National 4-H Center Marketing Thrust of 1983

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Located in suburban Washington, D.C. just minutes from the nation's capital, the National 4-H Youth Conference Center is well established as a facility ideal for educational conferences and meetings. While the primary purpose of the Center is to serve the needs of 4-H and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Center often has the capacity to serve other educational groups as well.

During early 1983 one of the largest efforts to promote the National 4-H Center was planned and orchestrated. Council staff developed a variety of new marketing tools (and messages) to inform groups about the exceptional facilities available at the Center. A variety of marketing brochures, releases and other aids were produced by the Communications Division with the intent of informing multiple audiences about the opportunities of using the Center. Council also engaged a consultant to assist the marketing staff in developing new approaches for reaching appropriate Center users.

Grant Shrum, Council's president, wrote to all U.S. Senators and Congressmen encouraging them to recommend use of the National 4-H Center by constituent youth groups. Secretary of Agriculture John Block, as a former 4-H'er, gave his enthusiastic leadership in promoting educational use of the Center to other cabinet members, informing them of the facilities available for their conference needs. (The convenient location of the 4-H Center and free parking were major draws with this audience for one-day meetings.) State 4-H leaders worked cooperatively with their state superintendents of schools to increase participation in Washington Focus, a year-round program for youth groups to help teens develop leadership skills and learn about their federal government.

Grant Shrum, president, National 4-H Council, welcomes (l. to r.) Elizabeth Dole, Secretary of Transportation; Richard Schweiker, former Secretary of Health and Human Services; and Margaret Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services, to the Conference for Youth on Drinking and Driving, held at National 4-H Center. During the conference, Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell described 4-H as the greatest out-of-school youth education program in the country.(From Summer, 1983 National 4-H Council Quarterly)

Similar efforts were made by State Extension directors serving on Council's board of trustees to encourage land-grant university staffs to use the facility for educational needs in the Washington area.

To create greater public awareness of National 4-H Center locally, appropriate Washington area constituencies were invited to visit the Center on special occasions.

A 6-minute slide/tape presentation on Center facilities was developed by Council and available for use by all of these groups.