Volunteers and parents help make 4-H possible. Without 4-H volunteers and parents the program would not have the mentors and leaders that 4-H'ers need in order to learn the new skills that 4-H has to offer youth. With each volunteer comes knowledge, experiences, and skills which can be taught to 4-H youth and shared with the 4-H program "to make the best better." Volunteers and parents are a major reason for 4-H's success in youth development. Since 1902, parents and volunteers have helped the 4-H program develop successful leaders, build young minds, and set the path for 4-H'ers to become contributing citizens.

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer - either with an existing club or starting a new club - must pick up a Volunteer Application Packet from our office. Any individuals interested in starting up a new club must meet with Kiersten by January 23, 2020, and attend an annual Advisor Training. The entire new volunteer process must be completed by April 1, 2020. This deadline is final.

Steps to download zoom on a mobile device

Click here for this PDF for step-by-step instructions.

Parents

My 4-H Career Record Book

Members (and parents!) can use this fillable pdf form to keep a record of your 4-H career, and keeping records in this book will make application for awards and scholarships easy! No handwriting necessary!

Click here for the My 4-H Career Record Book

Scholarship and Awards

There are many state and local scholarships and award opportunities for 4-H youth. Click here for details.

More Resources for Parents

Volunteers

Club Information Sheet

We regularly receive calls and emails from new families interested in joining our 4-H program. In an effort to assist these families in finding a good fit for them, we need some information from each club.

Before the start of each program year, we ask organizational advisors to complete a two-sided Club Information Sheet. The information you provide assists us in finding clubs for new families. The sheet requests information such as meeting times and places, the types of projects your club focuses on, and if you have Cloverbuds. The more details provided, the better we can assist new families in finding a good 4-H club "home."

Even if you are not accepting new club members this year - and so your club isn't given out as an option - please complete this form and submit it to the office.

Please return the Club Information Sheet as soon as possible. The form can be completed and submitted online, returned by email, or dropped off at our office (either in person or use the locked drop box). Thank you for your assistance as we help new families find their 4-H "home."

  • Club Information Sheet (Form is a fillable pdf. For Firefox users: You may be prompted by your browser to open with a different viewer. For Google users: Download document to complete. Submit button will not work. Complete and save, then attach to an email.)

2020 Advisor/OSU Policy 1.50 Trainings

OSU Policy 1.50 requires an annual training for all volunteers. This annual training will be covered at the Advisor Trainings; it is highly suggested that you stay for the entire training. One (1) advisor from each club must attend a training; other advisors not attending will be required to complete the online 1.50 Training and Quiz through 4HOnline. These are opportunities to share, learn, and ask questions. Think of Advisor Training as "Quality Assurance" for advisors.

There are two (2) training dates available:

  • January 25, 9:00 a.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 W. High Avenue, New Philadelphia
  • January 30, 6:00 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 W. High Avenue, New Philadelphia

Pre-registration is required. Club materials will be distributed. Please indicate at registration the advisor who will be picking up materials.

1.50 Training and Quiz
in 4HOnline Update
(from State 4-H Office):

The training and quiz were received from OSU Human Resources and we do not have the ability to edit or correct them. The training and quiz are approximately 5 years old now and several updates/changes have been made by Google Chrome since they have been created and GC is no longer supporting them.

Volunteers have to use Firefox for the 4HOnline Policy 1.50 training and quiz. Volunteers should log out and log back in (using Firefox) and select "No" to start the training or quiz from the beginning. We've also learned if the volunteer starts the training or quiz, leaves, and then comes back to pick up where they left off, the training will not progress. Therefore, please allow enough time to complete the entire training or quiz after it has been started.

 

2020 4-H Calendar

Click here for the full 2020 calendar.

Advisors will receive the calendar with their materials packet at Advisor Training. The calendar is current as of printing date. Events are subject to change. Please check the specific areas of our web site for current information. "Like" and follow our Facebook page as program announcements/changes are promoted there first.

 
4HOnline

4HOnline is the official Ohio 4-H Youth Development Program database for enrolled 4-H members and volunteers. This system works as a partnership between the 4-H family and our office to manage the 4-H enrollment process and distribute important information to you.

New 4-H families are to complete and return an enrollment form to the Extension office. DO NOT CREATE A PROFILE! Extension staff will create your profile from the information provided on the enrollment form.

Returning families are to use their email address and password from last year to access their profile. If you were enrolled in the past but do not see your profile in 4HOnline, DO NOT CREATE A NEW ONE!  Please contact our office and we will activate your profile.

Click here to access 4HOnline.

Publications

The publication process has changed for 2020 only due to COVID-19. This information was distributed in the April 4-H Newsletter. It is provided here for your convenience.

4-H Project Book Distribution—The main question we’ve been getting lately is “how do we order 4-H books?” A handful of clubs managed to get their orders in prior to all of these changes but most had not. After much discussion, the State 4-H Office announced their plan on April 1. In order to continue to support the current “Stay at Home Order” those in Columbus are going to offer a few options for low-contact or, even better, no contact distribution. We are still not permitted to be distributing books from the county Extension offices and it’s still important for club leaders to refrain from distributing as much as possible themselves. Our state leaders are confidant that you’ll find a good option from those listed below.

  1. Ohio 4-H members and their families can order directly from extensionpubs.osu.edu and select one of two coupons, one for free shipping OR one for 20% off the entire order. For small orders of one or two project books, the free shipping coupon works best because shipping is often close to the cost of a typically priced project book. For larger or more expensive orders, the 20% off coupon works better. Ohio State is offering both so each person placing an order can decide. Orders can be shipped directly to the member’s home, as long as it is an Ohio address. The coupon codes do not work for any zip codes outside of Ohio. Another important point to keep in mind—the warehouse is not able to accept returns for any reason. Details and the actual coupon codes will be shared on ohio4h.org homepage and also via Facebook in the coming days. (They are not yet available as of the distribution of this newsletter.)
  2. The State 4-H Office is making a select group of project books available as freely available PDFs. Although OSU is unable to provide every book in this manner, we want to support families and members with learning resources that may be particularly relevant during this time. Members can choose one or more of these project book PDFs listed below. The “Perfect Stay-at-Home Projects” page on ohio4h.org is still under construction and we are waiting for a final approval, but hope to have these titles available for viewing and printing very soon. 4/9/2020 Update: These projects are now available for download.

About 4-H
Discovering 4-H (91)

Clothing and Textile Science
Sew Fun (409)

Creative and Leisure Arts
My Favorite Things (496)
The Writer in You (588)
Get Started in Art (592)
Family History Treasure Hunt (442)

Food and Nutrition
Let's Start Cooking (459)
Yeast Breads on the Rise (462)
Racing the Clock to Awesome Meals (485)

Healthy Living
Your Thoughts Matter (359)

Home Living
The Laundry Project (405)
It's My Home (491)

Leadership and Citizenship
Leadership Road Trip (375)
Pantry Panic (376)

Natural Resources
Explore the Outdoors (611)
Ohio Birds (621)

STEM
Science Fun with Kitchen Chemistry (493)
Not Just Knots (540)

  1. Self-determined projects are an excellent choice for self-motivated members eager to get started and create their own project. Although self-determined projects may be better suited for older 4-H’ers, these projects are available for any member and are often driven by idea starters already available online. (For project judging, self-determined projects are judged in self-determined categories.) Visit the Self-Determined Projects and Idea Starters page for more information on these projects.

Additional considerations for project book distribution:

It’s possible some members have already paid for books by paying their club leaders. If a member chooses to order online at this time, or use one of the Perfect Stay-at-Home Projects, we ask that clubs cooperate in providing a refund or credit. If members have already enrolled in a project and want to switch, we are granting an automatic extension so members may add/change/drop projects through June 1 BUT members must still be enrolled by April 15. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and understanding in our need to provide maximum flexibility to our members and families this year.

Livestock record books, resource handbooks, and other projects not listed above are in stock and available for purchase on the e-store.

  1. We will be contacting the clubs who submitted book orders with specific instructions.
  2. Guidelines for all projects are on our web site. Visit our Project Guidelines page at go.osu.edu/tusc4-hguidelines. Some advisors who submitted early book orders received a printed version with their order. The remaining clubs will be mailed a copy.
  3. Livestock project registration forms can be found on our Animal Sciences page: go.osu.edu/livestock registrations.
  4. For this year only, members who will be needing a poultry resource folder (the red folder) can receive the information as a PDF through email. Contact Astra (armstrong.133@osu.edu) to request the information. Please be specific as to which project resources will be needed (e.g., 150CM Chicken Market, 150TM Turkey Market, 150DM Duck Market, etc.).

We will return to ordering books by club through the Extension office next year, but the State Office is working with us as much as possible to provide alternative ways to get books to use during this unique time. This approach to low/no-contact project book distribution will be revisited and revised as the pandemic situation continues to evolve. For now, this is the approach we are taking.

Thank you for your continued understanding, support, and patience!

 

Secretary and Treasurer Books

Secretary books are to start from the beginning of the current 4-H year until December 31. The Treasurer’s books fiscal year is January 1 through December 31, 2020.

Both books are due to the Extension office by January 15, 2021. All books need to be complete and Treasurer’s Book audited. Club name, officers’ names, and ages need to be on the front covers. All books will be returned at the January 2021 Advisor Training.

Secretary Book

All clubs are required to use the most current Ohio 4-H Youth Development Club Constitution as their club's constitution. Advisors received this at the Advisor Training. A signed copy is due with enrollment materials by April 15, 2020. Club By-Laws are highly encouraged, but not required. If your club decides to have By-Laws, a signed copy is also due by April 15, 2020. The originals of each of these forms, along with signatures, need to be placed in the Secretary's Book.

Click here for the complete Secretary Book (you can decide to print multiple copies of certain pages to your printer).

Treasurer Book

Financial integrity is very important for our 4-H program both at the county and state levels. For this reason, we ask that clubs observe the following guidelines:

  1. Money within the club belongs to the club membership - not individuals - thus a vote is necessary when funds will be used for any purpose.
  2. Clubs should establish a budget at the beginning of the year. This budget should be voted upon by the club members. This helps to facilitate the purchase of necessary items by advisors and/or committee leaders between meetings. For example, the fair decorations committee may need to make purchases for the upcoming fair booth. If this is a budgeted item, the purchaser can act within that budget to make the necessary purchase. These purchases should then be noted on the Treasurer's Report.
  3. Club funds, other than fair premiums, should not be dispersed to individuals. Clubs wishing to provide members with money for food, rides, etc., during the fair should provide their members with vouchers instead. The Clover Café and our commodity groups are accommodating in setting up vouchers for interested clubs.

Click here for the complete Treasurer Book (you can decide to print multiple copies of certain pages to your printer).

 The Ohio 4-H Club/Affiliate Yearly Financial Summary was included with the Treasurer's Book or Advisor Packet obtained at advisor trainings. This form is due with the Treasurer's Book by January 15, 2021. This is a state required document and must be turned in before enrollments will be accepted.

Non-completing Club Officers
While it is not common, occasionally clubs have officers fail to complete their year of service for a variety of reasons. This is particularly challenging if the secretary or treasurer does not complete their year. Regardless, your club must submit a Secretary’s Book and a Treasurer’s Book to demonstrate fulfillment of your club charter. Contact us if you have concerns.

Additional resources for members and volunteers: