The University of Georgia (UGA) has a training requirement for adults working with youth. To meet this requirement for Georgia 4-H and Extension Master Gardener volunteers, a standardized online training module was created and delivered across program areas. Volunteers were surveyed to evaluate training effectiveness and experience. Understanding…

Background: We sought to determine the impact of school gardens and nutrition education on student fruit and vegetable consumption from limited-income communities in Alabama. Methods: Third grade students at 99 Alabama schools with and without gardens on-site were randomized to receive either nutrition education or to a wait-list control group.…

Adult environmental education and training programs (environmental programs) are used to promote environmental stewardship in the United States (US). One unique setting for these programs is US prisons. Prison-based environmental programs vary widely, from Cooperative Extension Service programs (e.g. Master Gardener programs) to STEM lecture…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the relationship between volunteer leadership competencies and stewardship action-taking experiences among Master Gardener (MG) and Master Watershed (MW) volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data from 1196 Penn State Extension MG and MW respondents. The mean summative score for…

Rising food and nutrition insecurity across the U.S. poses a significant health concerns. Despite the expansion of federal support and food aid programs, insecurity persists. This dissertation asks about the extent to which national funding initiatives and local emergency food organizations as mediated by the university-based agriculture Extension…

The current study investigates the relationship between volunteer stewardship action-taking, motivation toward engagement in volunteer activities, and the ability to teach others during the COVID-19 pandemic. The final data set included 1,196 responses from the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners and Master Watershed volunteers, which provided a…

The Wisconsin Master Gardener Program team used the Google+ Community platform to provide an engaging online discussion forum for asynchronous continuing education experiences. Applications of such a tool for volunteer online education have numerous benefits, including the capacity for asynchronous posting, ease of posting, privacy options, wide…

We conducted an evaluation pilot study to measure the influence of the statewide University of California Master Gardener Program on participants who attended its public education events. We discuss (a) steps for developing a statewide evaluation and (b) findings from the event follow-up survey we used to evaluate public education participants'…

Georgia 4-H and Extension master gardener (EMG) volunteers were surveyed following required online trainings. Most respondents had access to high-speed Internet via personal computers. No significant differences existed regarding familiarity with, comfort with, or use of technology applications among the groups of 4-H and EMG volunteers surveyed.…

The growth of community gardens has created new opportunities for urban Extension personnel at a time when staffing resources continue to decline. To serve the integrated pest management (IPM) needs of community gardening populations, Extension educators in two urban counties developed an on-site program involving a demonstration kit and planning…

Despite the importance of bees, there is a gap in the public's understanding of them. To help address this gap, we developed the outreach tool Experience Bees, a series of simple learning and hands-on activities to teach community members about bees and their importance in our landscapes. Program evaluation showed that participants learned about…

Due to changing federal and state policy as well as increased community concerns about pollinators, assisting clients interested in pollinator health is taking more Extension agent time and resources. In addition, many gardeners tend to be beginners in need of support to recognize best management practices related to pollinating and beneficial…

Nationally, researchers and practitioners from all disciplines have been tasked with fully collaborating to reverse overall decline in health. One overarching goal of the Healthy People 2020 initiative is to attain high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and death (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,…

The poster is a promising mechanism for inclusive scholarship. Inclusive scholarship provides direct opportunities for inclusion and representation. Community partner and youth participants in an urban gardening program were engaged in program-related scholarship via involvement in creation of a poster and its presentation at a community…

The objective in this study was to explore factors that shape how residents manage their home landscapes, and we applied Rogers' (2003) Diffusion of Innovations to understand fertilizer practices and implications for Extension programming to address non-point source pollution. Data were drawn from a statewide survey of 1,197 Floridians. We…