Talk:4-H

Organizational Structure

Is a section on organization structure beneficial to developing the content of this page? As an extension of the pledge's closing remarks (i.e. "for my club, my community, my country, and my world), an emphasis on the importance of club, county (or parish), and state work may develop a great understanding of the organization. In addition, highlighting the state programs with clubs in elementary and middle school classrooms may be beneficial. GreenTea32 (talk) 22:13, 14 February 2021 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Composition and Culture

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 January 2024 and 2 May 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Cleatus mgeetus (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Cleatus mgeetus (talk) 14:53, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Potential scope creep and sourcing issues

Hi all, I have been doing some research while assembling a new article for the Cooperative Extension System, much of which has been relevant to this article as well. I notice some errors and incorrect citations, especially in the beginning of the article (see MOS:LEAD). This is concerning, as it is the first thing people will see/read when they come upon this page. Here are my largest concerns:

Mission of 4-H

• "4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development" --- This citation is broken, likely given that this resource was last accessed in 2010. The link in the citation - http://www.ca4h.org/files/1982.pdf - redirects to a general https://ucanr.edu/program/university-california-4-h-youth-development-program. The quotation included above is not included anywhere on the currently-linked source. I recognize that this is likely due to the broken link issue.
• The only source I can find that precisely states the mission of 4-H at the national level (US) is here (1), which is different than the quotation provided. However, it was published in 2011, and I am unable to find a re-use of that same mission statement in other sources. Therefore, I am concerned about including this mission statement to ensure our sources are current. Although it would be nice, I do not think including a specific "mission statement" is truly necessary if we revise the introduction paragraphs to be clear and descriptive enough to capture what the mission of the program essentially is.
• I am open to debate on this, but, In general, I do not believe that this would be the best source for the mission of 4-H. The source provided is for the UCANR 4-H program. Given the community-focused nature of 4-H programs, the mission of UCANR 4-H is not going to be identical to the mission of other 4-H programs. For just a few examples, 4-H programs in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania all have different variations of a mission statement on their websites. This somewhat leads into my next concern...

Issues of geographical scope

• There is generally a great deal of scope creep. The first citation in the article cites the University of California 4-H program mission. The next few sentences discuss the USDA/NIFA 4-H structure in the United States. Then, it discusses 4-H Canada briefly, but the remainder of the article barely touches on 4-H Canada.
• Multiple sources in the article link to specific state 4-H programs. This is not ideal. Just because one state does something in 4-H doesn't mean all other states will be doing the same thing. If this is an article about national-level 4-H programming in the United States, we should refer to national-level sources. It may be beneficial to include a section to highlight specific state programs if that is deemed necessary.
• In general, I believe it would be better to create a separate article for 4-H Canada. These two organizations have vastly different histories and present-day structures.

Looking forward to hearing what others have to say about this. I'd love to make some edits to this article with my newfound cooperative extension knowledge! Kmmosu (talk) 03:06, 23 October 2025 (UTC)