Our Impact

Making A Difference in Our County

2020 was a fantastic year to pilot test our capacity to successfully transition our face-to-face programs to virtual formats. Gwinnett Extension staff proved they could effectively deliver “DAWG STRONG” programs and services in the midst of a changing and challenging community landscape.  

Family and Consumer Sciences

Family and Consumer Sciences staff helped grow strong families and healthy kids by teaching research-based programs on chronic disease prevention, cancer prevention, nutrition and healthy eating, food safety and security, food preparation, and food preservation. Food safety was enhanced as more than 50 hours of training was provided by the FACS agent to 53 food handlers and managers who received National ServSafe certification. Over 200 training hours were delivered and approved by Bright from the Start to 103 childcare providers to help them maintain their Georgia daycare licensure. Topics included: Avoiding Stress for Healthy Brain Development, Language Development, More than Routines, and Feeding Healthy Babies. Additional COVID-related programming focused on Positivism and Enthusiasm, Managing Stress, and Having Fun with Children during the Pandemic. The FACS Agent is at the senior level of Public Service and considered an expert in her field in the areas of Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention, Human Development Training for Child Care Educators, Food Safety and Food Preservation and Housing. She is bilingual and has dedicated her career to bringing valuable educational programming to the English and Spanish speaking communities in Gwinnett and throughout Georgia and the US.

4-H Youth Development

Our 4-H youth development staff proactively adapted curricula from March - August to offer teachers a digital alternative to our face-to-face 4-H programming for their students once school went back in session in the fall. ZOOM links were easily shared via email with teachers as well as individual program-related activity kits designed to augment the learning process. More than 70 programs and 4-H club meetings were delivered to over 660 Gwinnett school youth. We also taught lessons on biology, communications, earth science and chemistry STEM classes guiding 220 youth through hands-on activity kits in 28 different schools and day care centers. Gwinnett’s 4-H LifeSmarts Team received the national varsity wildcard bid to the National LifeSmarts competition for 2020. While recognizing public health guidelines, 4-H maintained its programming in the areas of special interest club meetings and competitive Project Achievement events at district and state competitions. We hope and dream of returning to summer camps, fundraising, and community service projects in 2021.

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Our ANR Agent and Program Assistants offered a variety of educational programs to homeowners, green industry professionals and the general public about vegetable and landscape gardening, turf management, plant and insect identification, plant diseases and pest control reaching more than 600 participants. Enhancing UGA’s capacity to reach and teach people in neighborhoods, community gardens, parks, and farmers markets, our Master Gardener Extension Volunteers provided more than 10,100 hours of research-based educational programming. With the help of our trained Teacher Master Gardener Extension Volunteers, we added five new demonstration gardens for a total of 30 to our school garden initiative that has only been in existence for three years. No matter the delivery method, virtual or face-to-face, all ANR programming continues to strive for a safer and healthier environment.