Volunteers are vital to all UNH Cooperative Extension programs. Volunteers allow us to expand our capacity and bring skills to programming at the county/state level as well as help in developing the social capital of our communities.

To help support our volunteers, UNH Cooperative Extension is introducing a new professional development opportunity on volunteerism for all Extension staff: Everyone Ready®.

Everyone Ready® is an online volunteer management training program developed by Energize Inc. National 4-H Council, through a grant from Monsanto, is making this program available to all Extension staff nationwide regardless of program area or title. There is no cost to states or individuals (a state’s cost ordinarily runs from $12-18,000 each year.)

To get started, go to our Everyone Ready® Web page. You'll get an overview and also can register to participate. You can then log in each month to access a variety of resources available. These include Online Seminars (every other month) and Self-Instruction Guides (alternate months). New topics are introduced on the third Monday of each month.

An in-service program also is set for Dec. 8 to cover this and other volunteer development and management resources available to Extension staff. For more information on the in-service, contact Paul Bonaparte-Krogh.