Program Impact Reports - Marion County

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Program Impact Reports - Marion County

2003 Impact Statement Summaries

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1. Participants in the Marion County Master Gardener Program increased their understanding of proper lawn and garden practices by 41 percent. Master Gardeners volunteered over 8000 hours educating others and beautifying communities during the past year. The dollar value of time contributed by the volunteers amounted to over $133,000.

2. Master Gardener volunteers in Marion County provided timely answers to 838 e-mail messages on gardening related questions in less than 6 months in a newly reestablished e-mail Master Gardener Answerline.

3. What gardening practice did City Gardener Program participants change? One Marion County gardener said "Almost everything. I did practically everything wrong."

4. Purdue Cooperative Extension in Marion County has created a Cultural Sensitivity Program to bring knowledge and cultural experiences to communities and organizations around the State of Indiana. Participants learned significant new factual and anecdotic information that has helped them to understand Hispanic Immigrants. As a result participants report to personally become engaged in supporting the integration of Hispanic immigrants.

5. For the last three years Purdue Cooperative Extension has organized a state-wide Hispanic/Latino Summit. The 2003 summit continued the dialog with Hispanic/Latino and non Hispanic/Latino leaders to exchange information and facilitate understanding. Two hundred and sixty people attended 2003 summit. All of them found this event very helpful to network and gather updated valuable information on Hispanic/Latino Issues to bring to their communities.

6. Purdue Extension in Marion County has offered technical and administrative support to Fiesta Indianapolis Inc. This organization has become an asset to the Indianapolis community by helping build cultural bridges between the Hispanics and the overall community.

7. Offenders housed in the Indiana Women's Prison earn additional hours visiting their children each month when they complete "Parenting Piece By Piece" provided by Purdue Extension-Marion County.

8. "Water Water Everywhere - but not a drop to drink." Hopefully the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner will not become reality in Indianapolis. The White River School teaches high school students about water quality and what they can do to protect watersheds from destructive actions and inactions of humans.

9. Keeping current with changing times is exactly what Marion County Extension has done by dedicating resources to an expanded 4-H presence in the classroom and by transitioning the program to web based delivery. Cost savings in the first year alone were over $5000.

10. Science is FUN and the Cardinal Ritter 4-H SERIES Team shares the fun of science with elementary school students while teaching them about electromagnetic forces, chemical reactions, and aerospace concepts.

11. We've all heard that education has gone to the birds - and with the help of Marion County Extension, it has, at least, gone to the chickens!! Through the 4-H Chicken Embryology program Marion County students learn about embryonic development, hatching, and chick growth and development right in their own classroom.

12. Imagine an entire day care coming down with food borne illness - diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and chills. Education for the individuals responsible for preparing the food in safe food-handling practices is key to preventing such an outbreak from occurring.

13. Training for food service managers is mandatory by Indiana state law, however, the people in the trenches are the food service workers. Safe food-handling training for food service workers ensures that the basic principles - cleanliness, cook to proper temperatures, chill rapidly, and prevent cross contamination - are comprehended and, therefore, readily implemented.

14. CSR: Crafting solutions to address the needs! The CSR site steering committees organize collaborations with law enforcement, schools, social service agencies, local businesses, faith-based organizations and most importantly the residents for the purpose of addressing multiple community issues.

15. "Leadership? Communication? Respect? They're not just terms for today's leaders but for tomorrow's leaders as well. The Marion County CARe Initiative addresses the whole student through developing skills in these and other areas as it strives to eradicate youth rape and sexual assault

16. Drive Rite: Keys to Smart Driving will better prepare youth to be safe drivers and take on the challenge and responsibility of driving in a way that protects themselves and others.

17. The Marion County 4-H Jr. Leader program provides an opportunity for youth to gain valuable life skills, such as public speaking, team work, solving problems, setting and achieving goals and making decisions. These life skills will assist these youth as they develop and become adults and part of the work force.

18. Using a variety of techniques and settings, extension provides support and training that aid and enable 4-H volunteers/leaders to gain skills and information (such as problem solving, group motivation, public speaking). These acquired skills are then used to provide support and training for youth/life skill development.

19. About 1in 10 babies born in Indianapolis are born too small or too soon. Through Purdue's innovative nutrition and lifestyle curriculum, Have A Healthy Baby, mom's are learning how to help their babies get off to a great start!

20. Imagine not having enough money for food for you or your family. What if there were a free program that came to your door and taught you how to prepare meals with foods you get from food pantries and how to save $12.00 per person per month on groceries? What if that program not only saved you money , but you had fun and also learned basic nutrition at your own pace? That program is the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).

21. Participants in science 4-H enrichment programs learned scientific method criteria and keys to science exhibits.

22. Volunteer Money Mentors are trained in "Making Your Money Work", a Purdue Extension program that increases financial stability of low literacy, low-income participants. Materials are used extensively in Indiana and have been sold to public and private agencies in 33 states, the District of Columbia, and Ontario, Canada. Volunteers through training become "very comfortable" with financial mentoring skills and give time to help individuals and families achieve financial stability.

23. Most women do not have a plan for wardrobe purchases and end up with a "closet full of clothes and nothing to wear". To learn about a program where participants gained knowledge and used it to save money on their annual clothing and clothing upkeep costs read "Build a Wardrobe That Works for you".

24. Marion County High school students develop habits of financial responsibility and good credit through the High School Financial Planning Program. Through collaboration with schools, financial institutions, and non profit investment organizations, Extension teaches young adults practical ways to realistically link their education and career choices to future lifestyles. Most students are able to make a clear distinction between a need and want. Students also gain a greater understanding about the benefits of saving, investing and insurance. Participants develop a personal financial portfolio to guide their spending and savings objectives.