2019 ASHS Annual Conference

The Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program started in the U.S. in 1972. Volunteers are trained through Extension and are required to donate hours of service back to Extension on projects such as garden helplines, backyard garden demonstrations, community gardens and others. Today, there are EMG programs in 50 states and the District of Columbia. However, prior to 2006 there was not a national organization or effort to support the EMG program among states.

The EMG National Committee (EMGNC) was formed in 2006 in order to facilitate national collaboration to avoid redundancy in development of educational training materials for EMGs as well as volunteer management training resources, and expedite collaboration with federal agencies, funders and professional organizations for input and funding for national issues and priorities. As of early 2018, the EMGNC was a fully functioning committee, with updated by-laws, elections of regional representatives, officers, monthly meetings and discussions of key needs for the overall program. A task force was formed in 2016 to look at data collection nationwide and develop a method to capture impact information nationally. In June 2018, several committee members determined that a more formal plan was necessary to move the committee efforts ahead in a planned, strategic manner.

Seven committee members met face-to-face in California in January 2019 and participated in a facilitated strategic planning process. The committee members were from California, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The meeting took place from Wednesday noon to Friday noon and as a result, the first-ever national strategic plan was developed for the EMG program.

This presentation will be a discussion of the strategic planning process and an introduction to the final strategic plan, as well as the roll-out timeline for the national EMG State and County Coordinators or Program Directors.