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100 Master Gardeners

10 Master Gardener Interns

10 Emeritus Master Gardeners

20,838 hours

$607,219

WHO DROVE

AND MADE

9,422 miles

21,297 direct educational contacts

Arlington and Alexandria

TO YOUR COUNTY

Virginia Cooperative Extension

Master Gardener Program

Mission: Sharing Knowledge and Empowering Communities

WHAT IS THE EXTENSION

MASTER GARDENER PROGRAM?

Extension Master Gardeners (EMG) are trained volunteer educators who work within their local communities to promote sound horticultural practices. The Extension Master Gardener program delivers the horticultural resources of Virginia’s land-grant universities: Virginia Tech and Virginia State University.

Virginia Cooperative Extension programs and employment are open to all, regardless of age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. An equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating. Edwin J. Jones, Director, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg; M. Ray McKinnie, Administrator, 1890 Extension Program, Virginia State University, Petersburg.

CONTRIBUTING A TOTAL OF

VALUED AT

IN THE 2021 CALENDAR YEAR

*Based on a value of $29.14/hour from Independent Sector 2021 Value of Volunteer Hours by State

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Arlington and Alexandria

Zooming on Public Education Pandemic Programming

Beginning in March of 2020, the Arlington -Alexandria Extension Master Gardener environmental horticulture outreach effort transitioned to weekly online classes using online teaching tool, Zoom. Since then, in partnership with the non-profit, Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia, Extension has trained about 25 volunteer presenters who from 2019 to 2021 delivered a combined total of 153 public education programs to 10,630 participants from January 2020 to December 2021.. Those contacts came from 25 states and from 2 foreign countries and represents a 642% increase in educational contacts from 2019 to 2021. This increase is the result of a deliberate effort to promote our public education efforts via social media, through our Master Gardener association website, and through our Extension website and Facebook page. It also represents a Covid driven interest in the outdoors and in gardening in particular with increases in demand for Help Desk services, increased visitation to our demonstration gardens, and about a 50% increase in attendance at our Plant Clinics that were able to start up again in mid -summer of 2021.

21297.6 27877 9422.4

Need pictures for the bottom.

Arlington-Alexandria

Leslie Fillmore, Program Coordinator

Email: Leslief7@vt.edu

Phone: 703-228-6400 ext.6414

https://mgnv.org/