
4-H Positive Youth Development Academy
The 4‑H PYD Academy equips 4‑H professionals with the essential knowledge and skills to plan, implement, and evaluate high-quality 4‑H programs that help youth thrive.

Don’t Miss the 2023 4-H PYD Virtual Academy
Camp Experiences for Youth to Thrive
April 25-27, 2023
This PYD Academy is intended for all 4-H professionals who plan, deliver, support, and oversee camping programs including front-line educators, faculty, center and/or facility staff, volunteers, specialists, and program leaders. The academy will focus on the importance of implementing positive youth development practices in camp programming. This includes where and how to infuse positive youth development into the camper experience and in the youth leadership training experience.
Registration fee is $250 per person. Partial scholarships are available.
Up Your PYD Practice!
Plan Now to Join Us this Fall!
Three PYD Academy Opportunities will be offered fall 2023, all kicking off as part of the PYD Spotlight Day Monday October 9 in Pittsburgh, PA.
For more information on each academy opportunity, please click on the button below
(Note: Buttons will be live as information for each academy is available)

PYD for a New Generation
Plenary Speaker Karen Pittman, KP Catalysts
Founder and former CEO, Forum for Youth Investment
2023 PYD Academy Spotlight Day
October 9, 2023, Pittsburgh, PA
Join us for a day focused on positive youth development as we build our capacity to help youth thrive in 4-H – now more than ever before! On this day we welcome Karen Pittman co-founder and former CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment to talk about PYD for a new generation of youth – a generation that has been profoundly impacted by the pandemic and other social disruptions. We will also hear from our 4-H national leaders on their efforts to promote and build PYD across the 4-H system.
The spotlight day includes a light breakfast, plenary session, keynote address, national partner updates and kick-off meetings for three PYD academies! You won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn more about the science and practice of PYD.
Following the plenary session we will kick off three academy experiences for you to chose from! The PYD Spotlight day is a great way to kick off your NAE4-HYDP week, with a focus on positive youth development in 4-H.


4-H is the youth development program of our Nation’s Cooperative Extension System and USDA. 4-H.org is maintained by National 4-H Council as part of our mission as an independent, private-sector partner to the Cooperative Extension System. As an independent, 501 (c)3 charitable organization, National 4-H Council does not direct or implement 4-H programs at the state or local level.