March 15, 2022
Reflections on National 4-H Leadership Meetings
This past week, I gathered in Tucson, Arizona with State 4-H Program Leaders and 4-H Foundation Executive Directors from across the Cooperative Extension system, National 4-H Council (https://4-h.org/about/leadership/national-4-h-council/), NAE4-HYDP (https://www.nae4hydp.org/page/PresidentsCouncil) leadership, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA - https://nifa.usda.gov/4-h-team) including Director Carrie Castille for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two years ago was the last time I had gathered with colleagues from Land Grant Institutions (https://nifa.usda.gov/resource/land-grant-colleges-and-universities-map) and National 4-H Partners (including the Agent Association), we knew then storm clouds were brewing, but none of us, as we said goodbye that day, could have envisioned what was about to happen. A disrupter like none of us had ever known.
But as we gathered, shared, and lifted our eyes up, our wearied soul were refreshed and renewed. Focused on the mission before us and the opportunity youth give each of us every day, I offer my reflections and it impact on Kansas 4-H.
1) Acknowledgement of Loss - We have all been through a lot across the 4-H landscape. State by state, responses and regulations varied and opportunities opened up at different rates. There was tremendous innovation and adaptations across the country (see 4-H At Home - https://4-h.org/about/4-h-at-home/), but that innovation was co-mingled with disruption in routines and relationships that created pain and loss. We are tired of and from change.
2) Acknowledgement of Estranged Relationships everywhere - professionals, volunteers, stakeholders and youth are tired and irritable. Short fuses abound. Routines and rituals have been disrupted and some familiar practices have given way to new ways of doing things. Suspicion often accompanies adaptation because it is not familiar.
3) But as we have learned so many times over the past two years, a commitment to engagement with people right where they are at (youth and adults) is the only way to healthy relationships. It is also the only way to grow acceptance of necessary programmatic adaptations as the new normal. Abandonment, alienation, and giving up on adaptive change actually leaves situations and relationships even worse than before adaptation starts.
4) Renewed excitement to connect our day to day 4-H with the latest youth development research as represented in the 4-H Thrive model (https://helping-youth-thrive.extension.org/) Just like every other extension program, we use the latest science to refine our everyday practice in 4-H. This is how we make the best better, we refine our best efforts with the best science in order to engage youth in the best possible way so they can be their best.
5) "This is 4-H" will be a centering phrase that will build upon "opportunity for all" by allowing us to showcase individual stories of youth learning and leading in 4-H by making a difference in their local communities.
6) There are many people who want to fund and support the ongoing and expanding work of 4-H youth development. Just this spring, National 4-H council received their largest gift ever to support the expansion for each work across the country. In Kansas 4-H, we have received our largest ever strategic partnership with the department of education and Kansas to provide summer learning opportunities across our state to keep engaging kids where they're at. This is possible because of the commitment and hard work of so many across our great state to engage youth across their communities with high quality learning opportunities that build life skills and enable youth to thrive!
7) Lastly we will continue to emphasize appreciation, recruitment, and equipping of adults to help provide local leadership and mentorship to young people in the 4-H program.
8) I am so very excited about the next steps in 4-H's ongoing partnership from the national level to the state of Kansas to the local club 4-H club or 4-H after school. #ThisIs4H
Our Kansas 4-H future is bright. Thank you to all our professionals, volunteers, and local supporters across Kansas that help keep moving Kansas 4-H forward. I appreciate you all so very very much. Let's keep building it up and out! #OpportunityForAll #Kansas4H