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Show Ford Foundation Will Back Study Of 4-H Plan for Urban Areas The 4-H Club movement, traditionally tra-ditionally concerned with rural youth, will turn increased attention atten-tion to programs for urban areas under a grant announced by the Ford Foundation. The $25,000 grant will support a six month study of 4-H activities in some 100 urban areas. The Foundation also said a $125,000 grant to the University of Oklahoma for the development develop-ment of an urban counterpart of its agricultural extension and education programs. The program pro-gram will include the training of urban agents, or "urban scientists" sci-entists" to serve in cities in which the University will establish estab-lish field stations. Similar urban extension grant has been made by the Ford Foundation since 1959 to the Universities of Delaware, Illinois and Wisconsin and to Purdue and Rutgers Universities. thirds of its population was rural. The three year grant to the University will assist the following: follow-ing: (1) Establishment of field stations sta-tions in four Oklahoma cities. An urban agent, a graduate student stu-dent enrolled in a new university program in urban science, will be stationed in each city. He will be paid jointly by the University and the city. The urban agent will identify local problems on which the University Uni-versity might extend help. Although Al-though not necessarily a specialist special-ist himself, he can draw on specialists spe-cialists in such fields as urban economics, city planning, and community welfare work, from the University. He will also conduct con-duct local seminars on urban problems and report to the University Uni-versity on the effectiveness and The 4-H Club study, to be conducted con-ducted by the National 4-H Club Foundation, will explore program pro-gram needs for its growing non farm membership. The move-men move-men began in the early 1900s as an educational program among rural youngsters to improve the methods of agriculture and home economics, to promote civic responsibility, re-sponsibility, and to provide community com-munity leadership training. About 20 per cent of its 2,300,-000 2,300,-000 members now live in cities and another 27 per cent in rural but non-farm areas. The study will collect information informa-tion from ongoing 4-H programs in cities and suburbs. It will also examine relations with the land grant colleges and state universities univer-sities with which the 4-H clubs work in rural areas, and with other youth programs in urban areas, including delinquency prevention and control subjects. Oklahoma is one of the most rapidly urbanizing southwestern states. More than 50 per cent of its population live in the urban areas; twenty years ago, two- reievance to one tne scene proo-lems proo-lems of its urban research and training. (2) Training. Urban agents, while spending most of the time in the cities, will over a two-year two-year period spend 13 .weeks in seminars at the University, together to-gether with fourteen week ends of in service education. The University's Uni-versity's new Urban Science curriculum, cur-riculum, leading to a master's degree, will include courses in the economic, political and sociological so-ciological problems of cities; urban culture and values; planning plan-ning and leadership techniques, and the work of service agencies. (3) Research, based on the experience ex-perience of the urban agents and. urban-science faculty members in the pilot communities. Faculty members and the urban agents will serve internships with Community Com-munity Studies, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Kansas City that conducts research and training on urban and regional problems. It has close ties with universities universi-ties and regional planning groups in Missouri and Kansas. |