About 4-H VIP

Through funding made available from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Children, Youth and Family At-Risk Project, the 4-H Very Important Parents Curriculum and Program were developed.  Recognizing that the majority of parent programs for teen parents use adult-based theories and research, the curriculum development team began a year-long process to create the 4-H VIP curriculum, grounding the curriculum in theoretical and empirical literature as well as knowledge gained through focus group interactions with teen parent groups. This curriculum is built on theoretical, research-based principles of parenting, relationship education, and life skill development and on two theories of instruction, component display theory and experiential learning.

4-H VIP is being implemented in Greene and Harnett counties of North Carolina and integrates technology into the parenting education process for enrolled teen parents age 15 to 22 who became parents before the age of 19. To ensure relevancy, a teen parent advisory group advised the development of the curriculum and Program.  Program participants are showing increases in knowledge of positive child growth and development and couple wellbeing through relationship education; integration of knowledge for life skill development; nurturing children’s school success; and technological literacy.

The NC 4-H VIP program is an intensive 12-month program with face-to-face and technology-based messages and contacts to provide education to teen parents and their childcare providers. Phase one of 4-HVIP consists of twelve weekly face-to-face classes with technological interaction around topics covered in those face-to-face classes.  Phase two of 4-HVIP is nine monthly face-to-face classes with greater technological interaction.

Designed using existing research and input from teen parent focus groups, the 4-H VIP Teen Program is designed to:

  • Develop teen parents’ parenting and life skills.
  • Teach teen parents to cultivate child development and education.
  • Use technology to promote two-way communication between teen parents and child care providers.
  • Increase knowledge about social media usage as an approach to serving youth
  • Identify potential social media approaches that they can utilize in their youth development programs