Due to a lack of resources in a low-income county, most 4-Hers and youth in Edmonson County struggle with the costs associated with projects, whether they be large or small.  As the 4-H agent in the county, I began looking in to ways to help provide opportunities for our youth to have assistance in project fees, donations from the communities, grants, etc.  One of the programs that I found was the Youth Agricultural Incentives Program.  As an annual applicant of the CAIP program in our county, I was familiar with both programs and what they offered but we didn't offer the youth version in our county.

I met with our 4-H council and presented the idea of becoming the program administrators to them which they were unanimous in supporting the endeavor.  I then sought out fellow 4-H agent, Janet Turley on assistance with training and program information as she is the program administrator for Warren County's YAIP program.  After attending the administrator training with another council member, I met with the administrator of the CAIP program for our county and we worked out details for both programs to offer in our county to present to the Ag Development Board.

The Ag Development Board met at the end of June and we presented our proposal for $10,000.00 to administer the YAIP program for the new year.  The council approved and exceeded our request by approving an additional $3,000.00 to administer for the program.  We were so proud for the youth of our county and this opportunity that our Ag Development Board is investing into our future!