Thriving Forward

IntroductionThe 4-H Beyond Ready Goal of reaching 10 million youth by 2030 (4-H PLWG Standing Committee, 2025) challenges us to explore new avenues of reaching youth across California and the nation. One promising approach is through collaboration with expanded learning programs (e.g. schools, Boys and Girls…

In this blog post series, we discussed how collaborating with out-of-school-time education programs can help 4-H programs reach more youth. We’ve shared ideas for how 4-H staff can go about establishing effective and supportive working relationships with community partners. For community partners, one major…

Introduction 4-H has a long history of using competition as a method of providing feedback on skill mastery and continued task improvement. Preparing young people to show their animals, photographs, rockets and other 4-H projects at county fairs is a critical step in helping them grow. 4-H adult…

IntroductionWe all have feelings. And they matter. Feelings help us learn about ourselves and others. Despite their benefit, many of us have a hard time identifying feelings. In his book, Permission To Feel, Dr. Marc Brackett encourages us to lean in to our feelings. By doing so, we can lead more healthy and…

Introduction In our previous post, we discussed the importance of assessing staff capacity. Assessing the after school staff’s capacity is an important consideration when discussing a partnership. Also, understanding your 4-H staff’s capacity can also help ensure that your partnership will have the…