Our Impact
Making A Difference in Our County
University of Georgia Extension Hall County is working hard for its constituents. The following are examples of Extension’s impact in the county over the past year.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The 海角官方首页 Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) program focuses on serving Hall County citizens through innovative programming and individual problem solving for farms, homes, and businesses by utilizing research-based information, specialists, and laboratory analysis.
The ANR program in Hall County reached 1,824 community members and agricultural producers through fifty-seven gardening and agriculture programs in 2024. An additional 19,280 community members were reached through 256 agriculture events and seventy-nine farm and home consultation visits.
Hall County operates one of the largest Master Gardener Programs in Georgia. In 2024, 21 new Master Gardener volunteers were certified through a 12-week in-person training series. They joined the ranks of 132 active Master Gardener volunteers in Hall County. In 2024, Master Gardener volunteers contributed 11,440 hours of service with an estimated value of $331,760 for Hall County. Last year, these volunteers made 5,973 in-person contacts through classes taught or individual consultations, and 1,399 consultations by telephone or email. They implemented Spring and Fall Garden Expos, a Fall Garden Symposium, and numerous other community projects including Wilshire Park Educational Butterfly Garden, Linwood Nature Educational Preserve, Jubilee Community Food Garden, Cherokee Bluffs Educational Herb Garden, Longstreet 1875 Heritage History Garden, Good News at Noon Food Garden, North Hall Community Center Educational Pollinator Garden, Murrayville Park Educational Pollinator Meadow, Alta Vista Cemetery Garden and maintained a free-to-the-public seed library.? Master Gardeners volunteered at Ask a Master Gardener booths at three Hall County farmers markets, hosted youth gardening in nine county and city schools, and volunteered at the youth education gardens, Gardens on Green, Lovett Literacy Garden, and BUGS (Brenau University). Master Gardeners held education outreach events at various locations across Hall County offering thirty-two classes on horticulture topics.
Given that Hall County is an urban county that covers a large geographic area, and has a diverse population of over 217,000 citizens, media outlets are an effective way to reach a large audience. The Agent was a guest host five times on the live 2-hour, call-in, Saturday morning?WDUN North Georgia "Home Grown"?radio broadcast reaching a national listening audience of 1,500,000. Additionally, the Agent successfully published fifteen articles in the?Gainesville Times?print and online editions, with a combined subscribed readership and online audience of 17,280.
Family and Consumer Sciences
The Hall County Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) Extension program works to improve the health of citizens in the community. Primary focus areas include chronic disease prevention, food safety, food preservation, and general nutrition topics, but often include budgeting information and tips for healthier homes. This research-based information is distributed through partnerships forged with local businesses, civic groups, schools, libraries, and non-profit agencies.
Additionally, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program has become a strong part of the Hall County FACS programming. Through this program, residents can have their taxes prepared and filed at the local 海角官方首页 Extension office.
4-H and Youth Development
In 2024, 1,288 youth participated in the Hall County 4-H program through school clubs, community events, and competitions in Cooking, Consumerism, Dairy, Forestry, Land, Livestock, Poultry, and Shooting Sports. Hall County 4-H clubs are in fifty-eight classrooms of fifteen elementary schools. Many new clubs and judging teams began in 2024. There were fifteen youth who participated in District Project Achievement, with two who advanced to State 4-H Congress. Ten students represented Hall County 4-H at 4-H Day at the Capitol. Summer camp was attended by 104 youth at Rock Eagle 4-H Center, Burton 4-H Center, and Wahsega 4-H Center.
In 2024, 12 youth in the Livestock Club exhibited animals, including goats, dairy heifers, and beef heifers in multiple shows. Additionally, the ANR Agent coached the Hall County Dairy Judging team. At the State Contest, the Senior team placed second in the state.