4-H

Shooting sports programs are a wonderful way to connect youth with safely trained caring adult mentors. Certified volunteers teach safe and appropriate firearms/archery etiquette and provide youth with leadership and competition opportunities. Shooting sports certifications are also a great avenue for volunteer professional development, with opportunities to become certified to teach youth, adult level 1 instructors, and nationally certified level 2 instructors. Young people can also take on leadership roles in clubs as Youth Instructors. Like any project, there are opportunities for members and volunteers to participate at county, state, and national levels. In addition, there are a few key requirements found in shooting sports that other 4-H projects do not have. Read through the information below to learn how to grow a shooting sports program in your county!

4-H Livestock judging is a great program opportunity where youth can strengthen their decision-making abilities, grow communication skills, and develop sound critical thinking and articulate reasoning. Youth that excel in livestock judging cultivate an ethic of research, practice, and work hard to communicate clearly and concisely to judges and peers. Livestock judging is a competitive event centered around the visual evaluation of an animal’s physical traits and at times performance data. The goal is to compare and contrast four animals in a class against each other as well as the “ideal” animal.

Preparing for a project meeting on any topic within our many 4-H Project Areas takes time and effort. Even if you are using a 4-H curriculum with pre-written lesson plans (and there is curriculum available for a wide range of subjects), at the very least you should read through the lesson plan (review both the leader guide and the member guide) so you can gather together the materials needed for the meeting and be familiar with the activities included.

Reporting is necessary for program evaluation and for ensuring Arizona Cooperative Extension is servingthe citizens of the state. These two distinct purposes are mutually beneficial, and they are predicated onaccuracy of the data reported. With more accurate numbers, we are able to understand the reach andquality of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension 4-H youth development programming moreclearly.
Different than other program areas, 4-H Youth Development has two data management systems.This adds unique confusion on how to report impact numbers. This guide is an effort to help reduceconfusion. To ensure county-based professionals, administrators, and legislators can confidently state thenumber of youths served by Cooperative Extension, we must be clear in our reporting procedure.

This tool is designed to do three things: (1) provide an overview for youth development professionals to better understand Indigenous groups in their area, (2) provide some basic resources for program evaluation with tribal communities, and (3) provide a site/program level assessment tool to critique the cultural inclusiveness and relevance of programming initiatives. Our goal here is to highlight important themes of identity that should be incorporated to make our PYD work meaningful to all stakeholders.

Cavies, Poultry, Rabbit

The goal of the “Project Essentials” sheets is to provide a basic resource for 4-H members and parents to get started in a new small stock project. Small stock projects are a challenge, and these sheets will help provide first steps and basic knowledge on your animal’s needs. These sheets should be utilized by families to foster a youth’s ‘learning to learn’ skills. There are several key housing boarding and feeding needs to be discussed, in addition to cost estimates for each type of animal. You will also see an “additional resource” and "local resources" section. The additional resources are links to examples within a greater body of resource material, again this is not a complete source but rather a place to get started in your project journey. The local resources section is very important – getting involved in your local community will provide a 4-H member with a rich body of knowledge and experience, and this is a great opportunity for young people to interact with peers and caring adult volunteers.