Becoming Beyond Ready: Determining Staffing Levels for the 4-H Program to Achieve Opportunity for All Youth

Authors

• Jeremy Elliott-Engel, University of Hawaiʻi at MānoaFollow

Volume

64

Issue

1

Abstract

4-H seeks to expand opportunity and access for all youth, yet little guidance exists regarding the staffing levels required to achieve that goal. In this commentary, I examine staffing ratios as a measure of organizational capacity and propose discussion of a framework based on the ratio of 4-H professionals to potential youth participants rather than current enrollment. I argue that staffing decisions should move beyond historical staffing patterns and budget constraints and should account for population size, density, and community characteristics. This framework is intended to stimulate discussion about strategic staffing approaches that support sustainability and/or growth of the 4-H program.

Authors’ Contribution Statement

Jeremy Elliott-Engel is the sole contributing author to this manuscript.

Data Availability

No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Elliott-Engel, J. (2026). Becoming Beyond Ready: Determining Staffing Levels for the 4-H Program to Achieve Opportunity for All Youth. Journal of Extension, 64(1), Article 13. https://doi.org/10.66752/1077-5315.5438