Join 4-H

4-H is a positive youth development organization – we exist to create developmental experiences for youth so that they become personally resilient, professionally competent, and contributing citizens to Arizona communities. Our goal is to support youth thriving through community participation with caring mentors who support youth curiosity.

• 4-H youth members start their participation in 4-H at the county or tribal level. 4-H membership provides youth to educational and competitive opportunities at the club, county, state, national, and sometimes international level. 
• UArizona Cooperative Extension 4-H professional development professionals provide leadership and support to the county 4-H program. 
• UArizona Cooperative Extension certifies authorized 4-H adults (aka., volunteers) to create safe inclusive spaces and deliver subject matter expertise and facilitate a positive youth development experience through volunteer lead clubs. 
• UA 4-H youth development professionals and certified community volunteers work cooperatively to provide non-formal educational opportunities for more than 5,000 Arizonans through the 4-H club programs. 
• You may be one of the 195,000 youth or families annually that have already had a 4-H experience through a classroom project (i.e., Arizona Agricultural Literacy, Arizona Project Wet, Nutrition Education, Arizona 4-H STEM YOUniversity) or an outreach program (i.e. AgVentures, Tucson Village Farm), and if so we welcome you to join a club to continue turning your spark into mastery. 

Contact your county UArizona Cooperative Extension office and talk to a 4-H youth development professional in that office to find out what clubs are offered in your area. To begin your enrollment process you will choose one club that will help you enroll. Contact the Club Leader for the club you are interested in joining to let them know you are signing up. When you talk to a club leader ask for information about the club and the types of projects they offer.

• Clubs are lead by UArizona Cooperative Extension authorized 4-H adults (aka., volunteers) who will be your primary point of contact while you participate in 4-H. 
• Clubs are lead by volunteers and thus clubs offer projects based on volunteer and youth interests. To get contact information for a club leader, or to find out what projects are being offered, start with your UArizona Cooperative Extension office.  

Your Club Leader can let you know what projects are open for enrollment. You can choose the projects and activities that interest you and your family. To learn more about the projects you could choose in 4-H, go here. 

• 4-H supports youth spark – the curiosity that youth can pursue into a passion and take it from an interest to a personally defined level of mastery.
• A youth will select a project(a) that they have a spark for. To complete a project the youth member in partnership with their project leader and peers will set goals for their own learning, work towards those goals, and reflect on their accomplishments
• The 4-H experience is unique for every youth. Volunteers and 4-H youth development professionals work hard to provide every young person with a path to pursue their individual passion. Some examples of those unique paths are: a youth will invest in a livestock animal to raise as a small business project and show at the county fair. Others prepare for competitions, ranging from augmented reality challenges, public speaking contests, or county fair exhibits. Youth can experience civic engagement by traveling to Washington D.C. for Citizenship Washington Focus or forge a handmade knife in a blacksmiths shop. They may even prepare for and hike the Grand Canyon, or fabricate 3D printed water gauges for range managers at one of the AZ 4-H Fab Labs. No matter your spark there is an opportunity that you can have in Arizona 4-H. To learn more about the wide array of pathways go here. 

Once you have found a club you want to join, you will officially join 4-H using ZingBooks, the Arizona 4-H enrollment management system. You can access Zingbooks resources here.