We continue continue to improve on the quality of evaluations of major programing efforts.
We utilize customer satisfaction surveys for output programs well.
The Program Development Process and work with committees and other planning groups is excellent across the District.
Our ability to interpret results to local elected officials is evident in the continuing and increased levels of support form county commissioners courts.
The involvement of volunteers in our programs is excellent, with volunteers contributing over 200,000 hours of service to Extension and our clientele. The figure represents almost 100 additional full time employees working for us to reach the citizens of District 11.
Many partnerships and collaborations continue to allow us to reach new audiences and enhance the educational programs that we offer.
Your support staff is excellent and committed to making your programing and interpretation efforts succeed in every county.
While our programs are very good, there are areas that , in general , can be improved upon even more to make our programs stronger and more meaningful to clientele. Some general observations and goals that we as District should strive for in 2010 and in the future:
Monthly reports should should include more detail regarding program outcomes and results.
Monthly reports should me consistently completed both county commissioners court , travel and of course our TeXas reports.
Office conferences must be consistently be held to build a better working relationships among coworkers and staff.
Our program area committees and planing groups should be more involved in interpreting evaluation results and making suggested changes to programs for increased impact.
While our volunteers are active in many areas, advocacy by volunteers is an area needing further attention. Our leadership advisory board members should be serving in a role of advocating for and assisting in resource acquisition for your local program.
We do a good job of providing information via newsletters, news releases to media, radio etc. however most of the information is usually promoting some upcoming program I would like to challenge each of you to provide more educational information from yourself in these sources. I believe we must establish ourselves as educators and resource professionals rather than facilitators. The same can be said for providing programs try to provide some part of the program along with specialists and other resource individuals.
In our 4-H program we must continue to be creative to keep members and leaders engaged in our programs. As our audiences change we must find short term projects that will attract families as we are competing for their time along with other youth development opportunities.
We must also continue to keep our base strong, our traditional 4-H programs are strong and we all know that this our high profile programs. We are good at supporting tradition programs and should not loose sight of what we are good at.
Again, let me express my gratitude to you for the work that you do to Make a Difference in your county. D11 is blessed to have such a professional , hard working, innovative group of agents. What you do every day is noticed and appreciated by the leaders in your communities and by Extension administration. It is an honor for me to be your DEA. Please remember to certify your performance appraisal on Great Jobs.
Walk Across Texas!
Many of you are familiar with Extension's Walk Across Texas! program. It is an 8-week walking program for teams of eight people or school classes. Teams have a friendly competition to see who can log the most miles walking, jogging, or biking (dancing, doing aerobics, riding a stationary bike, etc.). Miles are logged individually (you do not have to walk together as a team), and then added together for your team. The ultimate goal is to walk, as a team, from Longview to El Paso - 830 miles.
We would like to issue a challenge to ALL District 11 employees of Texas AgriLife Extension Service to participate in Walk Across Texas! beginning March 22, 2010.
You may recruit your spouses, neighbors, and friends too! Are YOU up to the challenge? If so, form your team of 8, and get registered today! You can enter your miles and track your progress online.
All you need to do to get started is to gather each team member's signed individual registration forms, complete the team registration form, come up with a team name and enter it all online at http://walkacrosstexas.tamu.edu and email your team name to Kelsey Hill at klhill@ag.tamu.edu. Use the group code: AG4. If you are not interested in being a team captain and forming your own team, just send Kelsey your individual registration form, and she will place you on a team or you can be a individual walker. Please send all registration materials entered online or sent to Kelsey by Wednesday, March 17, 2010.
Our challenge will end on Monday, May 17th. This is a great way to gear up for summer while getting familiar with one of Extension's great programs!
Please e-mail or call Kelsey Hill if you need help registering or questions. You can find the team registration form, team captain's log, individual registration form, and individual mileage log on the NEW!! Walk Across Texas website.
