Garfield County applauds 4-H

October 4-10 proclaimed 4-H Week by county commissioners

PRESS RELEASE
October 7, 2020

GARFIELD COUNTY, CO – The Board of County Commissioners is officially recognizing the efforts of 4-H, America’s largest youth development organization, which ensures that nearly six million youth across the nation have access to educational opportunities in agriculture, science, health civic engagement and more. From October 4-10, Garfield County officially recognizes the organization and its efforts with “4-H Week.”

Empowering youth with strong leadership skills, 4-H grows interest in hands-on learning to prepare kids for a successful life. Locally, 4-H is operated by the Garfield County Colorado State University (CSU) Extension and partners with Garfield County. Its office is located at the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Rifle.

“National 4-H Week, creating ‘opportunity for all,’ showcases the incredible experiences that 4-H offers young people, and highlights the remarkable 4-H youth in Colorado, who work each day to make a positive impact on those around them,” the proclamation reads.

The 4-H program began in Garfield County in 1916 and has been going strong for 104 years. It offers more than 200 different project areas, from livestock and shooting sports to cooking and sewing, gardening and rocketry. Garfield County 4-H is kicking off the new 4-H year with STEM in a Bag at the Garfield County Libraries and Meal Monkey across Garfield County. Contact the CSU Extension office at (970) 625-3969 for more information.

“Thank you and continue the great service to our youth,” added Commissioner John Martin.

County approves $10,000 grant for JA
Garfield County has approved a $10,000 grant Junior Achievement (JA) USA toward its efforts to provide financial literacy training for as many as 1,200 local students. The organization strives to instill a sense of entrepreneurship and work readiness in its students and is augmenting some of its offerings in a digital format due to COVID-19.

“Although the classroom environment looks different, Junior Achievement USA was able to make a lot of changes and provide a lot of digital content,” said Jake Lasko, JA district manager, to the county commissioners. “Our projections show that we can increase our classroom participation.

JA connects community volunteers with local classroom teachers to help provide its financial literacy programs in Garfield County schools. The grant funding, which was already budgeted for, comes from the county’s nonprofit general fund and was approved unanimously, 3-0.