Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF) is a leadership and civic engagement program conducted by the National 4-H Council for high school age youth. The program is run for six consecutive weeks during the summer months and New Jersey typically attends in late June/early July. It is held at the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, Maryland just outside Washington, DC. Using Washington, DC as a working classroom, delegates learn about the government, citizenship, and civic education.
New Jersey 4-H sends 20-30 4-H members and 2-3 adult advisors to Citizenship Washington Focus each year. The learning takes place through energetic workshops, appropriate field trips (including visits with congressional representatives) and fun social events.
There are approximately 200-250 4-H members representing different states at the 4-H center during the week of CWF. The cost for the week is approximately $1400, which includes registration, lodging, transportation, all activities, and most meals. There are local scholarships available to participants through their county 4-H program. Participants may only attend this event one time during their 4-H career. All interested 4-H members must be in grades 9-12 at the time of application and must go through a local selection process. For further information about attending as a New Jersey delegate contact your county 4-H office.
In an effort to raise funds to assist with the cost of this trip on the state level, we have created the CWF 25 for 25 Fundraising Campaign (support up to 25 4-H members with a $25 donation). We ask that 4-H alumni who attended CWF as well as 4-H volunteers, 4-H parents and community members consider making a $25 donation to help support the cost to send up to 25 New Jersey 4-H Members to the Citizenship Washington Focus Conference annually. Please contact 4-H at nj4h@njaes.rutgers.edu for more information.