Author: Marsha Hagler
Major Program: Empowering Community Leaders (general)
Civic engagement helps create and cultivate vibrant communities. Studies have shown social capital is necessary for effective government and economic development. Part of social capital is engaging in the legislative process, serving on local boards/councils, and contributing in topics important to that community. Overall in the US, social capital has been on the decline. Currently, Kentucky ranks 48th in civic health. In response to the need to increase civic engagement, the Mammoth Cave A
Author: Catherine Webster
This is a follow-up to the initial Empowering Local Leaders Success Story from 2017...As a result of Empowering Local Leaders (ELL) initial success in the ten Mammoth Cave counties, two statewide in-services were conducted in July & August of 2017 that the Simpson County 4-H Youth Development Agent assisted with. These Train the Trainer in-services taught teams of agents how to deliver the ELL program in their counties & districts, and also included a panel discussion with the CAFE Admin
Author: Rita Stewart
Members of the Lincoln County Extension Homemakers Association are very diverse and capable leaders who are not afraid of a challenge. Currently, membership within the Lincoln County Extension Homemakers Association includes ten members living in the Philippines who skype with a member here monthly. This group is the only Extension Homemakers club in the Philippines. They have conducted a summer feeding program there and are planning other community outreach programs. They continue to be very ex
Members of the Lincoln County Extension Homemakers Association are truly leaders in their communities and are making a positive difference. Members work hard at the club, county, area, and state levels. My role as a Family and Consumers Sciences Agent is both an advisory role and a teaching role. I offer assistance as needed and teach educational classes on a variety of topics, including leadership development. Members utilize the skills learned in Extension programs in their own programming eff
Author: M. Elizabeth Coots
In 2016 the Woodford County Extension Council determined a need for a leadership program within the county in order to empower citizens to be involved in challenges and opportunities the community faces. As a result of this, the Woodford County Extension Office in collaboration with the Woodford County Chamber of Commerce developed Leadership Woodford County. The program gives participants the opportunity to better understand their community and learn the skills they will need to prepare for the
Author: Melinda McCulley
University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension recognized in 2017 that while FCS agents and specialist are doing exceptional work for Kentuckians, we were not effectively sharing our story about impacts made and accomplishments achieved. To remedy that oversight, we have worked diligently over the past year to ensure that agents, county programs and state initiatives are not only making a difference for Kentucky but that those accomplishments are highlighted. Improving
Author: Nicole Gwishiri
Bath County Extension, like many extension programs in the state of Kentucky, rely on volunteers to aid in planning, implementing, and evaluating programs. From the previous year's efforts, the Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent continued to generate, educate, maintain, and sustain the leaders. Focus was on the Bath County Extension Homemaker program. The Homemakers have a strong connection to the community of Bath County, however, many believe this organization is the same organiz
Author: Mary Beth Riley
It has been stated before that the estimated value of a volunteer’s time is $24.14 per hour. If you compare that to the average minimum wage in Kentucky which is $7.25 per hour then that comparison shows how valuable a volunteer and their service is. Cooperative Extension Services all across Kentucky rely heavily on volunteers to have successful programs. Volunteers in Extension can assist and provide various programs such as gardening programs, farmers market events, 4-H programming, Home
Author: Karen Denniston
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 22,240 women will receive a diagnosis of ovarian cancer in 2018 and that about 14,070 will die from ovarian cancer in the 2018. High death rates are attributed to the fact that often ovarian cancer is not diagnosed until the late stages because there ore typically no signs or symptoms until the cancer has spread. This is the 41st year that Kentucky Extension Homemakers have partnered in supporting ovarian cancer screening to reduce the m
Author: Sally Mineer
I serve as the FCS Extension Specialist for ProfessionalDevelopment. I work with all new hiresin FCS Extension and continue to mentor or help any FCS agent as needed. This process begins with the on boarding atnew agent training on campus. I organizethe entire 3rd day of training to help them understand all theresources available to agents and make the connections between county andcampus. Last year I also organized aProfessional Development day with F
Author: Judith Hetterman
Civic engagement helps create and cultivate vibrant communities. Studies have shown social capital is necessary for effective government and economic development. Part of social capital is engaging in the legislative process, serving on local boards/council and contributing in topics important to that community. Overall in the US, social capital has been on the decline. Currently, Kentucky ranks 48th in civic health. In response to the need to increase civic engagement, the Mammoth Ca
Author: Daniel Carpenter
The 2018 Leadership LaRue Ag Day was held on April 12th 2018 with 14 participants from the LaRue County Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership LaRue 2018 Class. The event is to help educate our community about the changes that have occurred in agriculture over the past decades and the positive impacts they make on our local economy. This behind-the-scenes look at local agriculture allowed community leaders the opportunity to meet the hard-working farmers and producers who keep the heritage of ag
Author: Paula Jerrell
Cooperative Extension depends on the development and commitment of leadership of various ages. We rely on grassroots leadership to provide educational programs, to help direct organizations, to be Extension advocates with policy makers and more. Leadership lessons range from learning the basics of Parliamentary Procedure in the 4th grade to learning and understanding our own leadership styles and how it relates to others to learning to talk with policy makers about issues important t
Author: Robert Amburgey
In the year that this agent has been in the county, considerable effort has been made to recognize leadership throughout the ag community and to recruit those individuals to serve in various roles in extension and ag committees. This effort is ongoing and will provide members of the community more opportunity to take on leadership roles and provide extension a stronger leadership base to support our ongoing efforts. Bath County has a very strong group of individuals under the age of
We have been having Leadership Ballard for 19 years and this agent has been taking youth to Frankfort to Page longer than that. I heard from a former 4-Her today, who is now in law school at UK. She contacted me to let me know she had been involved in some legislation in Frankfort and she wanted to share the following with me, "Thank you for taking me up to Frankfort numerous times while I was in school!! In the last year I worked to get a bill written, and it was signed into la
Author: Luciana Hockersmith
While continuing to offer an annual program celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mercer County is gradually making strides toward improving community relations through focused and intentional programming at each event. After 12 years featured programming, this year Mercer County will attempt to form a group of leaders to design and implement informal community conversation regarding topics or issues of interest as identified by the group. In order to reach this goal, guest speake
Author: Lauren Neltner
Civic engagement helps create and cultivate vibrant communities. Studies have shown social capital is necessary for effective government and economic development. Social capital are the individuals in a community who engage in the legislative process, serve on local boards and councils, keep aware of news and events, and contribute to ideas and initiatives that are important to the community. Overall in the U.S., social capital has been on the decline. Kentucky ranks 48th in civic heal
Author: Lynn Blankenship
The Metcalfe County Quilters Group was officially organized in 2014 by the (now outgoing) Treasurer of the Metcalfe County Homemakers Association, in order to share the heritage craft and art of quilting within our community and to allow our experienced quilters and fiber artists, to foster quilting and sewing skills in interested novice or inexperienced community members. At least 4 adult members and 1 youth who had no experience with quilting when they started participating, have all now made
