At 13, Paul Wilson attended a 4-H summer camp that taught him much more than just how to swim. The program gave him self-confidence.
More than 40 years later, Mr. Wilson, 56, is a part-time Whitfield County 4-H program assistant and says a proposed elimination of 4-H programs would be terrible.
"There's 156,000 youth involved in 4-H in Georgia. If we were to lose the program, what are they going to do?" he asked. "We keep them out of trouble; we teach them skills; they learn how to have fun; we keep them out of gangs."
The University of Georgia Board of Regents was asked to provide a list of up to $300 million in budget reductions for fiscal year 2011, in addition to $265 million already cut. Among other things, the board listed the elimination of all state 4-H programs -- which would net $6.3 million in savings -- close half of UGA's county extension offices and eliminate the Archway Partnership in several counties, including Whitfield.
The international 4-H youth development program is aimed at 9- through 19-year-olds and focuses on leadership skills and a healthy lifestyle. In some states there are programs for 5- through 9-year-olds and college students.
Its mission is to "empower youth to reach their full potential, working and learning in partnership with caring adults," according to the national Web site.
In georgia
There are 4-H programs in 158 of Georgia's 159 counties, according to Tony Tyson, director of Extension County Operations, the department that handles the 4-H program.
The Georgia extension service "already absorbed a 20 percent cut in our state budget over the past two years, and we currently have 80 vacant county agent positions that we are unable to fill," he said.
"Obviously, we feel that these actions (eliminating 4-H programs) would be ill-advised, and we are optimistic that the proposed cuts will not be implemented," he said.
Beth Carlan-Watson, county extension agent for 4-H in Gordon County, said they have about 1,200 children who would be affected.
"When I heard about (the possible cuts), it was very difficult, especially being a 4-H'er myself," she said.
"I grew up in the program, my parents and grandparents were 4-H'ers. It was difficult just thinking that my children would grow up without the program," added Mrs. Carlan-Watson, the mother of two boys age 4 and 6.
Kandace Edwards, coordinator and 4-H agent for Whitfield County, where the program has existed since the early 1900s, said she didn't know anything about possible cuts before March 1.
"We are doing business as usual," she said. "We are involved in so many things, we can't stop and do anything else."
But if the program ceases, she said, "you are looking at a significant impact in the different communities."
POSSIBLE CUTS TO 4-H* Eliminate 116 filled positions, including 94 county 4-H agents* Require the closure of five 4-H facilities across the state including Rock Eagle* Net savings of $6,304,861Source: Board of Regents of the University System of GeorgiaNote: UGA 4-H educational youth development programs reach more than 156,000 young people annually, about 1,200 in Whitfield County and 1,200 in Gordon County.
Among other things, 4-H agents visit more than 15 schools in Whitfield County for in-school and afterschool programming.
Agents also help with activities for home-schoolers, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and leadership meetings for seventh- through 12th-graders.
For Gregory Bailey, director of Teaching and Learning for Whitfield County Schools, the 4-H program changed his life.
"It was a positive way to learn, and it gave me skills that I would need as an adult," said the 49-year-old. "It also gave me an avenue to study things at a depth that you couldn't do with the curriculum."
Ruth Gonter, a fifth-grade science teacher at Tunnel Hill Elementary School, said her students have learned a lot about leadership by being in the program.
"It's been a nice enhancement to the curriculum. It would be a shame if it was taken away," she said. The entire fifth-grade class at the school participates in the program, she said.