Pivot or paradigm shift? COVID-19 impact on extension master gardener training and outreach

Dynamic Volunteer Engagement and Impactful Educational Outreach Taking Us into the Next 50 Years of the Extension Master Gardener Program

“…EMG programs are not immune to the impacts of the global pandemic, as detailed by all three workshop presenters. However, these impacts created opportunities for evaluation of current as well as new, innovative, volunteer program engagement and educational activities (Dorn et al 2021a). The pandemic resulted in an incredible increase in gardening interest, which increased the need for providing highimpact educational programming across the United States (San Fratello et al 2022).…”

“…This impact was felt heavily within the CH realm as discussed among workshop participants. Fortunately, many of these CH specialists could lean into support of EMG program volunteers to amplify impact in local communities; however, this was not without challenges as keeping communities and volunteers safe was prioritized (Dorn et al 2021a). As discussed by workshop presenters, there were many creative solutions to keep volunteers engaged or reintroducing program activities in-person with caution.…”

“…More EMG program volunteers to serve local communities would aid in increasing outreach and community impact. According to the 2020 EMG National Summary Dashboard, the number of EMG program volunteers decreased slightly as compared with 2018 with the number of volunteer hours being reduced because of changes and/or suspensions in volunteer requirements (Dorn et al 2021a;Stokes et al 2020). Although data from 2022 have not yet been released, there are examples from individual states of increased EMG program volunteer participation as the pandemic impacts have decreased (Herzog 2023;Wagner and Schaible 2021).…”