Emily Pitts and Maria BowieUniversity of Georgia, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Office of Communications

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Cooperative Extension Banner Program• Identify issue relevant to entire population: Georgia wellness• Create program for simultaneous statewide delivery• Engage communities• Change sedentary lifestyles• Reduce rates of preventable disease

What is Walk Georgia?• 8-week program• Spring and fall sessions• 3-week registration period• Log physical activity online• Activity entered earns “miles”• Miles unlock counties

To date:• 3 full sessions, 1 pilot• ~ 13,500 participants• widespread state adoption

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Development:

• Administrative buy-in • Wellness task force• Distributed content collection• Development team• Pilot study

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Preparation:

• Application preparation• Revisit problem areas (state/task

force)• County implementation• Marketing• Special groups

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

County Implementation:

• Choose how often to implement• Identify county administrator• Seek local sponsorship• Determine local competitions• Interact with local organizations• Support participants• Advertise

www.walkgeorgia.org/promo

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Marketing

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Special groups:

• Schools, senior centers, other large organizations• Special instructions to help with registration – from facilitator to participant• Limited mobility content

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sparkleglowplug

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Registration:

• Pre-survey of exercise behaviors• Demographics• Accounts: participant, county administrator, state administration• Participants: teams and individuals• Groups: identify school and other affiliations

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Active Stretching Aerobics Badminton Basketball Biking / Cycling Bowling Calisthenics Canoeing / Kayaking Dancing Dynaband Elliptical trainer Exercise Ball Exercise machine Football Frisbee / Catch Gardening Golf Gymnastics Heavy yardwork Horseback riding Hunting Jump rope

Martial arts Medicine Ball Mowing Pilates Racquetball Running Skating Skiing Soccer Softball Swimming Tennis Volleyball Walking Water Activities Water Jogging Weight lifting Yoga

Activities

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adwriter

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Post-program:

• Post-survey• Completion certificate• Awards to leaders, local recognition• Success stories• Task force roundtable• Formative evaluation• County reporting

Program Evaluation:

• ~4527 registrants per session• ~3095 active participants • Who are they? • Where did they hear about the program?• How satisfied were they?• Would they recommend this to a

friend?

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Successes:

• Enthusiastic public response• Evaluation data accessible on multiple levels • Contact person at state level• Active county administrator• Task force• Engaging special populations• Distributed help team• Personal stories

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Challenges:

• Long-term maintenance• Keeping task force engaged• Confusing mile conversion• Validity of user reporting• County recognition• Supporting web traffic without interrupting service and/or impacting other web services• Rigid program dates• Team size

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension

Questions?

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension