Jeff Bush, executive director of the Louisiana 4-H Foundation. Photo by John Wozniak (Click on image for downloadable version.)

News Release Distributed 02/01/13

BATON ROUGE, La. – Jeff Bush, formerly with Tulane University in New Orleans, has been named the executive director of the Louisiana 4-H Foundation. He will oversee the fundraising for the LSU AgCenter’s 4-H and youth development program.

“I want to increase the role of the foundation in enhancing the capacity of the 4-H program to reach more youth with a wider variety of experiences,” Bush said.

One of his first goals is to finish the fundraising for the new multipurpose building at the Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center near Pollock, where 4-H Summer Camp is held.

The total cost to finish the building with furnishings, roll-down doors and air-conditioning will be $1.9 million, which he hopes to raise in the next year.

Bush said he’s in the process of rolling out a membership drive to raise $100,000 in 2013 for operational support for 4-H. His goal is to develop a program that will raise $500,000 per year.

“We’ll be able to have more scholarships and more resources to get more kids involved in our programs,” he said. “We don’t want lack of funding to get in the way of Louisiana children being able to participate in 4-H.”

He said he’s asking people to become vested members of the Louisiana 4-H Foundation through their donations.

Bush is a native of Washington Parish and a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.

He was at Tulane for 12 years and left as the senior associate vice president for constituency programs. He also worked in development for the Boy Scouts of America in Houston.

“We’re very pleased to have someone of Jeff’s caliber join our 4-H program,” said Paul Coreil, LSU AgCenter vice chancellor and director of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service. “He will help make our 4-H program even stronger.”

Coreil said about 250,000 youth are involved in Louisiana 4-H every year.

Linda Foster Benedict