Volunteers play a pivotal role in enhancing the effectiveness of the 4-H program. Research demonstrates that offering professional development opportunities to volunteers contributes to retention. The Volunteer Research Knowledge Competency Taxonomy (VRKC) is a framework that pinpoints essential competencies for proficiently delivering 4-H youth…

Innovations in medicine have allowed children with cancer to attend school more frequently by increasing survival rates and improving access to outpatient therapies. Children with cancer still miss a significant proportion of school attendance and participation during treatment, thereby disrupting their educational experiences. "Monkey in My…

It is well established that positive youth development (PYD) programs improve adolescent psycho-social wellbeing; however, it remains unclear if PYD programs developed for able-bodied adolescents can be implemented with adolescents with disabilities in low-resource settings. We conducted a pragmatic trial of an evidence-based PYD program…

Sharing the importance of agriculture, agricultural education, and programmatic efforts through Extension is vital to ensuring policy makers and the general public understand the need for supporting the overall agricultural industry. However, communicating such importance can be challenging without accurate, evidence-based language to describe…

The lack of physical activity is an epidemic problem among American youth today. In order to combat this, many schools are incorporating youth running programs as a part of their comprehensive school physical activity programs. These youth running programs are being implemented before or after school, at school during recess at the elementary…

Choose and Tell is a curriculum for 4-H Cloverbud members that introduces them to public speaking and life skill enhancement (communication and social interaction). Choose and Tell consists of activity cards analogous to a deck of cards. Activity card titles include Wash and Comb Your Hair, Plant a Seed, and Floss Your Teeth. The activities are…

Background: Within the field of coach development, previous research has ascertained that elite coaches learn through a variety of formal, non-formal, and informal sources. Little is known, however, about how coaches from different coaching contexts such as recreational and developmental learn to coach. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to…

Coming from a Nordic environment, professionally working in teacher education, both authors engaged in developmental work and research in the Uluguru mountains in Tanzania. The research is carried out in a community-based organization for vulnerable youth, Mgeta Orphan Education Foundation (MOEF), which builds on principles of action learning and…

Developing an online resource site for Extension master gardener (EMG) coordinators is an ongoing project for Extension collaborators. Begun in 2014, the website includes peer-reviewed resources focused on best practices in volunteer management and program administration. The website is organized according to nine resource categories (e.g.,…

With support from The Wallace Foundation, the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) has been coordinating a number of learning experiences for cities aimed at increasing opportunities to share best practices and providing access to best practices and national trends. Initially, 57 cities convened in Baltimore, Maryland in February 2013 for the…

This study examines post-school outcomes of youth with disabilities that were served by the Illinois vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency while in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) through a mixed methodology research design. In order to understand how outcomes differ among the study population, a large-scale dataset of the employment outcomes of…

Many programs in Extension deal with sensitive issues; however, one issue that seems to be comfortably omitted is sexuality education. How can Extension address this issue? This article highlights existing sensitive issues already addressed in Extension programs and offers a challenge to examine the situation for the benefit of individuals,…

Teaching entrepreneurship--how to create, grow and run a business or organization--is one potential means to increase college and career readiness skills. Learning how to start a business can improve critical thinking, communication and collaboration (Gallagher, Stepien, & Rosenthal, 1992; Hmelo, 1998), which are key qualities for academic as…

This self-study intercultural learning resource has been created for facilitators of mobility programmes for young people. It helps youth facilitators to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities that face the mobile young people they work with. Users explore the intercultural aspects of the "mobility" phenomenon from…

The explorative study reported here describes youth participants in three animal science-related career development events from 2010. Variables included students' self-efficacy, task value motivation, career interests, and to what extent they utilized resources in preparation. It was concluded that all three groups were self-efficacious,…