What’s New for the University of Maryland Extension Master Gardener Program in 2018?
Happy New Year to all!

 This is a message to let you know that the UME Master Gardener State Office will be focusing on a few new initiatives in the coming year. We will do this by:

● Increasing the accessibility of training with webinars and more online modules. Various Extension webinars are already available on our website. Click here to view a list of webinars and events.

● Creating a digital format for the  Maryland Master Gardener Handbook.

● Increasing our on-campus connections by tapping into cutting edge research and educational resources.

● Completing comprehensive UME Master Gardener online policy and procedures handbooks.
 
With new ideas to explore and directions to pursue, some changes are inevitable.  One change you will notice this year is the temporary break in hosting the UME Master Gardener & Master Naturalist Annual Training Conference.

We are very excited about this new adventure and look forward to sharing with you our progress as the year unfolds. I look forward to working with you in 2018.
 
Jon Traunfeld, Extension Specialist 
Director, Home & Garden Information Center
State Master Gardener Coordinator
The UME Master Gardener Program has a new look!
The UME Master Gardener State Office is very excited to share our new logos with all of you! These logos will help you to more effectively communicate our programming to clientele. The new logos:

1) Align with University of Maryland Extension branding and style guidelines.

2) All have a similar color and style in order to represent the connections between the programs.

3) Are readable at all sizes. This is important for social media applications especially.



In addition, please bookmark our Logo webpage which is found under Volunteer Resources on our UME Master Gardener website.

If possible, please change all web-displayed logos by January 31st . We encourage that all signage and promotional items be updated as soon as possible, and no later than June 30, 2018.

Please contact your local UME Master Gardener County Coordinator or Alicia Bembenek (aliciafb@umd.edu) about logo questions. 
Why can't I access the Online Tracking System (OTS) to enter my hours?
You may have noticed that the OTS did not reopen on January 6th as we had all expected would happen. Long story short...our University of Maryland OTS IT Specialists are still updating the system. Please record your volunteer/education hours and direct contact totals along with demographic data on paper, for now. Once the system reopens, you can then transfer that information into the OTS.

We will email an announcement when the OTS has reopened and provide instructions for collecting data for the updated system. The Volunteer Resources webpage will also feature updated documents and resources.
Thank you for your service and your patience!