Madison County 4-H has experienced some rapid changes over the course of the last two years. The CES has had to rearrange clubs and form new relationships with first time and veteran volunteers. Through any transition period CES knew the task was the build trust with the volunteers and empower them to become better and be more impactful for their specific clubs and for our county program. 

One of the methods used to build relationships and empower our volunteers was to recruit them to attend the Kentucky Volunteer Forum. We wanted the veterans to attend classes in their respective fields but also have the chance to experience new areas of interest. The CES also recruiters brand new volunteers to help bring back new club, day camp, or school enrichment ideas back to the Agents. 

This past year, we took a record number of volunteers from Madison county to attend the Volunteer Forum. We sought out new potential leaders who may not have stepped up unless encouraged by the CES to attend. 

Of the volunteers from Madison County, all reported an interest to lead clubs and take more of a leadership position in our county. 

The 2018 Kentucky Volunteer Forum offered 148 workshops, organized in 19 tracks.  (Horse, livestock, and crafting tracks were the most well attended.) 1108 people from 110 counties were registered, making it the largest volunteer forum in Kentucky’s history, and the second largest 4-H volunteer forum held anywhere in the world during that year, to date.

Determining the factors that motivate volunteers to participate in the Forum is important in order to more effectively market and recruit for the event.  21.62% of respondents reported that they were motivated to attend the 2018 KVF by the workshop offering.  Additionally, 16.84% attended because their 4-H agent encouraged them to do so.  Additional factors included becoming motivated and re-energized (14.35%), they attended past forums (13.72%), and to network (13.51%).

When asked what components of the forum they most enjoyed, the two biggest responses included workshops (31.41%) and networking opportunities (20.14%).

When asked to identify what they had gained from attending the KVF, 22.93% of attendees reported “learning about new programs” while 19.21% were “motivated or inspired,” 18.18% gathered new information, 16.52% developed new skills, and 15.91% benefitted from “networking.”

Conference attendees were asked to respond to six agree-disagree statements, that queried their aspirations following the forum.  (Strongly Agree = 5, Strongly Disagree = 1).  These included:

“I am more likely to continue volunteering”4.38

“I have increased my level of knowledge”4.33

“I am more likely to offer a new program”4.22

“I am more likely to increase involvement in my county”4.13

“I am more energized and motivated”4.13

The Madison County 4-H Program has seen steady increase of participants and as the growth keeps going the CES will need more volunteers. Furthermore, an increase in volunteers will allow the 4-H Agents to create new clubs, offer new Day camps, and further meet the needs of Madison County. It also allows the Agents to find new ways to reach more youth especially the under reached! With more volunteers CES is able to reach the future will remain bright in Madison County.