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 on the county over the past year.
4-H YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Henry County 4-H reaches almost 2,000 youth each year through various programming. During 2022, Henry County 4-H Staff reached over 1,500 students in 65 fifth-grade classes across the county with standards-based supplemental lessons. Students received monthly educational material and lessons from staff. Students learned about various topics, from 4-H history to public speaking. Over 100 youth in Henry County participated in 4-H's public speaking event, with 49 students attending the county competition and 33 attending the district competition in February 2023. At Cloverleaf DPA 2023, Henry County 4-H received the "Oustanding Participation" award and brought home 9 first-place, 7 second-place, and 5 third-place winners.
In addition to in-school programming, during the 2022-2023 school year, Henry County 4-H has been proud to offer six different specialty clubs with over 250 youth involved in these programs. The year's programs were as follows:
- Dog
- Horse
- Shotgun
- Archery
- Community
- Robotics
AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Agriculture and Natural Resources personnel provide research-based information on agriculture and natural resources to all residents. They assisted homeowners, farmers, and landowners by providing educational seminars and virtual webinars on many topics, including landscaping, controlling invasive species, protecting native pollinators, and managing soil fertility. Educational programming is developed and designed to assist individuals in making sound economic and environmental decisions that affect everyday life.
In 2022, UGA Extension Henry County Agriculture and Natural Resources area conducted educational outreach programs: four UGA Extension Lunch and Learn programs on topics of interest to homeowners for 76 participants; two online programs for the green industry reaching 64 attendees; the Henry county farmers Market was held 13 times with 15 to 20 vendors and 1,852 attendees; the Henry county Master Gardener Extension Volunteers contributed 4,385 volunteer hours; the Master Gardener Fall Symposium had several speakers giving informative presentations on topics related to gardening for 70 participants. The Extension office processed 550 soil tests and 43 water tests.
FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES
The Henry County Extension holds a weekly farmers market during the summer months. In addition to providing a source of fresh fruits and vegetables for consumers, the Family & Consumer Sciences Agent offers nutritional information and healthy recipes to customers to use with their local produce. The market sees hundreds of visitors throughout the season.
Healthy recipes are shared on the monthly Garden Delights, a cooking show on the County's local access TV channel. One of the primary focal points of the show is the nutritional ramifications of the recipe. Episodes are re-aired several times during the month. The estimated monthly viewership is 30,000.
Each month, Henry County Extension conducts healthy eating programs and exercise at the three senior centers in the county. This is especially important for seniors, as the capacity for physical activity may be limited, and healthy may be the only fundamental tool for combatting obesity. Approximately 20 senior center participants regularly attend the Extension health and wellness classes.
The Walk-Away program provided nutritional information to 21 participants. Over eight weeks, participants walked two miles together weekly. The average weight loss of participants was 19 pounds. Most of the evaluations received indicated a very or extremely likely potential to adopt new positive behaviors and habits in the future, especially walking for 30 minutes per day. A participant said, "Walking at a pace to achieve my target heart rate and happy others were concerned about their health also."
- 280 ServSafe (Food Safety Program) participants
- 97 Child Care Providers
- 30,000 viewers for our Garden Delights TV Show