Our youth grow up in communities where they see the disparities when traveling with 4-H, sports or visiting other communities. Often, these youth’s views have not been corrupted by past attempts or political reasoning. Their fresh eyes allow them to analyze local community problems through a lens when trained with problem-solving skills can find unique solutions. Kentucky 4-H offers an experiential learning environment where youth can develop problem-solving techniques to address local, community issues. The Kentucky 4-H Issues conference is for high school youth who have a desire to make a difference in their community. 

The goals of the conference are to enrich the student’s citizenship/civic engagement roles, enhance their leadership skills, develop public presentation skills, gain an understanding of local issues and learn the process of addressing local issues. Green County 4-H has served as a facilitator the past three-year teaching students skills to analyze and dissect community problems. This past year, fifty-five high school students participated in this educational event. 

During the four-day intensive conference, a partnership occurs between the Delegates (youth) and the Facilitators (adult) which leads to a successful learning experience. Delegates were involved in 20 hours of hands-on experience.  Since the conference, 91% of the youth have used the decision-making process taught during the conference. Participants improved their communications skills as evident of 91% being more confident to talk in from of adults and their peers. Green County 4-H's participant identified a need for additional adult volunteers at 4-H summer camp.  Using the problem-solving steps identified during the conference, the teen developed marketing pieces to recruit additional adults. Due to the 4-H member's efforts, this year, we were able to recruit five additional adults to assist with 4-H summer camp.