The goal of the Endowment Fund is to be able to permanently retain a second Youth Development/4-H Specialist with San Luis Valley Area Extension. This specialist will be able to serve the over 329 youth already enrolled in 4-H and to help consistently grow enrollment over the next three years, with 90% retention rate of first year members. This position would fulfill the need of both the traditional 4-H programs (beef, swine, goat, sheep, chicken, dog, horse, robotics, rocket projects, etc.) and the nontraditional 4-H programming with our community partners to help reach youth that are not enrolled with 4-H. With our community programs, in 2023-2024 alone, we were able to faciliate 2500 youth interactions. Current data shows that those youth who are involved with 4-H, even for a short time, are more likely to contribute to their communities through volunteer service, are less likely to engage in high-risk behaviors and more likely to make healthy living choices. Those youth are also more likely to have an increase in personal responsibility, more open to a career choice in the scientific field and high-quality personal development.
