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National 4-H Council team visits 4-H Village Community Garden
Posted on May 28, 2025
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Fort Valley State University 4-H Staff, Village Community Garden volunteers, National 4-H Council members along with faculty, staff and students from Chattahoochee Hills 4-H Charter School pose at the Village Community Garden in Sylvester, Georgia.
Fort Valley State University’s (FVSU) 4-H Program along with officials and patrons of the FVSU 4-H Village Community Garden Outdoor Research Laboratory of Learning recently hosted a meeting with a group of national 4-H officials.
Jill Bramble, chief executive officer (CEO) of the National 4-H Council and her team visited the garden as part of the “4-H Beyond Ready Feedback, Why Does 4-H Matter to You Discussion,” program. The program is a continuation of the 2025 Ignite Ultimate Youth Summit held in Washington, D.C.
Joining Bramble were Dr. Raymond Shange, administrator and chair of the 1890 Association of Extension Administrators (AEA), and Dr. Richard Whittington, 4-H program leader and the 1890 Region 4-H program leader representative of the National 4-H Program Leaders Working Group. Both Shange and Whittington represent Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension.
Additionally, Bramble and her National 4-H Council team wanted to visit and experience the 4-H Village Community Garden. They were inspired by seeing photos posted on social media of free food given away to families for the past 12 years.
Woodie Hughes Jr., assistant Extension administrator 4-H program leader for FVSU’s Cooperative Extension 4-H Positive Youth Development Program, explained the significance of the group’s visit.
“This is the first time in the history of FVSU’s Cooperative Extension Program that the National 4-H Council CEO and their team visited an FVSU 4-H Youth Development site. By God’s grace, the FVSU 4-H Village Community Garden Outdoor Research Laboratory of Learning is in its 12th year of existence,” he said.
Other people attending the event included local 4-H students from Sylvester, 4-H Village Community Garden Sankofa 4-H volunteers and 4-H students and mentors from the Chattahoochee Hills 4-H Charter School in Fairburn, Georgia.
The 5-acre site, commonly known as the FVSU 4-H Village Community Garden, is located in Sylvester, Georgia. Founded in 2013 by Sam X and his wife, Eda Garcia in a working community collaboration partnership with FVSU Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development Program, it annually provides more than 1,000 families in the area with free, fresh produce. Developed from a location once used for dirt biking, it now features a 4-H garden, artwork displays and oversees what the 4-H youth call the Village Community Garden Lake.
“This is a love project,” said Sam X, co-CEO of the 4-H Village Community Garden. “We are creating the largest art sculpture that bridges arts and agriculture that feeds people for free,” he said.
Hughes then explained why the phrase “Beyond Ready” is used in the title.
“Andy Ferrin, a colleague of mine, serves as the senior vice president and chief strategy officer for the National 4-H Council. He said that ‘Beyond Ready’ does not only mean agricultural careers, but it also means being ready for anything in general.” Hughes said.
Furthermore, Hughes said Ferrin is impressed that FVSU’s Extension Program is using the garden as a training facility.
“The FVSU 4-H Extension team is using the outdoor research learning lab to teach youth how to use chemistry, engineering and agriscience to manage aeroponic systems. They are also teaching students how to implement irrigation technology and showing them pathways to careers while meeting immediate community needs,” Ferrin said.
One of the students participating is Ty’Jhon Jefferson.
Bramble told the story of how Jefferson, a Sylvester student who will attend Oberlin College this fall to study engineering and chemistry, convinced his grandmother to get involved with activities at the garden.
“He encouraged her to eat healthier which prompted her to lose 150 pounds. She then became fast friends with the other mature volunteers (known as Village Community Garden Sankofa 4-H Volunteers) associated with the garden. They now practice an activity known as ‘agricise’-a combination of agriculture and exercise, by working in the garden several days a week.
It’s a powerful example of what’s possible when Cooperative Extension, 4-H and community leaders can achieve when they work together,” Bramble said.
Jefferson also explained why he got involved with activities associated with the garden and how those activities inspired him to get involved with his community.
“Investing in yourself is the first step at being able to bring any meaningful change to a community. The FVSU 4-H Village Community Garden 4-H club taught me that. For me, community has always played a vital role in facilitating growth in my life,” Jefferson said.
The Worth County native added that being able to see himself in others within his community will act as a source of inspiration for him during his journey into post-secondary education.
For more information about FVSU’s Cooperative Extension 4-H Positive Youth Development Program, contact Woodie Hughes Jr., at (478) 825-6296 (hughesw@fvsu.edu).
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