Our Impact
Making A Difference in Our County
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is working hard for its constituents. The following are examples of Extension’s impact in the county over the past year.
4-H Youth Development
At the onset of the global pandemic, Georgia 4-H creatively designed and piloted a process to enable youth to engage (and sill compete) in 4-H Project Achievement competitions! This new development created and launched the framework for Georgia 4-H's virtual ability for competitions. In 2020 4-H program year, 670 youth throughout the state were impacted by this development, with more virtual contests to come in the 2020-2021 year.
Understanding the huge impact this program has on youth and their skill development, UGA Extension faculty and staff quickly acted! Three days following the start of the sheltering-in-place restrictions, a team of seven state and district Extension faculty, staff, and volunteers quickly developed a framework, hosted a faculty and staff training to prepare local faculty, and staff, and launched an online virtual Project Achievement contest for 4th - 6th grade students who had previously been registered to attend the face-to-face contest. County faculty, staff, and volunteers worked with youth, their parents, and associated classroom teachers to pivot to this virtual competition.
4-H youth are encouraged to seek opportunities on the state level as well. Jadyn Williams was selected to perform with the 4-H performing arts group, Clovers and Company. Eight 4-H'ers attended 4-H State Congress and Haralson County was awarded four awards at District Project Achievement. Dorothea Graham, Haralson County 4-H coordinator, won an award in the National Citizenship in Youth Programming category.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The Haralson County Extension office helps farmers and homeowners with inquiries regarding soil fertility, pesticides, water usage, home gardening and crop and pasture management on a daily basis. Through the Agricultural and Environmental Services Laboratory at UGA, we conduct soil, feed and animal waste testing. The Haralson County Extension office helps its community members to correctly identify plants, insects and weeds. The office enjoys collaborating with organizations like the National Resources Conservation Service, Haralson County Cattlemen, Haralson County Farm Bureau and neighboring extension offices to provide educational programs and events for the agricultural community.
In spite of the pandemic of 2020, some programs were held at a distance with various other organizations and the extension remained available for any client questions or calls. There are many upcoming programs planned for the next year in conjunction with multiple organizations. The current Agricultural and Natural Resource Educator is here to further assist any of the community members with anything they may need, whether that means helping to identify a rogue flower in a home garden or helping a land owner to understand the results of a soil test, the Haralson County Extension office is here to help all members of the community.