Biography

Dr. Pracht is an Associate Professor and 4-H Youth Development Specialist for the University of Florida/IFAS and has been a faculty member in the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences since 2007. His FTE appointment is 55% Extension work, 35% teaching, and 10% Research. He has worked 17 years in Extension 4-H programming in Florida and 4 years in Kansas working at both the County and State levels of Cooperative Extension.

Dr. Pracht provides research-based support to youth development professionals in the 4-H Youth Development Program conducting scientifically based needs assessments, planning and developing training materials, securing external funding, and evaluating program effectiveness. He provides organizational support for promoting positive youth development through offering education and in-service trainings for county 4-H Extension faculty and youth development professionals across Florida, nationally, and internationally while working cooperatively with state, regional, and county UF/IFAS Extension faculty and youth development professionals.

His Extension program uses a positive youth development (PYD) framework, particularly the 4-H Thriving Model (Arnold & Gagnon, 2020, See Research Narrative). Applying the Thriving model as a 4-H Youth Development Specialist.

Extension programs focus on three primary areas:

1. PYD/youth leadership/civic engagement.
2. Developing youth development professionals.
3. Risk management for those engaged in youth programming.

Dr. Pracht engages in basic and applied research on community-based organizational systems for youth programs focusing on positive youth development (PYD). His work informs and provides curricula and in-service training that allows PYD professionals to be successful at their jobs. The research he does on his UF/IFAS Extension program, Supporting Youth Development Professionals’ work in 4-H Youth Development Programs is informed by Positive Youth Development/Prevention Science and service-learning theories that help 4-H Extension faculty to create youth outcomes and bolster youth resilience. His research agenda includes (a) collaborating with faculty at UF and other Land Grant Institutions on a multi-state HATCH project and (b) serving as Co-PI on three USDA/NIFA grants and one SAMHSA grant. to provide the financial support for the enhancement of UF/IFAS Extension and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences programing.

By participating on the Multistate HATCH Youth Retention Study team Florida 4-H gained a better understanding of youth retention that is leading to interventions aimed at improving recruitment and retention of 4-H youth. The Multistate Hatch program has been approved for continued support and funding for another five years with the goal of the team developing, implementing, researching, and evaluating the intervention to further improve retention of youth in the 4-H Youth Development Program at both the State and National level.

Dr. Pracht integrates his Teaching, Research, and Extension Programs and uses his transformational leadership and experiential learning to facilitate collaboration and organizational change in youth programs in rural and urban communities