4-H's Crop of Non-Farm Kids

Suburbanites, Urban Families Are Latest Focus for Venerable Organization

Here's a modern Montgomery 4-H family, its home taken over by 4-H projects in the pressure-filled week before the county fair, but there's not a barn in sight, not a single farm animal on the property.

Not one member of the Germantown family of Dolores and John Reaves has lived in the country, much less on a working farm. When family members go to 4-H meetings, and they go every week, they gather in the suburbs with other suburban families. They plan ethnic menus, create sewing patterns with globe-spanning cultural references, encourage the timid to start backyard gardens, maybe growing just a squash or two.

They put in long hours in hopes of exhibiting their goods at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, the annual showcase for 4-H projects, with cash prizes available in hundreds of categories. Last year, the Reaves's daughter, Sophia, 14, took home more than $100 in prize winnings for projects that included a presentation on how to kill annoying household insects.

On Sunday, Dolores Reaves and the children gathered around the kitchen table to critique dried floral arrangements and sand mosaics. The ones that turn out best will be entered in some of the fair's many art and craft exhibits.

That tomorrow's grand opening of the fair was starred and underlined months ago on the family calendar surprises no one more than Reaves, a former Army nurse raised with views of the New York skyline from her family's place in Newark, N.J.

"I thought 4-H was just farmers," Reaves said, as Joshua, 8, rushed over to show off another mosaic. "I'm from the city. I grew up across from Manhattan. It just didn't seem like me to be involved in 4-H. I had friends who did and I thought they were crazy. I just never would've believed we'd all be in 4-H."

And yet, there she was Sunday, offering commentary as her oldest daughter, Besilica, 18, cooked batches of mint jelly to be entered in the soft-spreads category, and Sophia impaled a preying mantis on a needle for her entomology exhibit.

Going back five or six years, there she was hauling husband and kids to their first 4-H meeting, barely getting through the door before they were hailed with "hellos" from all the people they knew.

"Everybody said, 'Oh, it's the Reaveses. ' It was a big group. We met at the fairgrounds, and no one lived on a farm," Reaves said. "I forget which friend said to me, 'Look, you don't need an animal to be a part of this.' "

The 4-H was founded in 1902 with a mission to help children from 8 to 18 years old develop skills for living. (The four H's mean Head, Heart, Hands and Health.) But the 4-H is not just about life on farms anymore. The 4-H is reaching out to families in cities and suburbs, while keeping its traditional base of farm-based youths.

"The 4-H is opening up a lot," said Alganesh Piechocinski, 4-H and youth development extension educator in the Montgomery Cooperative Extension Service. "We do a lot of outreach, and we're bringing in kids with a lot of different ethnic backgrounds: African American, Asian, Hispanic. We are bringing in kids from urban areas who want to know more about animals, and we are teaching them about healthy living, eating nutritiously."

The changing nature of the 4-H and its quest to be more relevant and inclusive were the leading issues during the National 4-H's centennial in 2002. In a report submitted to then-Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman, the organization's leaders pledged a greater focus on mentoring, education, diversity and civic engagement. The Agriculture Department, in partnership with state and county governments, finances 4-H operations. Montgomery's 4-H receives financing from Agriculture, the University of Maryland's cooperative extension and the county's economic development department.