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ASHLAND — Ashland County’s Head, Heart, Hands and Health program — better known as 4-H — is growing and its leader has asked commissioners for a boost to the budget.
The youth organization recorded its biggest year since 2019 across all participation, boasting a 9% increase in members, volunteers, junior fair participants and Cloverbuds (4-H members aged 5-8) over 2022.
“We’ve had a busy summer,” said Jackie Wasilewski, 4-H educator with the Ashland County OSU extension office.
Wasilewski pointed to 4-H’s growth since 2019 to build a case for a 2024 budget ask of $115,000, a 35% increase from previous years.
Ashland County’s contribution to 4-H in 2022 was $85,000.
The extra money in 2024 would help pay for a part-time position, Wasilewski said. That person would help set up school programming and re-launch CARTEENS, a traffic safety program conducted by 4-H teen leaders and their program partners for juvenile traffic offenders.
The juvenile court stopped sending kids to the CARTEENS program in 2018, according to Wasilewski.
“We have a different judge who wholeheartedly supports and believes in the program and would like us to re-instate it,” she said. Wasilewski said the volunteers who were involved before are still interested in helping, along with the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
“We just need someone to coordinate and teens to help administer the program,” she said.
Ashland County commissioners said they would take Wasilewski’s inquiry under consideration.
Ashland County 4-H by the numbers
This year, junior fair participants sold 606 animals for a total of $1,147,986.37, a 21% increase from 2022 numbers.
In 2022, there were 573 animals sold for a total of $947,741.48. Numbers in 2021 were slightly lower, with 501 animals sold for $825,257.41.
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Participation is up past pre-COVID numbers.
In 2019, 4-H reported 581 youth members, 84 Cloverbuds and 177 volunteers. This year, there were 637 youth members, 94 Cloverbuds and 176 volunteers.
Junior fair participants were also up this year, with 999 partaking in fair activities. In 2022, that number was 858 and there were 762 participants in 2021.
Junior fair exhibits were also up this year. There were 2,877 exhibits this year, compared to 2,099 in 2022 and 2,768 in 2021.
Wasilewski said the program’s newsletter recipient list and Facebook followers have also grown since 2022.