Author: Caroline Hughes
Major Program: Community Engagement
Starting out as a new FCS agent in Robertson County, I have had to become imaginative in finding, and sometimes creating, an audience to listen my Extension messages. It isn't always easy to just decide you will have a program and immediately have an audience show up. I have already discovered that, just because you want to have a program and impart information, people just don't always show up at the meeting room in your office ready to listen. On my first day on the job, Sh
Author: Sherri Broderick
Gallatin County Cooperative Extension Service, the City of Warsaw, and Gallatin County Tourism collaborated to host the second annual Peony Spring Festival in downtown Warsaw at the Courthouse Square.Activities included a 5K, 4H breakfast, horse and carriage rides, Queen City Riverboat rides, an antique tractor show, an inflatable fun zone for the kids, live music, vendors, and educational workshops.The Gallatin County Cooperative Extension Service also took lead and organized the 31 vendors for
Author: Lindsey Dunn
Owensboro puts on an event each Friday throughout the summer to engage and entertain the community. Families gather downtown to visit vendors at the street fair followed by music and entertainers through the night. In conjunction with this event, the Daviess County Cooperative Extension has coordinated the Kick-Off to a Healthy and Safe Summer for multiple years. This year, Daviess County 4-H Agent coordinated with thirteen street vendors for this Kick-off to a Healthy and Safe Summer street fai
Author: Raul Villanueva
This is an program developed and coordinated by Dr. Zenaida Viloria. In this effort teaching was conducted to 4th and 5th grades elementary student from Caldwell (330 students) and Lyon (150 students) Counties in four dates (two on each April and May) with a total of 900 contact hours. The entomology group located in the REC at Princeton participated widely in the design, logistic and field day displays of the events. In the guided tours for both groups of Caldwell and Lyon Co. the entomol
Author: Sarah Bowker
CEDIK used social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Wordpress) in FY 2018 to reach diverse audiences. Nearly 152,000 individual impressions were made across the 4 platforms, with nearly 6,800 engagements in the posts across platforms.CEDIK website traffic included over 20,300 page views, with 34% of those views to access county level data profiles. CEDIK website traffic has increased by 31% from FY 2017.CEDIK Newsletter circulation occurred monthly in FY 2018, and we have expanded our circ
Author: Catherine Weaver
The Jessamine County Cooperative Extension Services has a strong partnership with the Nicholasville Farmer’s Market. This past year was the first year as a market for the Nicholasville Farmer’s Market. The overwhelming support and excitement for the farmer’s market allowed for the vendors’ income to far exceed expectations for a beginning market. As a wrap-up of the season, the Nicholasville Farmer’s Market wanted a celebratory program to display vendors and what th
Author: Jeremy Teal
Farm to Fork is an event that uses locally grown food to make the meal for the night. In Hopkins County, the second annual Farm to Fork event consisted of over 150 guest and over 45 volunteers. 4-H received over $2400 in donations from the event for volunteering.The adult and youth volunteers get to take life skills away from it. They are taught sanitation policies when handling food, plating food, proper way to serve the dish, and manners when doing so. These are skills that can be used y
Author: Kindra Jones
In 2015, the Grayson County Extension Agents and the Grayson County Extension Council started the Extension Family Farm Fest to provide opportunities to families in the community to experience agricultural activities. From picking and painting their own pumpkins and petting friendly farm animals to community services providing information at booths and door prize drawings; families and youth have been able to get a firsthand experience with some of the agriculture in the county. The continuing s
Author: Brandy Calvert
The 2017-2018 brought a new face to Gateway Christian Academy as Mrs. Brandy was invited to start a 4-H Club and a Cloverbud Club afterschool. Over 50 youth enrolled in the Gateway 4-H Club and over 50 joined as Gateway 4-H Cloverbuds. The 4-H program became the first and only extracurricular offering at the school. This can be attributed to years of building the program and the program's excellent reputation for positive youth development within the county. Through an approach that bro
Author: Samantha Anderson
The success of modern agriculture is dependent upon communication with those outside of the industry. In partnership with the Mayfield-Graves County Chamber of Commerce, Graves County Cooperative Extension Service hosted an Agriculture Day for participants in the biannual Leadership Class. Twelve Leadership Class members participated in tours of Bugg Farms, Riley Livestock and Pilgrims Pride along with meetings at Graves County Farm Bureau and Mayfield Grain Company. Leadership Class members are
Author: Ronda Rex
According to Child Poverty & Hunger During the Holidays by Eden Canon, “the latest statistics released by the USDA reveals that there are 3.9 million households in America in which both adults and children are food insecure—which means they have limited or inconsistent access to food which is both nutritious and safe. Hunger during the holidays is not just a soft issue of feeling that every family, no matter how poor, should be able to gather together for a decent holiday m
Author: Don Sorrell
In the fall of 2012, the Campbell County Extension Service helped organize a citizens group called Jolly Park Community Development Council (JPCDC). The goal of this Council (ANR agent serves on the Council) is to increase the awareness and the public use of A. J. Jolly Park. Prior to the Council being organized the Park had no oversite leadership group and the park activities were mostly limited to camping and fishing. JCDC meets monthly and has 4 working subcommittees. ANR agent chairs t
Author: Jessica Hopkins
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 increas
Author: Keenan Bishop
On the Table is a one-day opportunity to gather around a table with friends, neighbors, colleagues (and potential new clientele) to share a meal and have a real conversation about what's important to us. On the Table conversations are meant to encourage everyone to think about the community issues they care about while adding a diversity of voices to the discussion of who we are, where we’re going and what we can do, together, to get there. The goal is to discover how each of us can jo
Author: Paula Jerrell
The Ballard County 4-H 4th grade 4-H Clubs learn about Kentucky Government and Civic Engagement through their meetings. They learn about responsibilities and services of government, landmarks, Kentucky Symbols and How A Bill Becomes A Law. This year the clubs submitted a resolution to their 1st District Representative Steven Rudy, for the Mallard Duck to become the State Game Waterfowl. The bill was introduced and referred to the House Tourism and Recreation Committee were it p
Author: Whitney Hilterbran
The Cooperative Extension Service aims to reach all people of Kentucky. With today’s fast paced lifestyle people often receive their news and information by means of social media. Newsletter mailings and newspaper articles no longer suffice for reaching the majority of the population. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center as of August 2017, two-thirds (67%) of Americans report that they get at least some of their news on social media – with two-in-ten doing so often. This inc
Author: Dianna Reed
The Johnson County Adult 4-H Council identified the need to provide financial fundraising opportunities for the Johnson County 4-H Youth Development Program as part of the 2017-2018 Plan of Work. One opportunity to do so first presented itself 55 years ago in the form of the Johnson County Kentucky Apple Festival. Originally started as a way to market the local apple orchard's crop. With local orchards no longer in existence, it has now evolved into a festival that offers over 40 civic/churc
Author: Verlene Congleton
The Cooperative Extension Service has been instrumental in the planning of the local county fair and in collaboration with other civic groups and community leaders for the past 20 plus years. Throughout the years changes have occurred that have led to a decline in the popularity of the county fair within the community. The Cooperative Extension has had an active voice throughout the year in planning and preparation on the local Fair Board. The Cooperative Extension Service takes charge of
