Lessons Learned from the Development of the North Carolina Extension Master Food Volunteer Program

Abstract

This article describes the curriculum and program development process that was used to create the North Carolina Extension Master Food Volunteer program. We used a rigorous program development process, including conducting a needs assessment, piloting and evaluating the program, incorporating revisions based on feedback, and receiving external reviews that were incorporated into the final product. We provide lessons learned and best practices for others to follow. These include the importance of piloting the program, involving agents and key partners throughout the entire process, and providing flexibility and adaptability in program delivery.

Applying emerging core competencies to extension training courses for local food system practitioners

“…Qualitative findings from the evaluation show that participants feel more prepared to use a systems approach in their food system development work to support more robust food systems. These results are reflect past program evaluations and demonstrate the overall effectiveness of the program (Bloom et al, 2017).…”

“…Eighty-nine percent of participants indicated they learned something new from the workshop, and 75% of participants would recommend the workshop to others. (Bloom et al, 2017). In 2014, we used a participatory coursedevelopment process to determine the topics, competencies, and resources that should be included in the curriculum, engaging with over 40 stakeholders who represented various sectors of the local food system in North Carolina.…”

A feasibility study of the community health worker model for garden-based food systems programming

“…Across the U.S., state Extension systems implement other master volunteer programs that are modeled from the Master Gardeners. Examples of master volunteer programs include Food (Bloom et al, 2021), Climate (Pathak et al, 2014), Compost (Tedrow, 2018), Wellness (Washburn et al, 2017), Financial Coach (Ehmke, 2020), Naturalist (Hildreth & Mengak, 2016), and Beekeeper (Breece & Sagili, 2019). Extension master volunteer programs benefit the community and the volunteers themselves (Washburn et al, 2017;Wilson & Newman, 2011).…”

Untitled

“…Across the U.S., state Extension systems implement other master volunteer programs that are modeled from the Master Gardeners. Examples of master volunteer programs include Food (Bloom et al, 2021), Climate (Pathak et al, 2014), Compost (Tedrow, 2018), Wellness (Washburn et al, 2017), Financial Coach (Ehmke, 2020), Naturalist (Hildreth & Mengak, 2016), and Beekeeper (Breece & Sagili, 2019). Extension master volunteer programs benefit the community and the volunteers themselves (Washburn et al, 2017;Wilson & Newman, 2011).…”