PORT ANGELES — Clallam County’s 4-H youth development program has grown by “leaps and bounds” in the past year, Washington State University Extension Director Clea Rome said this week.
“To put it in perspective, we’ve had close to 350 youth participating in 4-H, and nearly 50 percent of those kids are new members within the last year,” Rome told county commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting.
Four-H is one of the largest programs offered by WSU Extension, which has offices in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Extensions nationwide are celebrating this year the 100th anniversary of the federal Smith-Lever Act, which provided funding for outreach programs at the land-grant universities founded in 1862.
A century ago, about half of the nation’s population lived in rural areas, and 30 percent of the workforce were farmers, Rome said.
Rural ratio
These days, 17 percent of Americans live in rural areas, and just 2 percent are farmers.
“As American demographics have changed over the past century, our program in Extension has evolved to address many different community economic development areas, youth development, nutrition, family health and wellness in both urban and rural areas,” Rome said in the annual briefing to the board.
The Clallam County Extension office, which is smaller than most of its counterparts around the state, is “involved in programs that reach from the West End all the way to Sequim in many different sectors,” Rome said.
Four-H, for example, teaches youngsters about science, math, social skills and animal husbandry. It also teaches “life skills of leadership, civic engagement and communication,” Rome said.
Infused with energy
Four-H program coordinator Jennifer Schmidt has “infused a tremendous amount of energy” into Clallam County’s 4-H program since she started a year and a half ago, Rome added.
“We have new team leadership activities like Know your Government, where a coalition of kids goes down to Olympia and meets with legislative representatives and learns about the legislative process,” she said.
“We have new adventure programming through a collaboration with the [Port Angeles] Healthy Youth Coalition and their new challenge kit that we’ve acquired at the county.
“And we’re reaching out to new audiences. We have a new tribal equestrian club on the West End called First Nation Riders,” she added.
“So we’re really reaching to new audiences.”
In addition to the influx of 4-H members, the program has added about 50 adult volunteers since last fall, Rome said.
Another major program offered by Extension is Master Gardeners.
Trained volunteers put on weekly plant clinics, demonstration gardens, gardening tip programs and lectures.
Master Gardeners
“Master Gardeners received 100 hours of training from WSU faculty and scientists in return for 100 hours of volunteer work over two years,” Rome said.
“So people really join Master Gardeners not just to do gardening on their own time but to be out in the community as educators on a whole variety of topics from vegetable gardening to sustaining pest management.”
WSU Extension recently began a waste-reduction program where volunteers gather unwanted produce from local farms and bring it to food banks.
WSU Extension is also working with partners on the West End to expand broadband access.
The Extension office has received more than $200,000 in grants since 2013.
It leverages grants with direct and indirect support from the Pullman-based university to provide county taxpayers with a 6-to-1 return on their investment, Rome said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
