To organize and coordinate the efforts of many volunteers, a framework for volunteer engagement is needed. The "GEMS" Model of volunteer administration was developed to assist Extension professionals and volunteer coordinators to effectively administer volunteer programs without delivering the program themselves. The GEMS Model is…

This study was conducted to determine what the Extension Service's community roles and responses were during flood events and what should be done to better prepare Extension staff for future flooding in rural and frontier counties. A survey was used to determine the extent Extension staff were prepared to respond to citizen requests for services.…

Purpose: The fact that highly vulnerable countries like Ethiopia face far greater challenges from climate change makes agricultural adaptation a top priority. Even though the public agriculture extension system in Ethiopia plays a central role in facilitating and supporting adaptation, very limited information is available on how aware the actual…

This article discusses High School Harvest (HSH), an Extension educator-led project in five Vermont schools to provide students with job training and food system education and to provide lightly processed produce to school lunch programs. One hundred and twenty-one students participated, logging 8,752 hours growing, harvesting, and processing…

This article explores how on-the-ground Extension educators interface with higher education service-learning. Most service-learning in Extension has focused on precollege youth and 4-H. When we look at higher education service-learning and Extension in Wisconsin, we see that there is not as much connection as might be expected. County-based…

Cook Smart, Eat Smart (CSES) is a 12-hour cooking school that teaches participants to prepare nutritious, delicious food using simple, healthy preparation techniques, basic ingredients, and minimal equipment. The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the impact of CSES on food preparation and meal consumption behavior. Program outcomes include…

The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast an academic extension education model with an Extension human resource management model. The academic model of 19 competencies was similar across the 22 competencies of the Extension human resource management model. There were seven unique competencies for the human resource management model.…

This article offers an example of a database designed to support teaching animal production and husbandry skills in county youth livestock programs. The system was used to manage production goals, animal growth and carcass data, photos and other imagery, and participant records. These were used to produce a variety of customized reports to help…

Interest in cover crops by agricultural producers has increased the need for information regarding the suitability of crops for addressing different production and natural resource goals. To help address this need, staff at the USDA-ARS Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory developed a decision aid called the Cover Crop Chart (CCC). Visually…

Many programs in Extension deal with sensitive issues; however, one issue that seems to be comfortably omitted is sexuality education. How can Extension address this issue? This article highlights existing sensitive issues already addressed in Extension programs and offers a challenge to examine the situation for the benefit of individuals,…

Demand for professional development training in the early childhood field has grown substantially in recent years. To meet the demand, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service's Family Development and Resource Management unit developed the Early Childhood Educator Online Training Program, a professional development system that currently offers…

Renewed interest in growing and purchasing locally grown foods quadrupled requests for food preservation classes. Economic times tightened budgets, decreasing staffing levels of Extension educators. Offering options via the Internet was a natural progression to meet the increased demand. Extension educators created 20 5-minute online video--like…

Extension professionals facilitate community development through the strategic manipulation of learning and power in peer-to-peer learning partnerships. We discuss the relationship between empowerment and power, highlight relevant literature on the difficulties power presents to learning and the efficacy of service learning tools to facilitate…

The descriptive study reported here sought to discover how Extension and agricultural education programs develop and use community partnerships to enhance educational programming. The population was a census of all New Mexico Extension agents and agricultural education teachers. Agents partnered with 57 different agencies/organization and teachers…

States are recognizing the need for personal financial education and have begun requiring it as a condition for high school graduation. Responding to teacher requests to help them meet state-mandated financial education requirements, FCS educators in the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service developed a financial education tool kit. This article…