4-H Youth Development
What is Georgia 4-H?
4-H is the nation’s largest youth leadership development organization empowering nearly six million young people across the U.S. with the skills to lead for a lifetime.? Georgia is proud to be one of the largest state programs in the country with almost 240,000 active 4-H’ers across the state.
The four H’s symbolize the development of the HEAD (to think, plan and reason), the HEART (to be concerned with the welfare of others, accept the responsibility of citizenship and develop positive attitudes), the HANDS (to be useful, helpful and skillful) and HEALTH (to practice healthy living, enjoy life and use time wisely). 4-H is a major partner in education. Lessons taught, experiences shared and information presented in 4-H is based on the research of the University of Georgia and Fort Valley State University.
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What is the mission of Georgia 4-H?
The mission of Georgia 4-H is to assist youth in acquiring knowledge, developing life skills, and forming attitudes that will enable them to become self-directing, productive and contributing members of society. This mission is accomplished, through “hands on” learning experiences, focused on agricultural and environmental issues, agriculture awareness, leadership, communication skills, foods and nutrition, health, energy conservation, and citizenship.
Exploring and discovering, encouraging and challenging, that’s what Georgia 4-H is all about. As a program of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Cooperative Extension System, 4-H is part of the nationwide Extension network.
4-H’ers are known for sharing their research-based knowledge and technology to people where they live and work. 4-H combines federal, state, and local expertise and resources.
4-H Staff
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Michael Toews is kicking off his new role with a listening tour across the state as he expands his vision for University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.
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The 2025 Georgia 4-H State Wildlife Judging Contest saw the largest turnout in event history, with 170 participants from 24 counties.
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Volunteers across Extension contributed more than 330,00 hours — the equivalent of more than 159 full-time employees — in 2024.
