Another Voice / Erie County budget
Failure to fund Cooperative Extension will kill 4-H
Updated: 11/18/08 6:57 AM
The Erie County budget is once again threatening the extinction of 4-H in Erie County. Many people are unaware that Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County is the “parent” of 4-H, and without it, there is no 4-H.
We went through this in 2004. Cornell Cooperative Extension of New York bailed us out. It gave us a loan to keep a skeleton crew in place, and get us through the crisis.
This time, that is not an option. Why? We are still paying that loan back. It has only been three years.
The extension budget request is $295,000. This pays the salary of all the employees (about 10 people), pays off the loan to Cornell Cooperative and provides services to more than 2,000 active 4-H members.
In addition, after-school programs are provided in the city, which would otherwise not have a curriculum. Ten scholarships are awarded to seniors who have shown a dedication to 4-H for the last 10 years.
The rest is “matching funds.” What does that mean? Have you ever listened to a pledge drive, and someone offers a large sum, if other people chip in and “match” that amount?
That is how almost all of the funding for 4-H is produced. There is money out there, but unless you can match it, you can’t have it.
Did you go to the Erie County Fair this year? County legislators are invited to come, tour the 4-H buildings and barns and talk to the members. Erie County Executive Chris Collins did not attend. If he had, he would have seen the essential element that 4-H provides at the fair.
Time and time again, people tell us that they come to the fair to see the animals and the kids, not to ride the rides. Can you truly imagine the fair without the 4-H program?
Did you know that the Erie County Agricultural Society changed the formal name of the Fair to “America’s Fair” to distance itself from county government? Did you know that the Ag Society has spent more than $2 million on the agricultural end of the fair in the last three years, and plans to build a brand new show arena after the fair this year? Do you think these plans are now on hold, since there won’t be any kids at next year’s fair to use it?
Money must be available in the budget. The raises proposed for Collins’ four staff members alone equal $47,794.22. That is more than 14 percent of the entire request from Cooperative Extension.
The time for action is now. Without the support of everyone in Erie County, 4-H will be gone.
Please write your county legislator and the county executive. Make Collins understand that our children are not pawns. They are real, and 4-H can’t afford to be part of his game.
Nancy Koester of Eden is a member of Lawton’s Progressors 4-H Club.
