Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** as agriculture faces increasing…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** as agriculture faces increasing challenges to provide nutrition for a growing population while the climate and society changes, the resiliency of the food system from producer to consumer is threatened. Young people should be engaged with the problems in their communities and need to be skilled in problem solving to support efforts in their communities. Arizona cooperative extension, 4-h youth development proposes next steps 4 leadership: campus, career, and community for agricultural resiliency (NS4L). NS4L is designed to provide 4-h youth with a higher education influenced 15-week experience to teach agriculture system knowledge, problem solving skills, and leadership. 4-h professionals will guide youth through problem-based learning focused on solo and team research, ideation, and presentation. Approximately 500 youth annually will develop and demonstrate solo and team-based problem-solving skills that will place innovative agricultural technology in a real-world context. Youth will explore technological solutions to problems within the food system and building comfort with agricultural technology use and adoption with community members.approximately 228 youth will receive a scholarship to attend the arizona 4-h summit, where youth will be able to engage with faculty on the university of arizonacampus. NS4L will be active in traditional, spanish-speaking, and tribal 4-h communities helping inform what we know about high-quality engagement programming for these communities. To meet the challenges of programing during a pandemic and serve distant groups of youth, NS4L will be conducted as aface-to-face program with virtual programming adaptations available.scaffolded support will be provided after NS4L concludes for youth to join 4-h teen focused programming in their communities (i.e., arizona 4-h stem and agriculture ambassadors).