A core belief of 4-H is Health, as evidenced by the four H’s in the 4-H clover: Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. 4-H is committed to the physical, mental and emotional health of our nation’s youth so they may lead healthy and productive lives into adulthood. 4-H has become a national leader in health-related educational issues including chemical health, mental and emotional health, foods and nutrition, physical health and safety.
The goals are:
- Reduce youth smoking and tobacco use.
- Help youth build life skills which lead to healthy lifestyle choices with special emphasis on youth smoking and tobacco use prevention.
- Help youth understand influences and health consequences of tobacco, drug, and alcohol use to make healthy choices.
- Engage youth and adults in partnership to develop and implement community strategies that promote healthy lifestyle choices.
- Build positive, enduring relationships with youth involved as full partners through widely varying “communities of interest” to address youth risk behaviors.