In August of 2019, CLD Extension faculty member, Dr. Nicole Breazeale, met with Horticulture Agent, Dr. Annette Heisdorffer and the Executive Committee of the Green River Area Extension Master Gardeners Association (GRAEMGA).   The group was struggling with three inter-related issues: (1) the need to develop a Strategic Plan, but with insufficient buy-in to include widespread participation; (2) the need to evaluate the impacts of this diverse program in order to better direct their limited resources; (3) the need to expand the commitment and leadership of the broader volunteer base, so that the workload could be shared more evenly across the entire group.  Ripple Effect Mapping (REM) was chosen as the best tool to jump start a long-term participatory planning and evaluation process. REM is a highly energizing, participatory, story-based evaluation tool that is used by community developers.  It was created by Scott Chazdon (Minnesota Extension), Mary Emery (South Dakota State) and colleagues a little over a decade ago.   REM is particularly effective at capturing the direct and indirect impacts of a complex program.   Furthermore, by beginning with storytelling and appreciative inquiry, it grounds the process in lived experiences instead of more abstract conversation.  

On November 21, 2019, twenty-nine current and former members of GRAEMGA completed a REM session with facilitators Dr. Nicole Breazeale and Heather Hyden of the Department of Community & Leadership Development at UK.  This process involved people sharing individual stories of the program’s impact and then following up with a series of prompts, including: “Then what happened?”  “What did that lead to?” The “ripple” effects of each outcome were mapped on butcher paper with the participation of the entire group (see the photos included below).  

The process itself elicited a great deal of excitement.  The comments from the day’s evaluation were overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the value placed on group participation, storytelling, having fun, and exploring community impacts.  Reflections included the following, "I didn't realize how much we accomplished and how many people we have affected." "I was amazed by the stories." "This [Ripple Effect Mapping] process made me want to get even more involved in our programs!"

            Breazeale and Hyden then coded the REM using the Community Capitals Framework (Flora & Flora, 1992), which makes it easier to see patterns and themes across the impacts.  For example, there were significant impacts in the area of human capital, specifically in health, education & skills, and leadership development.  That said, the program also strengthened social capital in the community (building bridges across organizations, fostering informal conversations, and providing opportunities for deeper connections across difference).  Enhanced social capital and committed volunteers (human capital) was linked to increases in financial capital.  For example, through a partnerships with the Master Gardeners, the Western Kentucky Botanical Gardens was established and expanded, now hosting approximately 8000 tourists a year with significant economic development benefits to the region. The natural capital of the community was also improved, through an expansion of gardens, increased habitat, reduced fertilizer overuse, more native plants, and overall beautification efforts, which resulted in improvements in cultural capital, such as increased community pride and respect for Kentucky plant life as well as strengthening local norms regarding the value of collective work.    

            From there, we asked the question: Where should we go from here?  Some notable responses from GRAEMGA participants: “Let’s shout our impact from the rooftop!”  “We must continue to push ourselves.”  “Maybe we need to do a strengths finder to figure out how we can all best contribute.”   “We need to reach out to new groups and to younger people to get them involved in Master Gardeners.”  “We need to think about things that haven’t worked for us as well.”  Vicki Stogsdill, a GRAEMGA volunteer, took the lead and became a champion for the participatory process that followed.  She brought the Community Capitals Map back to her group and facilitated a further conversation about the current strengths of the Master Gardener program and areas that needed improvement.

            We followed the group’s lead and proceeded with the strategic planning process by developing and implementing an online strengths finder during the era of social distancing.  Fifty Master Gardeners participated in this process.  Dr. Breazeale prepared the initial analysis and is teaching the Executive Committee how to use this data to better engage their base and match up people with activities and opportunities for leadership that suit their interests and skills.  Finally, using story-based prompts, GRAEMGA volunteers are currently doing phone interviews with key stakeholders to draw out their experiences with the Master Gardeners and inform the planning process.  The final stage of this process involves collective development of goals and specific action items for the strategic plan.  

            Zoom interviews were conducted with Annette Heisdorffer and Vicki Stogsdill about this process and its impacts, and their spirited storytelling was cut into a nine-minute video that is available here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8uxTPNcCnM&feature=youtu.be.  This digital storytelling video was integrated into a virtual conference presentation at the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) in June 2020 (with 69 attendees), which has inspired a collaboration with the University of Florida Extension, who wishes to implement a similar process with their Master Gardener program.  Finally, we are also working on a Public Value Story for local elected officials, so they can better understand the importance of this volunteer program.