University Of Maryland Extension, Montgomery County 4-H

The Maryland 4-H Youth Development Program provides a supportive setting for all youth to reach their fullest potential. Youth learn beneficial cognitive and life skills through community-focused, research-based experiential educational programs.

The UME 4-H youth development is one of the largest youth serving organizations in the state of Maryland. The 4-H program is grounded in research based hands-on practice. The organization is designed to meet the needs of the youth. The program reaches youth of racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, individuals of different socioeconomic status, youth with disability and youth with different educational backgrounds

4-H works with different local agencies, governmental and non-government organizations

The 4-H program and 4-H volunteers encourage, guide, and assist youth to practice and experience activities that strengthens a young person’s sense of belonging, generosity, independence, and mastery of a project. Through the framework of these essential elements, the role of 4-H program is to  helps youth to focus on their projects and activities by providing support, guidance and positive feedback and determine what they may need to do differently to reach their  goals .Youth achieve what they learned through experiential learning and record keeping, Share and reflect what they did and learned  with peers and adults, process their experiences through a series of  questions, practicing critical  thinking, generalize, and apply the knowledge and skills they  learned to help others in their school, clubs and communities.

Youth are encouraged to do individual community service and be civically engaged through learning, teaching, scholarship, and helping others in school, after school and community outreach programs. Youth are asked to keep a record of their 4-H activities including their involvement in life skills, leadership roles, citizenship and civic engagement.