4-H Youth Development

2025 State 4-H Congress to be held June 24-27, 2025!

The highly anticipated 2025 State 4-H Congress will take place June 24-27, 2024 on campus at Virginia Tech. Youth from across Virginia will showcase talents, engage in exciting workshops, and connect with fellow members from across the state.

For all the latest updates and information, check out the updated packet available on the 4-H Congress website.

We can't wait to see you at the 2025 State 4-H Congress!

Developing Confident Leaders

Standing for head, heart, hands, and health, 4-H uses more than a century of experience in youth development programming to build strong, confident leaders.    

Young people in the 4-H community learn leadership, citizenship, and a vast array of life skills that benefit them for the rest of their lives. Through school-based, after-school, and community clubs as well as camp settings, 4-H members pledge to build a better community, country, and world.

Ready for the Future

4-H participants are youth, ages 5 to 19, taking part in programs provided as the result of actions planned and initiated by Extension personnel in cooperation with volunteers. With a direct connection to research at Virginia's land-grant universities, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, 4-H is the first experience many young people have with higher education. 4-H is characterized as being community-centered, volunteer-led, Extension-staff supervised, research-based, home- and family-oriented, publicly and privately funded, and responsive to change.

• Mission, Vision, Slogan, Motto, and Pledge
• 4-H History
• Curriculum Resource Guide (PDF)
• 4-H Statistics

4-H provides a large variety of educational learning opportunities and experiences. Leadership, citizenship, and life skills are taught through learn-by-doing projects, local club programs, and 4-H camps, as well as at county, district, state, and national events. If you're interested in joining 4-H, contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office and ask about the 4-H program.

Opportunities in Your Community

Community 4-H clubs (9 through 18 years of age) offer a variety of 4-H projects for their members, generally meet in homes or public buildings, meet 9 to 12 months of the year, and have elected youth officers.

Project 4-H clubs (9 through 18 years of age) focus on a single 4-H project or subject matter area (i.e. horse clubs, photography clubs, etc.), generally meet in homes or public buildings, meet 9 to 12 months of the year, and have elected youth officers.

In-school 4-H clubs (9 through 18 years of age) meet during school hours, are approved by the school system, and have elected youth officers.

After-school 4-H clubs (9 through 18 years of age) meet after school hours, usually from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., in a school or public building; use 4-H materials; and may or may not have elected youth officers (depending on its organizational setup, a short- or long-term club).

4-H School Enrichment clubs (9 through 18 years of age) meet during school hours and are designed to strengthen the members’ knowledge of school subject-matter areas, thus complimenting what the school is teaching. The club may or may not have elected youth officers (depending on its organizational setup, a short- or long-term club).

Special Interest 4-H groups (9 through 18 years of age) have short-term learning experiences designed to create interest in a subject matter area, learn about 4-H, and have no elected youth officers.

Cloverbud 4-H groups are designed for youth 5 through 8 years of age who are introduced to 4-H through special learning activities designed for their age group. There are no elected youth officers and no competitive events for Cloverbuds.

Age Eligibility

The five through 18 years of age designation includes youth who will turn five during the 4-H year (October 1 through September 30).  Eligibility for 4-H membership terminates on December 31 of the year the member has his or her 19th birthday.