Poverty

4-H Reaches Underserved Youth

Athens has a large minority population and large areas of underserved youth. Clarke County 4-H partnered with Dekalb County 4-H and Georgia 4-H staff to obtain a grant from the New York Life Foundation to fund clubs that meet in underserved communities. The grant provided $100,000 in funds for the new clubs. The Clarke County 4-H program organized 4-H clubs in 10 underserved communities in Clarke County. The five clubs reached a total of 125 youth and each club selected an Adult Leader to conduct the meetings. The youth and adults of the communities were fully involved in the planning of youth development curriculum, activities and program trainings including a trip Citizenship Washington Focus in Washington, DC. These after-school clubs have provided an avenue to develop leadership, citizenship and life skills in these low-income youth by allowing one-on-one interaction and hands-on activities that cannot be achieved with in-school meetings. Clarke County 4-H also offered a week-long Day Camp with no fees for 4-H'ers in these clubs. They traveled to the Rock Eagle 4-H Center where they were exposed to basic teambuilding concepts through exciting non-traditional action based activities. (2008)

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