The Influence of Extension Organization on Community Development

Author

Myrtle E. Garrett, Prairie View A&M College

Date of Award

8-1955

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Degree Discipline

Home Economics

Abstract

At present one hundred Negro extension agents serve rural people in fifty-five counties in Texas. The majority of these agents are found in the heavily populated rural areas of East Texas. (See Appendix, Exhibit C). Though these agents render service to some urban dwellers, their primary responsibility is to rural people.

The author discussed this problem of community improvement work from the vantage point of an extension worker having served in this program at its inception in 1948 as a field worker in a supervisory capacity. The close follow-up in the program and assistance given and the progress made have caused the writer concern as to actual happenings in the field.

As the program and its activities neared completion at the end of the contest year the program committee assisted the over-all secretary to compile achievements in the annual report for the community. The agents assisted the officers in forming a county judging committee. This five member committee is made up of local county disinterested citizens - a member of the county councils, agriculture and home demonstration and an older youth. The committee visits, scores the community and the local secretary submits annual reports and scores of the local judging committee to the Southern District Extension agents at Prairie View on or before May 10, 1954. The two district agents and the state leader of Negro extension made up the three member district judging committee. The fifteen annual reports were read and scored on basis of reports and placed according to scores made and tabulated from 1 through 10. This meant that the communities which received top ten scores were to be visited and judged. Composite scores were determined, and reports from the top ten were submitted to College Station, Agricultural Extension Service for review and study and for state competition. Consideration was given first, second and third place winners submitted. The first, second and third place winners in all the districts in the state are visited and judged by a state judging committee. This committee was comprised of the state leader of Negro Extension work, Prairie View, assistant director of Extension, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, a representative of the Farmer-Stockman Magazine and a farm and home management specialist also of the Agricultural Extension Service. Cash awards were made according to the decision of the judges. Southern District winners in the program for 1953-54 were named as follows: First prize, Sweet Home Community in Guadalupe County, $100; second prize, Raywood Community in Liberty County, $75; and third Pleasant Green Community in Victoria County, $50.

The Farmer-Stockman magazine furnished s total of $2000 annually for state prizes and $2475 for district prizes. The maximum amount any district can receive in any one contest year is $225. The top district prize is $100 and the highest prize in the state is $500.

Committee Chair/Advisor

E. M. Galloway

Publisher

Prairie View A&M College

Rights

Date of Digitization

9-22-2021

Contributing Institution

John B Coleman Library

City of Publication

Prairie View

MIME Type

Application/PDF

Recommended Citation

Garrett, M. E. (1955). The Influence of Extension Organization on Community Development. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/443