My friend Sravan Suryadevara (1403 alum) (now team 4096) and his peers at Illinois have been the ones doing a lot of work for advancing FIRST and STEM in the area. They have started multiple FRC teams this year as well as grown strong FLL and FTC clubs while working with other veteran mentors in Illinois.
Illinois isn't the only school using 4H to start teams. Our team (3929) worked with Penn State Extension to develop ways for Penn State to get involved with FIRST through 4H and now we too have several rookies this year under their 4H extension. Right now looks like 9 of PA's new rookies are 4-H.
http://www.atomicrobotics.com/about/partners/
http://extension.psu.edu/4-h/explore