Participatory evaluation is a form of citizen science that brings program stakeholders into partnership with researchers to increase the understanding and value that evaluation provides. For the last four years, 4-H volunteers and staff have joined academics to assess the impact of the California 4-H camping program on youth and teen leaders in areas such as responsibility, confidence and leadership. Volunteers and nonacademic staff in the field informed the design of this multiyear impact study, collected data and engaged in data interpretation through “data parties.” In a follow-up evaluation of the data parties, we found that those who participated reported deeper understanding of and buy-in to the data. Participants also provided the research team insights into findings. By detailing the California 4-H Camp Evaluation case study, this paper describes the mutual benefits that accrue to researchers and volunteers when, through data parties, they investigate findings together.

Until recently, California 4-H programs did not represent the ethnic diversity found in California's population of young people. To close the gap in representation particularly with Latino youth UC ANR began the 4-H Latino Initiative, an effort to pilot adapted programs that would target the engagement of Latino youth and families. In this paper, we explore and compare young people's program experience and youth development outcomes between 4-H community clubs and 4-H Latino Initiative programs. We employed comparative post-test survey methodology with two treatment groups (community clubs versus 4-H Latino Initiative programs). The findings provide encouraging evidence that young people experienced positive outcomes from participating in 4-H programs, inclusive of both 4-H community clubs and 4-H Latino Initiative programs. Additionally, we found that the program experience including relationship building and youth engagement were similar across community clubs and 4-H Latino Initiative programs.

• •Learn how to plan meals and make balanced food choices
• •Learn how to safely purchase, prepare, and store food
• •Discover the health benefits of different foods

• •Learn about the basics of robotics, including platform, drive, and control systems
• •Engage in scientific inquiry around motion, forces, chemistry, and electricity
• •Design robotic solutions to engineering challenges
• •Build, construct, and test robots

• •Learn about the history of tabletop games and the variety of games available
• •Reflect on game mechanics, gameplay type, and identify your preferred play styles
• •Design and test your own game based on key game mechanics and victory conditions.

• •Learn how to take care of your own physical, intellectual, emotional, and social health
• •Practice a healthy lifestyle and share what you have learned with others
• •Make decisions that positively affect the health of your family, your community, and you

• •Identify and define a problem, it’s limit, and the goals and criteria for a solution
• •Develop and test possible solutions
• •Engage in engineering practices including defining problems, using models, analyzing and interpreting data, using math, designing solutions

• •Learn major dog breeds and identify their characteristics
• •Study responsibilities of dog ownership
• •Demonstrate dog care and management in feeding, handling, record keeping, grooming, and fitting
• •Learn dog health regulations, first aid, and simple treatments for ailments This sheet outlines activity ideas at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of skill; also gives suggestions on how to tie the activity to STEM, healthy living, citizenship, and leadership goals.

• •Expand existing knowledge of safe home food preservation methods
• •Engage in real life appreciates of science and math, such as heat transfer, chemistry, and measuring
• •Collaborate with UC Master Food Preservers to develop effective and engaging presentations that teach others in your community