), will
need to determine the tasks necessary to reach these goals and contact and recruit
youth members or adults to be responsible for completing these tasks.
Setting goals and program planning need input from the total club. Each
club should set up committees to complete the goals set by the club so that every
member has at least one role on a committee. Involvement will help produce
commitment. Committees are an excellent way to involve more members in the
decision-making process and in organizing the club's activities. Some suggestions
for committees can be found in "The Leading Edge: A Guide for 4-H Club Leaders"
on p. 26 in Chapter 3. Nurture the feeling of club ownership among members,
leaders and parents.
Leaders will need to adopt a "shadow helpership" style by helping officers
or teen leaders set agendas and learn the
steps of an effective meeting. At the actual club meeting, the leader should
sty in the background or to the side while the officers or teen leaders conduct
the meeting.
Detailed information on conducting goal-setting can be found in chapter 3
of the 4-H club organizational leader's guide called "The Leading Edge"
(#4-H 5271).
At the close of their meeting, the program committee should have a
calendar built, a list of those assigned to various tasks, and a sign-up sheet
for tasks still needing recruits to be presented at the third meeting. You can
use the "Program Planning Blanks" to
help you plan your annual program.
This initial planning gets a new club on the road, identifies the program to
involve members immediately, and helps club leaders and officers with jobs
that they will need to perform in order to complete the club program. When a
new club has been well-organized in the beginning, and the club
program planned, it is ready to be on its own. We often make a mistake in not letting go
of a new club.
Helping clubs function independently from the very beginning fosters
leadership rather than dependency. After the first two meetings, you do not need to
be involved each time the club meets. They will be happier and feel more
confident, leaving you more time for other programming efforts.
When a new club has been adequately organized, leaders trained, and
club program initially planned, it is ready to be launched. We often make the
mistake in not letting a new club go. Train your clubs from the very beginning to
function independently without the agent doing their program. They will be happier
and you will have more time for other things.
Agents need to support and encourage new clubs and particularly to support
and encourage club leaders. One helpful way of encouraging new leaders as well
as existing leaders is to have regularly scheduled leader meetings. Counties
that have done this have a much longer retention rate of organizational
leaders. Informal meetings provide a chance to share success stories, techniques, to
gain new ideas, to unify county programs, and to build a support system for
volunteer leaders.
Besides keeping in touch with the new club, you should develop
maintenance systems to support new and ongoing clubs. Leader orientation and
training should be conducted on a regular basis and include topics pertinent to
new leaders. For most new groups, monthly personal contact between the
Extension office and the organizational leader is critical, and it is helpful with
project leaders. If a new club is struggling, you may need to make more frequent contact.
If anyone needs to stand by a new club for a few months, it might be an
experienced volunteer leader from an established club. Continued assistance
might be more appropriately given by trainers--as mentors--utilized in the
training sessions for leaders. Mentors--experienced leaders trained to help leaders
of new clubs--can help you with the responsibilities of supporting new clubs.
With training and materials, these individuals can be a valuable link to newly
formed clubs. Regular contact by someone acting on behalf of the 4-H program in a
volunteer role can bring a great deal of reassurance to new adult leaders.
As participants become more involved in club activities, they adopt the
4-H organization as their own. Be sure to review the 4-H club model with the
club, emphasizing the importance of regular meetings. Be prepared to support
and recognize the efforts of the club and then withdraw as the primary support
person. Strive to help them realize that their
club is a part of a larger 4-H program throughout the county, state and nation.
This step-by-step process dealt with organizing a club through the
schools. However, there are other ways to organize clubs.
This approach to organizing a club assumes that you do not work
through the existing school system. If this is the case, the first step, after having
identified your target community through some sort of needs assessment, is to contact
community organizations that can help you organize a viable club.
1. Contact existing community groups.
If you've decided to try and organize a club within an existing neighborhood
or geographic area, your first step should be to contact any existing
community groups within the area. These could be churches, civic clubs, child care
organizations, community centers, military bases, or other groups. Any group
that represents a community and is of the community, so that they know the
community power structure and potential leadership.
2. Describe the 4-H program and secure commitments.
When you make your contact with the group, you will want to identify what
4-H is, discuss the life skills, present purpose and methods and outline
the procedure for establishing a 4-H club. You will need to find out the amount
of support that could be provided from the contact groups. For example: Could
they provide a meeting place? Can they be an avenue for recruiting leadership?
Would they be willing to advise and counsel on procedures? Would they be a way
to communicate with key people?
3. Organize an informational meeting.
If the community group or groups you have contacted are willing, they
would be much more effective in promoting an informational meeting. In that role,
they may offer presentation time within their group, as you would have done
with school assemblies or PTA/PTO meetings. They may also promote the
informational meeting through their newsletters, bulletin boards, and personal contacts.
When you are working through community groups, you may also want
to involve radio and newspaper coverage announcing your informational
meeting. Using several methods of timely promotion is always more effective than
isolated advertisements.
At this point, you can begin step 4 of "Organizing Through a School."
Parents may ask Extension agents or others involved in 4-H how their
child can become a 4-H member. If these families live in an area with an
existing program that can still expand to accommodate new families, you can be
the liaison for involving both parents and youth in the existing club.
If no program exists, or if the existing clubs are already stretched to their
limits, you need to encourage parents to establish a new 4-H club. Find out where
the interested parents live and what community resources are available.
Tell them you would like to visit with them to explain the 4-H program and
ask them to contact other interested families for a home meeting. You could send
4-H brochures to help with this promotional effort.
Interested families usually want to understand the opportunities and
requirements in 4-H before they will be willing to commit themselves to any
responsibility in the organization of a club. Use
the informational meeting format presented in "Organizing through a School."
If these are parents of very young children (6-8 years old), you should recommend
a Cloverbuds program for them.
Occasionally, a group of young people will want to organize themselves as a
4-H club. Gallatin County's experience in starting a 4-H skateboarding club arose
in just this way.
In this situation, little recruitment of youth is needed since they already have an
interest in joining 4-H. Still, an informational meeting will be necessary to explain
the purpose of 4-H (learning) and some of the basic requirements for participation
in your county 4-H program (dues, etc.).
You can follow the same basic format outlined in Step 4 of
"Organizing Through a School." Be sure to
invite parents, other interested adults and youth to this meeting. Afterwards, you
can distribute leader and member enrollment cards and ask that they be returned
to your office.
In youth-initiated clubs, a big challenge is finding and keeping adult
volunteer leaders. You will want to be sure to
find and secure enough adult leaders to make the club viable. Occasionally, 4-H clubs become so large that all members
do not have an opportunity to participate. When this
happens, members may become disappointed, lose interest, and drop out
of the club. Too large denotes a problem in helping members of
a club see their own uniqueness and involves a loss of
individuality and personalized attention.
There is no "rule of thumb" for the right size of a
club--what works for one group would not work for another. With that
said, though, the typical 4-H club works best with between
20-30 members. If a club becomes any larger, it is often hard for
everyone in the club to be involved.
Leaders who feel their clubs are as large as they can handle
are not eager to accept new recruits. In these cases, an
excellent recruiting program on your part may be entirely unwelcome
by the leaders of clubs in your communities.
If an existing club wants to split, you can help with this
process. There are many potentially divisive issues which arise
in splitting an existing club:
· who gets the treasury?
· which clubs keeps the original charter and name?
· how do you split the club? Voluntarily? By geographic
boundaries? School attendance centers? Church affiliations?
Age levels?
Dividing the group by age sometimes causes a clustering
of experienced leaders in one club and leaves another club with
a lack of youth leadership. This division can be promoted as a
way to facilitate transportation, have a centralized meeting place,
and possibly more community involvement.
Optimally, of course, you will be organizing new clubs
as existing ones reach their maximum workable size. Existing
clubs should be encouraged to help new ones by sharing both
member and adult leadership. School enrichment programs provide our best source of promotion for 4-H
club work because they reach the largest number of youth in Montana. In order to
do this, however, we must be very visible as a 4-H program by labelling our materials
and in contacts with teachers and students.
If the school enrichment coordinator or agent has been given a list of the names
of the boys and girls who have been involved with a school enrichment program,
those youth could be mailed promotional materials. In addition, the 4-H club
interest survey could also be
sent home with the students. Try to involve school enrichment members in
other county 4-H events--such as speech and demonstration days, camps, and fairs.
If a list of names of those who have participated in a school enrichment
program is not available, a contact with the teacher and a brief promotional
presentation in classrooms which have used school enrichment programs would certainly be
in order. At the end of a school enrichment program, you as the agent could attend
the class and ask the class for feedback as to how they felt about the program and at
that time distribute interest surveys to return through the mail to your office. This
form provides contacts for an informational meeting.
Youth and volunteers in programs designed to meet special needs should
become aware of learning experiences available to them through 4-H and ways
that they can take advantages of those experi
ences. County Extension agents, including those involved with the
EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program), have a joint responsibility
for making youth and volunteers aware of these opportunities.
The procedure for doing this would include
· meeting with program aides to determine potential leadership and location
for meetings
· using program aides to recruit identified leaders
· meeting with leaders and youth to determine appropriate learning
experiences.
Starting 4-H clubs is a time- and energy-intensive process. A club that
is founded on the needs and interests of youth and that has committed
adult leadership and community support has the greatest potential for
providing meaningful experiences over an extended period of time. When time is invested
in building a strong club, the tendency of the club to "die" within a year is reduced.
It is important to realize that each club will "look" different from all others
in some ways. Differences are due to different leadership styles,
personalities, community needs, individual needs
and available resources. This diversity and the flexibility it requires helps keep
4-H relevant. You have the challenge of creating and guiding clubs to
provide experiences that will most effectively achieve the 4-H mission.
Members: Five or more membersusually 25-30
Leaders: Usually organizational leader and project leaders. May
include a new family coordinator, officer advisors, demonstration
leaders and records & awards leader
Meetings: Usually held once a month year round. Includes group
building activities, business meeting, educational program, recreation
and refreshments.
Officers: usually president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer,
reporter, historian, parliamentarian, recreation leader, and song leader.
Projects: a wide variety of projects offered at times other than
monthly club meeting times. A project fair may be held to acquaint member
families with projects available that year and help 4-H'ers enroll in projects
in which they are interested.
Activities: will usually be involved in many ongoing activities--such
as camps, speech and demonstration days, fairs, and community service.
Parents: involved in teaching projects, assisting with records,
organizing events and tours, providing transportation, serving on
committees, etc. Members: 5 or more--usually 10-20
Leaders: usually an organizational leader and project leaders.
Meetings: held weekly or monthly, 9-12 months. May include group building,
business, project work, recreation and refreshments.
Officers: usually president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, reporter and historian.
Projects: The club is usually centered around one project such as photography, horse,
swine, cat, woodworking or a grouping of related projects such as family and consumer
sciences. These projects are learned at regular club meeting times and provide the meeting's
educational program.
Activities: will usually be involved with all ongoing events such as camps, speech and
demonstration days, fairs, and community service.
Parents: involved in assisting with project work, organizing events, providing
transportation, serving on committees, assisting with records where needed and other responsibilities.
Community club leader job description
Club interest, parents interest survey sheets
Suggested outline for a club meeting
Why Start a 4-H Club?
Kinds of Clubs
Establish a community club if...
· there is a diversity of hobby or subject interest
Establish a project club if...
· the interests of youths and adults are concentrated
in a specific hobby or interest
Steps in Starting Clubs
Developing a Plan
Step 1. Contact the School Administrator
Step 2. Do an Information Survey
Step 3. Promote Within the School
Step 4. Hold an Informational Meeting
Starting a Club
Step 5. Schedule an Organizational Meeting
Step 6. Hold First Meeting of the New 4-H Club
1. Activities
4. Recreation
5. Refreshments
Step 7. Plan a meeting for leader training
Step 8. Arrange a second meeting of the new 4-H Club
Step 9. Complete the Goal-Setting Process
Step 10. Supporting New Clubs
More Ways to Organize Clubs
Organizing in a Neighborhood
Organizing Through the Interest of Parents
Organizing A Club Through Interested Youth
Organizing Through Divisions of Existing 4-H Clubs
Organizing Through School Enrichment Programs
Organizing Through Special Needs Programs
Investments Pay Off!
APPENDIX
Community Club Structure
Project Club Structure
Parts of a Club Meeting
More apppendix items