4-H

The 4-H Mission

The mission of 4-H is to provide meaningful opportunities for all youth and adults to work together to create sustainable community change. This is accomplished within three primary content areas, or mission areas – civic engagement and leadership, healthy living, and science. These mission areas reiterate the founding purposes of Extension through agriculture (e.g., community leadership, quality of life, and technology transfer) in the context of 21st century challenges and opportunities.

Areas of Focus

Wisconsin 4-H has four areas of focus: Developmental Relationships, Life and Leadership Skills, College and/or Career Readiness, and Equity.


Developmental Relationships: Relationships are the most important factor in youth feeling safe and becoming successful. 4-H allows youth and caring adults from across the state and from different backgrounds to work together to build a community.


Life and Leadership Skills: 4-H allows for youth to build and develop their leadership skills – from ages 5 to 19. This helps youth to become lifelong leaders and difference makers in their community, their state, their nation, and their world.


College and/or Career Readiness: 4-H is built on the principle of “learn by doing”. Youth are able to explore their areas of interest through 4-H to prepare them for their future education and career. Wisconsin 4-H is backed by the rich knowledge base of the University of Wisconsin to provide curriculum-based, high-quality programming and opportunities to youth across the state.


Equity: 4-H is for everyone. Any and all youth are welcome to join 4-H. Wisconsin 4-H is hoping that “by 2025, 4-H will reflect the population demographics, vulnerable populations, diverse needs and social conditions of the country”.


Pepin County 4-H Thrives!

Every year, Wisconsin 4-H conducts a survey of the heath of the 4-H program. The Thriving Survey uses the 4-H Thriving Model to test program quality, youth thriving, and developmental outcomes to determine what county 4-H programs are truly thriving!

In 2024, Pepin County 4-H received high thriving scores in all core areas of the model, with a very high thriving score in the area of program quality. All respondents reported feeling welcome in Pepin County 4-H.

Even though Pepin County 4-H is one of the smallest programs in the state, we still pride ourselves on providing high quality programs to all 4-H members!

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