Dierenfield to head Extension youth programs

September 4, 2020

Candi Dierenfield will oversee Alaska youth programs for the UAF Cooperative Extension Service.

After serving in an interim role for 11 months, she has been named youth development program leader, effective Aug. 31.

Dierenfield has been a 4-H agent and military liaison for Alaska and the Pacific Air Force since 2004. In the role, she provides training to 200 youth program staff annually in Alaska, Japan and Korea. As program leader, she will work with Alaska 4-H and FFA programs and continue as the military liaison.

Dierenfield is a longtime 4-H’er, having joined the Worden Riverdales 4-H club near Billings, Montana, in third grade. She learned how to sew in 4-H and started her own sewing business at 15. Dierenfield studied fashion design as an undergraduate before becoming more interested in communication and marketing. She earned a master’s degree from Montana State University and a doctorate in education from Northcentral University with a specialty in e-learning.

She is proud of work she and other agents have done with providing culturally relevant programs in different areas of the state. For seven years, they have also worked with teens in foster care or incarcerated in the Fairbanks Youth Facility. They have been teaching workforce development skills such as interviewing for jobs and creating a resume, and life skills, including cooking, stress management and developing healthy relationships. Dierenfield has also served as a foster parent for several youth over the last 10 years.

In her new position, Dierenfield hopes to strengthen the collaboration between 4-H and FFA, which already work together in some areas. Her focus will be in growing both programs. The arrival of coronavirus made it more challenging for clubs to meet but virtual outreach allowed 4-H to reach more out with projects and activities, she said. FFA hosted a virtual convention and other programs this spring.

“We were reaching kids all over the state,” she said.

4-H has staff in Fairbanks, Dillingham, Sitka, Juneau, Kodiak, Kenai, Anchorage, Palmer and Bethel but serves many other communities. FFA has chapters in Fairbanks, North Pole, Delta Junction, Tok, Palmer, Anchorage, Hope, Kenai, Iron Mountain, Prince of Wales and Kake.

Dierenfield has received several recognitions, including the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents.