The Extension Services-237: Everything You Need to Know
Overview of the ES-237
What is the ES-237?
The Extension Services-237 (ES-237) is a report of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension that consists of statistics for youth ages 5–18 participating in UF/IFAS Extension youth programs and for the volunteers providing service to these programs. Family Nutrition Programs (FNP) are the only youth Extension programs that are exempt from ES-237 reporting. In Florida, an annual ES-237 report is completed for each UF/IFAS Extension county office based on total 4-H enrollments entered into 4-H Online. County reports are compiled into a single state report and used for additional reporting needs.
Why is the ES-237 important?
UF/IFAS Extension is the public outreach arm of the University of Florida. This accurate information on UF/IFAS 4-H programs is necessary to tell our story to stakeholders, including funders at federal, state, and local levels.
What programs are reported on the ES-237?
All UF/IFAS Extension personnel (faculty, staff, volunteers, etc.) who conduct programs, regardless of their programmatic appointment, with youth ages 5–18 report those programs to the ES-237. Programs are reported regardless of educational contact time.
4-H Online and the ES-237
UF/IFAS Extension personnel use 4-H Online (v2.4honline.com), a web-based 4-H enrollment system. 4-H Online is designed so that the ES-237 data automatically populates in each county’s report as member, volunteer, and group enrollments are entered.
UF requires that all programs where UF/IFAS Extension personnel have Care, Custody, or Control of the minors in attendance must collect individual program registrations through 4-H Online. If UF/IFAS Extension personnel do not have Care, Custody, or Control, those programs may be reported in 4-H online through a group enrollment. County-based UF/IFAS Extension personnel will report programs through their county office. Work with your CED for what this process looks like in your county. Personnel not associated with a county, such as state Extension specialists, should contact the state 4-H information coordinator for access to 4-H Online ES-237 reporting.
How do I access my county ES-237?
Log into 4-H Online as a county manager. Click on Standard Reports in the navigation pane. Select the report called ES237 (All Reports), set the program year to the target year you want the report for, and click Download PDF.
Ways to use the ES-237
The ES-237 is a tool that can compare multiple years of enrollment statistics. This allows faculty to identify increases or decreases in membership, volunteer participation, project enrollment numbers, and other trends in participation. This document is important in evaluating the participation and interests of a county’s youth development program.
ES-237 Section 1: 4-H Delivery Modes
UF/IFAS Extension personnel use a variety of methods to deliver programming to youth. Table 1 lists the delivery modes reported to the ES-237. This table shows how youth participation is reported for each delivery mode in 4-H Online, either through an “individual youth enrollment,” “individual event registration,” or a “group enrollment.” For example, youth participating in organized 4-H clubs can only be reported through individual youth enrollments; youth participating in camps can only be reported through individual event registration; and youth participating in a site visit, such as a school enrichment program or guest speaker, can be reported through a group enrollment. A youth is reported to one of the delivery modes listed in Table 1 when they participate in a UF/IFAS Extension program.
The delivery mode section of the ES-237 counts youth only. A youth may be counted more than once in this section. For example, a youth can be counted in a 4-H club delivery mode for their year-long participation in a 4-H community club. This youth will also be reported to the overnight camping delivery mode when they attend a 4-H residential camp. When a youth participates in a second program during the same program year, they are considered a duplicate.
Table 2 provides a description of the different ES-237 delivery modes. These are the national definitions that should be used to report youth participation on the ES-237 report.
ES-237 Sections 2 and 3: School Grade, Gender, Place of Residence, Ethnicity, and Race
When reporting youth to a delivery mode, 4-H Online asks for school grade, gender, place of residence, race, and ethnicity for each youth. Duplicates are not included in these sections of the ES-237 report. Using the earlier example of the club member who attends overnight camp, this youth is counted in both delivery modes but is only counted once in the grade, gender, place of residence, race, and ethnicity sections of the ES-237. Since the youth is a club member, information is pulled from his or her member enrollment profile and added to these sections of the ES-237 report. When reporting this youth to the camp group enrollment, he or she would be counted as a duplicate. Tables 3, 4, and 5 provide more information about place of residence, ethnicity, and race definitions.
ES-237 Section 4: Volunteers
The ES-237 report defines a volunteer as an adult or youth who provides unpaid support for youth Extension programs. The only volunteer-related information reported to the ES-237 is the number of youth volunteers and the number of adult volunteers in the current program year. There are two ways volunteers are reported to the ES-237 by 4-H Online. The first is through individual volunteer member profiles. If a youth or adult has an active member profile and has selected that he or she is a volunteer, 4-H Online includes them in the ES-237 volunteer count. The second way to report volunteers is through a group enrollment. Only volunteers who do not have individual profiles in 4-H Online should be reported through a group enrollment. Also, a volunteer should not be counted on more than one group enrollment in the same program year. There is no way to remove duplicate/repeat volunteers on a group enrollment.
ES-237 Section 5: Projects
Projects are the planned sequence of age-appropriate and research-based learning opportunities youth experience when participating in one or more of the ES-237 delivery modes. At least one project must be assigned to a youth enrollment, and they should add all the projects that they are actively participating in. Once the youth enrollment is approved in 4-H Online, the youth’s project is added to the overall project count. Projects can also be reported through group enrollments.
ES-237 Reporting Timeline
Annual county ES-237 reports for the ending 4-H year are due September 15. The Florida 4-H year is September 1 to August 31. When entering a group enrollment between August 1 and September 15, counties will be able to set the program year that the group enrollment corresponds to.
Further Information
Contact Florida 4-H state headquarters for further information about the ES-237 report. For the 4-H Online enrollment system, contact the state 4-H information management coordinator.
Resources
Kahler, J. (2013). Instructions for completing the state 4-H enrollment report. Washington DC: NIFA National 4-H Headquarters
Norman, M. N., and Jordan, J. (2012). Understanding 4-H youth development delivery. 4-H FS101.5. Gainesville: University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Archived at https://ufdc.ufl.edu/IR00006365/00001/pdf
United States Census Bureau (2002). About the topic of race. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). (n.d.). 4-H overview. USDA Research, Education & Economics Information System. Retrieved February 8, 2024, from https://reeis.usda.gov/reports-and-documents/4-h-reports/overview
Table 1. Delivery Modes for 4-H Youth Programs.
Table 2. 4-H Youth Delivery Mode Definitions.
Table 3. Place of Residence Definitions.
Table 4. Ethnicity Definitions
Table 5. Race Definitions
