Sheboygan, WI (September 16, 2020) — Every year, National 4-H Week sees millions of youth, parents, volunteers, and alumni come together to celebrate the many positive youth development opportunities offered by 4-H. The theme for this year’s National 4-H Week, Opportunity4All, is a campaign that was created by National 4-H Council to rally support for Cooperative Extension’s 4-H program and identify solutions to eliminate the opportunity gap that affects 55 million kids across America.

With so many children struggling to reach their full potential, 4-H believes that young people, in partnership with adults, can play a key role in creating a more promising and equitable future for youth, families, and communities across the country. In 4-H, we believe every child should have an equal opportunity to succeed. We believe every child should have the skills they need to make a difference in the world.

Sheboygan County 4-H will observe National 4-H Week this year by highlighting some of the inspirational 4-H youth in our community who are working tirelessly to support each other and their communities.
“We believe youth perspectives are so important and a solution to eliminating the opportunity gap, because young people come with new ideas and new ways of seeing the world,” explains Jennifer Sirangelo, President and CEO of National 4-H Council. By encouraging diverse voices and innovative actions, 4-H believes that solutions can be found to address the educational, economic and health issues that have created the opportunity gap.

Sheboygan County youth are invited to join the Wisconsin 4-H Zoom on Tuesday, October 6 at 7 p.m. to reflect on our 2019-2020 4-H Year and look ahead to 2020-2021!! WI 4-H Staff will be launching the 4-H Movement Campaign, sharing our WI 4-H Project Tip Sheets, and more.

“Youth from our Sheboygan County 4-H Program has persevered in a way that we have not seen for a long time. While communities struggle to provide basic needs of youth and families, members in our program have served food, provided healthy activities, and connected with older generations during this challenging time,” said Sarah Tarjeson, Sheboygan County 4-H Youth Development Educator. “In lieu of our 4-H Open House this year we are celebrating 4-H and Opportunity4All through community-wide displays, virtual office hours, videos, and more. It is our hope that we will reach all young people who are looking for a place to belong in our community.”

In Sheboygan County, more than 800 4-H youth and 250 volunteers from the community are involved in 4‑H. From blacksmithing to robotics, kindergarten through high school, rural to urban, there is indeed Opportunity4All.

To learn more about how you can get involved, visit http://www.4-h.org/ or https://sheboygan.extension.wisc.edu/4-h-youth-development/ locally.