[Archived] City of Alexandria to Celebrate National 4-H Week October 6-12

For Immediate Release: October 3, 2019

The City of Alexandria will recognize National 4-H Week, October 6-12, by showcasing the experiences that 4-H offers young people and highlighting more than 1,200 youth and 75 volunteers in Alexandria who work each day to make a positive impact on their community.

“I consider 4-H a formative part of my youth,” said City Manager Mark Jinks. “While I gained agricultural and horticultural knowledge, the most important lessons were the life values I learned.”

The theme of this year’s National 4-H Week is “Inspire Kids To Do,” which highlights youth participating in hands-on learning experiences in health, science, agriculture and civic engagement. The positive environment provided by 4-H mentors ensures that kids across the country  ̶ from urban neighborhoods, suburban schoolyards and rural farming communities ̶ are encouraged to take on proactive leadership roles and are empowered with the skills to lead in their lives and careers.  

During National 4-H Week, Alexandria 4-H will host the #AlexandriaKidsDo social media contest to highlight the 4-H-inspired work taking place locally. Young people ages 5 to 19 are encouraged to showcase how they use hands-on learning to positively influence their community. Use the hashtag #AlexandriaKidsDo and tag @Alexandria_4H for contest consideration. For complete rules and details, visit Alexandria 4-H Youth Development on Facebook or @alexandria_4h on Instagram.

4-H empowers six million young people through 110 land-grant universities and more than 3,000 local offices, and is the youth development education program of Virginia Cooperative Extension. Virginia Cooperative Extension, supported by Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, is an educational outreach organization that provides research-based educational and volunteer service opportunities in the areas of family consumer science, agriculture and natural resources, and 4-H youth development. Free services such as financial education, nutrition classes, youth development, lawn and garden advice, and energy-efficiency audits are examples of popular programming in Alexandria. The Alexandria office of Virginia Cooperative Extension operates with state and City funding; works in partnership with the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities; and is located at Lee Center (1108 Jefferson St.).

For more information about Virginia Cooperative Extension services and volunteer opportunities, visit alexandria.ext.vt.edu.

For media inquiries, contact Andrea Blackford, Senior Communications Officer, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.