History
The Michigan 4-H Foundation is a nearly $8 million organization that supports 4-H youth development by acquiring, managing and distributing gifts and grants to fund programs and opportunities that help train and support Michigan 4-H volunteers and increase positive learning experiences for youth.
The foundation has a core commitment to the development of the 4-H volunteer system and has supported program initiatives that help diversify 4-H membership.
In 1952, when America celebrated the 50th anniversary of 4-H, Michigan responded
by establishing the Michigan 4-H Foundation. Arne G. Kettunen, state 4-H director
at the time, organized to incorporate this new organization to encourage private
financial support that would supplement the public support provided by the
cooperative partnership of county, state and federal government through the
Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Service.
Photo: Formation of the Michigan 4-H Foundation was completed in late April of 1952. George Haggarty, Detroit attorney and president of the Michigan 4-H Foundation, is signing the scroll as other incorporators look on. They are, left to right: J.C. Cahill, Detroit, Detroit Edison Comany; Milon Grinnell, East Lansing, editor of Michigan Farmer and vice president of the foundatiion; H.J. Gallagher, Jackson, Consumers Power Company; and A.G. Kettunen, East Lansing, state 4-H club leader and secretary of the foundation. J.H. Alexanian, Lansing, was the sixth incorporator (not pictured). |
Kettunen Center
The cornerstone of the foundation's contributions to 4-H youth development in Michigan is its ownership and operation of Kettunen Center in Tustin. In the early 1950s, the newly organized Michigan 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees purchased 140 acres in rural Osceola County and launced its first major 4-H fund raising campaign to construct "Camp Kett."
Kettunen Center today is positioned to continue serving the needs of 4-H volunteers well into this new century. With the success of the Vision 2021 campaign in the late 1990s, the center now boasts a variety of innovative learning centers and a lodging capacity that can host youth groups and adult conferences simultaneously. Kettunen Center has also become a premier center for studying and experiencing environmental learning opportunities that maximize use of its forestlands and shorelands bordering Center Lake.
Michigan 4-H Children's Gardens
In 1993, the Michigan 4-H Foundation partnered with Michigan State University to create another innovative learning environment—the outdoor Michigan 4-H Children's Garden at MSU. The outdoor garden attracts more than 150,000 visitors annually and is the national eader in using gardens to increase science, reading and technology literacy of children. An indoor Michigan 4-H Children's Garden opened in 2003 to provide year-round learning opportunities for kids.
But, the foundation's work is not just about physical learning environments. The foundation has helped fund some innovative programming opportunities that have been highlights of Michigan's 4-H history.
Inclusive Programming
In 1975, the Michigan Horseback Riding for Handicappers Program (now called 4-H Proud Equestrians Program) began with grants from the Charles Stewart Mott and W.K. Kellogg foundations. More than 1,200 riders with disabilities are involved in this program today. This grant was followed by another major grant from these same two foundations to connect children with and without disabilities in 4-H opportunities.
New Directions
In the 1980s, 4-H developed programs such as FOLKPATTERNS, the 4-H culutral heritage project, with a grant from the National Council for the Humanities. Stress Connection, the nation's first stress management program for young people, was developed in partership with the MSU College of Human Medicine with a grant to the foundation from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation.
In 1988, SPACES: Preparing Kids for a High Tech and Global Future, better defined the ways we help early adolescents discover self, achieve greater understanding of their world and other people in it, and explore the myriad opportunities available to them in a high-tech and global future. This grant to the Michigan 4-H Foundation from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation was the largest such investment by a private foundation to a 4-H program in the nation.
In the 1990s, many foundation grants helped launch new environmental education programs such as Patterns on the Land, which resulted in the new The Walk curriculum. There was also increased support that resulted in the 4-H Character Education movement, which helped expand opportunities for 4-H leaders and other adults to strengthen the moral and ethical grounding of young people in their communities.
The Future
In 2002, as the nation celebrated the 100th anniversary of 4-H, Michigan also celebrated the golden anniversary of the Michigan 4-H Foundation. Local, regional and state-wide celebration events were held. State-wide events included a 4-H Family Reunion at Kettunen Center, a Big Birthday Bash at 4-H Exploration Days, the 4-H Centennial Ice Cream Social at the 4-H Children's Garden, the 4-H Centennial Gala (which included the induction of the inaugural class of the Emerald Clover Society) at the Michigan Historical Center and the 4-H Centennial Tailgate and football game.
For Michigan 4-H history, visit the Michigan 4-H Story webpage. Learn more about the Michigan 4-H Foundation.