{"id":750,"date":"2010-08-30T09:25:40","date_gmt":"2010-08-30T13:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/4h\/?page_id=750"},"modified":"2025-11-24T13:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:50:10","slug":"youth-development-leadership-structure-and-decision-making-process","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/4h\/volunteers\/policies-procedure-and-guidelines\/table-of-contents\/youth-development-leadership-structure-and-decision-making-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth Development Leadership Structure and Decision-Making Process"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a name=\"introduction\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The University of Maine Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development (4-HYD) leadership structure and decision-making process has been designed to effectively allocate resources to focus on high-quality youth development with respect to our UMCE plan of work.\u00a0 The structure includes a central 4-H Program Leadership Team (4-H PLT) designed to be a core communication link and policy-making body, and to promote visionary leadership, direction and coordination within the program with respect to state and national initiatives. The 4-H PLT consists of all 4-H educators and professionals.\u00a0\u00a0In addition, four core program teams have been created to direct statewide youth educational programs and initiatives.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"leadership\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>4-H Program Leadership Team (PLT)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Membership: all 4-HYD educators and professionals\u00a0and Pine Tree State 4-H Foundation Executive Director, this would also include Bryant Pond and Tanglewood staff.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Responsibilities:\n<ul>\n<li>Meet every other month (or as needed) to report on and coordinate the work of all Program Teams<\/li>\n<li>Ensure the implementation of the 4-HYD strategic plan<\/li>\n<li>Make any decisions needing to be addressed by the entire PLT<\/li>\n<li>Responsible for the usage of the 4-H Name and Emblem<\/li>\n<li>Serve as a point of final approval and accountability on all 4-HYD policies and procedures<\/li>\n<li>Ensure development and implementation of appropriate 4-HYD policies and procedures, including issues related to liability, risk management, and dispute resolution<\/li>\n<li>Seek input of staff, volunteers and youth as needed for decision making<\/li>\n<li>Provide leadership in addressing staff development needs, evaluation of programs, and connecting 4-HYD staff with academic departments<\/li>\n<li>Encourage collaborations among staff (4-H and UMCE)<\/li>\n<li>Liaison Team to National 4-H, CSREES, other states, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Promote visionary leadership, direction and coordination within UMCE 4-HYD program in cooperation with the 4-HYD PLT<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"decision\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Decision-Making Process<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>4-H PLT makes final decisions regarding 4-H policies and procedures<\/li>\n<li>All PLT members can contact the Policy Team to put business\/policy items on the PLT agenda<\/li>\n<li>4-H PLT seeks input from staff, volunteers and youth as needed throughout the decision making process<\/li>\n<li>4-H Policy Team will\u00a0\u00a0prepare background information on changes or additions to 4-HYD policies and procedures for recommendation to the 4-H PLT<\/li>\n<li>4-H Policy Team will send the proposed policy change to the PLT for a decision via e-mail or at the next PLT meeting<\/li>\n<li>At each 4-H PLT meeting there will be one hour designated to discuss and decide on new policy and policy revisions that can not be handled via e-mail.\u00a0 In the event that a resolution can not be achieved then the new policy or policy revision will be delegated to a subcommittee for further research and revision.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"procedure\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Procedure for amending the Policies and Procedures Manual<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Any 4-H staff, volunteer, or youth may propose amendments to the Policies and Procedures manual<\/li>\n<li>The proposed amendment should be presented to the Policy Team.\u00a0 4-H volunteers and youth may give proposals to county staff, to be passed on to the Policy Team<\/li>\n<li>The 4-H PLT will serve as a point of final approval and accountability on all 4-H Youth Development policies and procedures.<\/li>\n<li>The Policy Team insures that approved amendments are integrated into the web-based manual.\u00a0 All approved amendments include a date of revision and staff will be notified when revisions are made.<\/li>\n<li>Staff will keep the 4-H community informed of changes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"communication\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Communication Process<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Minutes are taken at all PLT meetings and sent out to PLT members<\/li>\n<li>Updates on Program Team activities are included in PLT minutes<\/li>\n<li>Reports on Program Team activities are made to the broader 4-H community and other stakeholders on a regular basis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"individual\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Individual Roles &amp; Responsibilities<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Program Administrator with 4-HYD responsibilities<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide link between Administrative Council and 4-HYD PLT<\/li>\n<li>Review and analyze roles and responsibilities of all 4-HYD staff<\/li>\n<li>Prompt and guide strategic planning with the 4-H PLT<\/li>\n<li>Conduct ongoing review of staffing and its implications with Administrative Council with advice from the 4-HYD PLT<\/li>\n<li>Inform constituents of and represent the 4-HYD program with others (Administrative Council\/Cooperative Extension\/UM\/state)<\/li>\n<li>Encourage collaborations among staff (4-H and Cooperative Extension)<\/li>\n<li>Supervise state 4-HYD Office<\/li>\n<li>Review and approve budgets, with Administrative Council<\/li>\n<li>Member of sub-committee for policy development (Policy Team) with Program\u00a0Coordinator and 4-H Staff (as needed depending on issue)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Pine Tree State\u00a04-H Foundation Executive Director<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Act as programmatic liaison with Pine Tree State 4-H Foundation<\/li>\n<li>Provide resources for funding opportunities to support the Program Teams and 4-H PLT<\/li>\n<li>Provide leadership and a link between national funding sources and other 4-H Foundations to the Program Teams and PLT<\/li>\n<li>Review and approve budgets, with Administrative Council<\/li>\n<li>Review and present Pine Tree State 4-H Foundation Budget to the PLT<\/li>\n<li>Coordinate Pine Tree State\u00a04-H Foundation annual appeal, county fund development campaigns and state wide initiatives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction The University of Maine Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development (4-HYD) leadership structure and decision-making process has been designed to effectively allocate resources to focus on high-quality youth development with respect to our UMCE plan of work.\u00a0 The structure includes a central 4-H Program Leadership Team (4-H PLT) designed to be a core communication link [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"parent":623,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-withsidebar.php","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-750","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Youth Development Leadership Structure and Decision-Making Process - Cooperative Extension: 4-H - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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