The mission is carried out through a broad array of education programs implemented by youth and adult volunteers in their communities. Of the rural youth, only 12 percent live on farms. Ninety percent of 4-H volunteers are white. Youth development is defined as the process by which humans proceed from infancy to childhood, into adolescence, into adulthood. The mission of 4-H is to positively impact the natural youth development process so that children and adolescents lead positive, secure, fulfilling and happy young lives while they are developing the skills, knowledge, and competencies necessary for fulfilling contributing adult lives.
All youth experience some degree of risk as they progress from childhood to adulthood.
An increasing proportion of American youth, however, are at substantially higher risk for negative outcomes such as substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, crime, violence, and academic underachievement due to family, community, social, political, and economic conditions which have not created. Longer term, they are at risk for not becoming responsible family members or participants in the work force or in the work of citizens in the larger world. These youth are the focus of the National Extension Youth at Risk Initiative.