Author: Shad Baker
Planning Unit: Letcher County CES
Major Program: Policy, Systems, and Environmental Changes
Plan of Work: AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT--2020
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
Demand for Extension Programming continues despite the pandemic, and our agents had to adapt teaching strategies to meet that need. Agents in Letcher and Harlan partnered with agents in neighboring Virginia to offer the Mountain Zoom Series of virtual classes. The programs occurred two evenings each week and spanned topics from natural resources such as forestry, truffles and wildlife to agricultural subjects on small ruminants, gardening, drones and drip irrigation and disaster preparedness topics on emergency water, first aid and fire safety. Partners included specialists from multiple land-grant Universities in Kentucky, Virginia, & North Carolina, state agencies as well as community leaders from local fire departments, industry, and education. So far, 75 classes have been offered to over a thousand participants live, with double that count viewing them on YouTube. The programs have also been provided to others through the government channel, which goes into two states, multiple counties and has a viewership of 88,000. As a result of the classes, participants have reported implementing multiple disaster preparations such as having a three day supply of emergency water, food and medical supplies. Others have planted over two acres of pollinator-friendly flowers and five acres of cover crops on gardens. Still others have reported updating smoke detectors and checking fire extinguishers. All of this keeps Kentuckians a little more safe, a little more productive and a lot more focused on a brighter future. It also maintains a sense of normalcy for a population struggling through numerous changes brought by COVID-19.
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