The benefits of gardening are many including fostering environmental/scientific literacy, community building and social integration and human well-being. Gardening benefits are maximized when garden success is achieved. Cultivating a group of well-informed community leaders through the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) county Master Gardener Volunteer (MGV) programs puts research-based knowledge related to successful and ecologically sound gardening practices to work in homes, schools and communities throughout NYS. Local county staff coordinate engaging volunteers on a day-to-day basis for specific efforts such as responding to inquires via phone, email or in-person; leading educational programs for adults, children, youth and families; educating through mass media; gardening for public education or beautification is done by county educators. In addition, county staff maintain administrative records of volunteer engagement and most importantly cultivate the social structure necessary to maintain a quality volunteer experience. County staff are supported in this endeavor by the Community Horticulture Program Work Team and the leader of adult outreach in Cornell’s Garden Based-Learning program. Master Gardener Volunteer programs provide meaningful roles for citizens. MGV contributions to advancing the CCE educational mission annually exceeds 102,000 hours and a value of $ 1.8 million.

Gardening is a valuable tool for meeting societal needs. The benefits of gardening are many including fostering environmental/scientific literacy, community building and social integration and human well-being. Additionally, more than 7 million New York State households engage in garden related activities. Gardening benefits are maximized when garden success is achieved. Through Cornell Cooperative Extension’s county network of Master Gardener Volunteers Cornell University is able to efficiently spread quality, research-based, ecologically sound gardening approaches throughout NYS to cultivate successful gardening experiences. Building on the talents and enthusiasm of recruited gardeners, the Master Gardener Volunteer program can offer meaningful roles and civic engagement for gardeners. It can foster dependable avenues for putting well-known and emerging experience and research knowledge in the hands of citizens. It can create valuable partnership with an extensive local presence that is responsive to needs in NY communities.

In 2006, Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) county Master Gardener Volunteer (MGV) programs collectively trained 255 new MGV in 19 counties and coordinated 2,233 active volunteers in 46 counties. Training for new volunteers consisted of a minimum of 45 hours of instruction covering basic horticulture such as plant botany, care of annual plants, and pest identification and management. Six faculty and several dozen county CCE educators, volunteers and local experts offered basic training sessions for the new volunteers and advance training for active volunteers.
In 2007, 150 volunteers and county staff attend our bi-annual state MGV conference showcasing campus resources. We had more than 30 speakers from 10 Cornell departments/units.
Local county staff coordinate engaging volunteers on a day-to-day basis for specific efforts such as responding to inquires via phone, email or in-person; leading educational programs for adults, children, youth and families; educating through mass media; gardening for public education or beautification is done by county educators. In addition, county staff maintain administrative records of volunteer engagement and most importantly cultivate the social structure necessary to maintain a quality volunteer experience. County staff are supported in this endeavor by the Community Horticulture Program Work Team and the leader of adult outreach in Cornell’s Garden Based-Learning program.

Our strong campus-county partnership in cultivating a group of well-informed community leaders through the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) county Master Gardener Volunteer (MGV) programs puts research-based knowledge related to successful and ecologically sound gardening practices to work in homes, schools and communities throughout NYS.
MGV contributions to advancing the CCE educational mission annually exceeds 102,000 hours and a value of $ 1.8 million. Through 27,000 hours fielding questions MGV made over 92,000 direct citizen contacts. Through 17,500 hours providing lectures or workshops they instruct about 65,000 adults, children, and youth including graduates of Erie County’s Communities in Bloom garden school who went on to create gardens to beautify neighborhoods and youth participants in Ontario County’s North Street School gardening program who showed improvement in grades, enhanced self-confidence and better social skills.
MGV like Mary Ellen Roemer (who organized Erie County’s long neglected hotline office into an efficient, state of the art resource library) spent 25,000 hours supporting community horticulture programming.
The MGV program offers meaningful roles for NYS citizens like Phyllis Rosenblum who has spent 30 years as an Albany County MGV and states that she stays engaged as a volunteer because her life has been made richer by the experiences and friendships cultivated in the MGV program.
MGV website:
http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/education/mgprogram/index.html