FFA/4-H question

So hopefully someone can help.

My friend is trying to get her daughter into some form of an extracurricular agriculture group.

Her daughter lives with her ex-husband. He is in the Navy and lives in California. Supposedly they live in an area surrounded by farms, by what I'm getting from her.

According to her, 4-H won't accept her because she doesn't have a program where she lives that can keep her active all year.

She said their is no FFA in her school district because there is no Ag programs. (This makes sense) I'm pretty sure her Daughter is in Jr. High and from when I was in FFA, all the schools in the area only had FFA in High School, but that was 15 years ago.

So is there something else out there? I looked up 4-H's website and 4-H looks like it has nothing to do with agriculture anymore, or at least I couldn't find any references.

I'm happy to help, I'm 3rd generation 4-Her, was a state Ambassador, extremely active as a youth from about age 9 to 19. I was fairly active in FFA too, but didn't start that until Jr. High.

Who you/they'll want to get in touch with is their local county Extension office. 4-H isn't necessarily associated with a school like FFA generally is. All states and counties are different, but I can't fathom there being no 4-H in her county.

4-H has evolved over the last couple decades, but it's never been solely ag, even early on there was a large family consumer science aspect (think FHA/FCCLA). As times changed and technology developed, well so did the educational programs. 4-H has done great at getting inner city youth into all kinds of programs, computers, technology, outdoor sports, citizenship, leadership, and of course the typical "ag" stuff most are more familiar with.

I work for the UofA Division of Ag, was at the AR State 4-H center just this evening setting up for a program just a few hours ago in fact.

The folks they need to talk to are at their county or possibly state Cooperative Extension Service.

California County Extension Offices: http://ucanr.edu/County_Offices/

We have at least one member here who is a County Ag Agent here in Arkansas as well, he'd know a little more about the youth development side of things at a county level than me, but like I said, CA ain't AR, so I expect there to be some differences.
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/community/ridinwitcj73/

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

Thanks for the info. I'm going to pass it on. I don't think she's going to get to far unfortunately. Her daughter lives in Oceanside, and I couldn't find much in that area.

Google says Oceanside is in San Diego County. There's quite a few clubs there.
http://ucanr.edu/sites/4HSanDiegoCounty/Club_Information/Community_Clubs/http://ucanr.edu/sites/4HSanDiegoCounty/Club_Information/Community_Clubs/

SWMBO works for the UofA Division of Ag too, she was reminding me last night that CA went through a restructuring during the "economic downturn," being a state agency and all, some states cut their Extension Service's funding. Some of the states are still rebuilding.

bigdaddylee said it all. In SC, each county has a 4H extension person (but they may work in multiple counties). That person should help. FYI, I knows nothing about CA extension, but pretty much all states have been cutting their extension personnel. I hope it works out, because its a good way to keep a child involved with something productive.

bigdaddylee and spitfirebill have covered it pretty well. 4H and FFA isn't just cows, plows and sows. There is alot more to it and it all leads back to developing youth and teaching them responsibility, leadership, community service and much more. You don't have to have a farm to be in 4H. Heck not even a back yard! I am a county extension agent in a rural county so we do have our share of livestock anf garden projects but we also have kids that focus on public speaking, fashion, photography, culinary arts, robitics, environmental science, shooting sports and much more. In short there is a 4H project for every young person. Find out what she is interested in and I am sure there is a project that will fit. A project can be seasonal but there are many other programs she could be involved in to keep her busy through out the year. Extension has many resources to help such as project books and guides.
I also want to point out 4H is a volunteer driven organization. Yes there are agents such as myself but I have agriculture responsibility as well as 4H and community development. So our 4H leaders are truly the driving force behind our program. I make club visits but I can not be at every club meeting, its just not possible. I encourage her guardian to contact the county, or in the case of Cali a area, agent with 4H responsibility and I bet they can point them in the right direction. Hope my ramblings help.

In reply to ridinwitcj73:

Yep, FFA didn't exist in my area when I was in school....which seemed a bit odd considering the high school was surrounded on 4 sides by fields of corn and soybeans.

yamaha wrote: In reply to ridinwitcj73: Yep, FFA didn't exist in my area when I was in school....which seemed a bit odd considering the high school was surrounded on 4 sides by fields of corn and soybeans.

I was more active in FFA as a youth then I was in 4H. Prior to becoming a ag extension agent I was a agriculture teacher for two years. In the small rural school I taught in I had very few traditional "farm kids". Most of them lived in the small town or in a trailer out in the woods. Yes its a sad thing our agriculture programs in schools are falling by the wayside. Sports seems to get the majority of the funding in schools nowadays. Don't get me wrong sports teach alot of valuable lessons as well but some administrators do not think that agriculture is important enough to invest in. Alot of things are taken for granted.