Massachusetts 4-H Foundation

CONTACT:

22 Eliot Street
Ashland, MA 01721
508-881-1244
www.mass4hfoundation.org

Mary McBrady, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

The 4-H ("Head, Heart, Hands and Health") Movement for America's farm youth was launched by Congress in 1914, with two objectives: to help preserve traditional family-farm values and to promote the latest agricultural technology. As the years went by however, advancing technology promoted large-scale industrial agriculture; family farms have almost disappeared; federal funding for 4-H has declined, and 4-H has increasingly focused on teaching youth family values and life skills, and on supporting itself through philanthropy.

The Massachusetts 4-H Foundation was founded in 1955 to help support expanding 4-H programs for youth. In 1997 over 54,000 Massachusetts children and youth ages 6-19, with 4,000 adult volunteers, are participating in 4-H programs, clubs, school projects, local events and competitions. Today only 1% of 4-H members actually live on farms; 80% live in cities and suburbs, the rest in rural towns. The programs are diverse, but are at their best teaching 4-H life skills when related to animals, land, and natural resources--veterinary science and animal care and training; marine biology and aquaculture; environmental science, horticulture, and natural resource use.

If you are interested in helping to preserve the traditional values of American family farms in youth education--skill-building for self-reliance, personal responsibility, caring for domestic animals, healthy work habits, and curiosity about practical aspects of life--support the Massachusetts 4-H Foundation. The Foundation will direct your project contributions to support a local chapter in your area, your general-operations gifts to program development for the entire State, and any endowment contributions to the permanence of 4-H and its American family values.

(1997: NATURE: Environmental Education)