4-H Afterschool is a special focused effort within the 4-H Youth Development Program that helps 4-H and other youth-serving organizations create and improve after-school programs in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the U.S. 4-H Afterschool is one of the various delivery methods through which 4-H programming is implemented; bringing community-based organizations access to the considerable resources of 4-H and the Cooperative Extension System of the nation’s land-grant universities and the USDA.

Our primary goals in 4-H Afterschool are to:

1. Provide youth development training to after-school program staff
2. Make hands-on curricula available to youth in after-school programs
3. Organize 4-H Clubs in after-school programs

These goals will be accomplished as we continue to increase the capacity of Extension staff to work in after-school programs and strengthen collaborations with other youth-serving organizations to increase the quality and availability of after-school programs in America's communities.

4-H Afterschool is defined as Extension and Extension-enhanced programs that are:

• offered during the times children and youth are not in school and their parents are in need of safe, healthy, caring, and enriching environments for their children (Including before- and after-school hours, teacher workdays, school holidays, summer months, and in some cases weekends).
• designed for children and youth from kindergarten to twelfth grades
• designed to engage children and youth in long-term, structured, and sequentially planned learning experiences in partnerships with adults, and
• designed on principles of youth development to address the interests of children and youth and their physical, cognitive, social and emotional needs.

4-H Afterschool trains staff and develops quality after-school programs where young people learn leadership, citizenship and life skills.

Gregg Tabachow
Account Manager, 4-H Afterschool
Email: gtabachow@fourhcouncil.edu

1. State 4-H Afterschool Contacts
2. Local 4-H Cooperative Extension Office
3. State 4-H Office

Still need help finding 4-H Afterschool in your area? Contact Gregg Tabachow, National Coordinator, 4-H Afterschool at: 4HAfterschool@fourhcouncil.edu or (301) 961-2869.

Hosted at National 4-H Council
7100 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD 20815
(301) 961-2800

Each afternoon across the U.S., 15 million children--more than a quarter of our children--are alone and unsupervised after school. The parents of 18 million would enroll their children in an afterschool program, if one were available. These are some of the key findings from the nation’s most in-depth study of how America’s children spend their afternoons. America After 3PM was sponsored by the JCPenney Afterschool Fund. The 2009 report, conducted for the Afterschool Alliance, surveyed nearly 30,000 households across the United States. To learn more, please visit Afterschool Alliance.

National 4-H Headquarters and the partnership of National 4-H Council and the JCPenney Afterschool Fund, are proud to announce the 2009-2010 JCPenney 4-H Afterschool Mini-Grants recipients.

Through the funding from JCPenney Afterschool Fund, these 19 grantees will be able to provide slots in after-school programs for 678 youth who were currently not in after-school programs, or on the verge of leaving after-school programs due to a lack of funds.

Learn more about the 2009 - 2010 4-H Afterschool Mini-Grants recipients.

• For young people...4-H Afterschool provides opportunities to participate in fun, exciting programs while developing valuable skills with lifelong benefits.
• For parents and family members...4-H Afterschool creates safe, healthy, enriching environments that enhance young people’s social, emotional, physical, and academic success.
• For volunteers...4-H Afterschool offers an opportunity to share a special skill with young people.
• For youth-serving orgnizations...4-H Afterschool offers extensive resources to help train staff, implement sound youth development practices, create new after-school programs, and strengthen existing programs.
• For communities...4-H Afterschool is a partner that builds unique, customized programs around the diverse interests and needs of youth.

4-H Afterschool works with urban, suburban and rural communities to identify their areas of need and interest and then build customized programs to meet those needs.

The innovative "learn-by-doing" curricula 4-H offers cover an impressive array of topics, including, CItizenship and Civic Education, Communication and Expressive Arts, Consumer and Family Science, Environmental Education and Earth Science, Healthy Lifestyle Education, Personal Development and Leadership, Plants and Animals, Science and Technology

These research-based, ready-to-use curricula set 4-H Afterschool apart and help young people to achieve social, emotional, physical, and academic success. Each curriculum provides youth with valuable skills such as leadership, collaboration, decision-making, civic responsibility, and critical thinking.

4-H Afterschool provides training and technical assistance to help youth development organizations at the local, state, and national levels.

Topics include Understanding Child Growth and Development, Experiential Learning, Guidance and Discipline, Ages and Stages of Development, Health and Nutrition, Working with Special Needs Audiences, Managing Multi-Age Groups, Working with Parents and the Community.

The 4-H Afterschool Program is a collaborative effort of the Cooperative Extension System – state land grant universities, counties, and the
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, United States Department of Agriculture – and National 4-H Council.