4-H is a youth development program which focuses on giving youth leadership, citizenship, and life skills, all while making new friends, and participating in exciting events and projects.  

4-H offers projects to enrich skills, meetings to encourage social development and participation within society, camps, conferences, trips, exchange programs, and many other events meant to benefit the youth involved.  Below is more information about 4-H Club meetings, 4-H project work, and 4-H events.

Meetings

4-H clubs typically meet once a month and allow members and parents/guardians to share information and experiences.  4-H members who participate in a club may elect a board of officers and plan, implement, and evaluate an annual plan for their club.  A volunteer leader, the Community Club Leader (CCL), coaches the officers and members in activities and guides them as they develop their leadership abilities. Parents/Guardians of members can actively participate in discussions, but only 4-H members may vote on issues brought before the club. 

More About Projects

Projects allow members to learn-by-doing activities and completing planned objectives. Projects selection should be based on: interests, needs, time available, family situation, suitability to area of residence, and availability of necessary tools and equipment.  Projects may meet as little as 6 hours during the entire 4-H year or as much as the project leader and youth deem necessary to learn skills and achieve goals.  Projects may take place at a leader's home, at shops, at local farms, and many other places.  

Topically, almost anything can be a project as long as there is a certified 4-H project leader for it!  4-H has home economic type projects, like sewing, cooking, and cake decorating, as well as animal science and animal care projects like sheep, swine, beef, goats, rabbits, poultry, and more!  4-H also has a variety of other projects available, like rocketry, gardening, communications, woodworking, welding, and so much more.  

Events-Local and Beyond!

Events of all kinds are offered through 4-H to give youth the opportunity to socialize, exhibit what they learned in their projects, go new places, and more!  Butte County 4-H holds nearly 10 events each year where youth can either watch, participate, exhibit their skills, learn new things, or just have a great time!  To learn more about 4-H events which happen locally, check out the Events tab in the left navigation panel.

California 4-H also offers a wide variety of events which are open to most youth where individuals can compete and meet new people from across the state, nation, and world. There are also a handful of National 4-H events available for youth as well.  

4-H is available for all youth ages 5 to 19 and is a rewarding extra curricular activity.  To learn about how join 4-H see our How to Join 4-H & Enrollment page on the left navigational panel. 

Who administers and endorses the 4-H Youth Development Program?

4-H is the nation's largest youth development program and is endorsed  by the United States Department of Agriculture.  In the state of California, 4-H is delivered through the University of California Cooperative Extension, Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR), specifically UC Davis.  Each county in California has its own local 4-H program and often looks to their County Board of Supervisors  for further support.   

What rules or policies does 4-H follow?

Butte County 4-H operates under the policies set forth by the National and California 4-H programs.  Each county has the opportunity to create and enforce local policies, as long as national and state policy is not overruled.  In Butte County, a Council of volunteers meet monthly to enforce, create, and discuss local programming and policy. 

A full list of California 4-H policies can be found here: UC ANR 4-H YDP Policy Handbook

For local rules and policies, please contact the Butte County 4-H Office at 530-552-5812.