2025 Statewide Volunteer Training Program

The following programs are participating in the 2025 statewide new volunteer training program:

• Amador/Calaveras
• Fresno/Madera/Merced (new program, website coming soon)
• Humboldt/Del Norte
• Inter-Mountain Region (Modoc, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra)
• North State (Shasta, Trinity, Tehama, Siskiyou)
• Sacramento
• San Bernardino/Riverside
• San Diego
• San Mateo/San Francisco
• Solano/Yolo
• Sonoma
• Tulare
• Tuolumne
• UC MFP Online Program (all online classes, no in-person public events)

The goal of the training program is to educate volunteers in food safety and core food preservation techniques, so they can teach the general public how to safety preserve food short-term and long-term at home. 

The training program is a combination of pre-recorded videos, online quizzes, reading assignments, case studies completed with a mentor, live interactive classes, and in-person labs to practice the methods learned in class, taught locally at the offices of the participating programs. Students use Google Classroom to track assignments and class links.

Applicants must be available to attend the online classes listed to the right.  Each local program will post their local in-person lab dates.

Applicants must be comfortable using a computer and accessing the Internet. Quizzes and homework are online; class communication is via email. Accepted applicants must be fingerprinted for DOJ clearance in California.

The interactive live classes are offered twice per topic. Applicants will sign up for either the Thursday evening track (6:30 - 8:30 pm) or the Friday afternoon track (2:00 - 4:00 pm). 

How to Apply

Watch the recorded informational meeting to learn more about the volunteer requirements as well as the selection and training process. Attendance or viewing of the information meeting is a mandatory pre-requisite to apply.  Two live Q&A sessions are available to address any questions you have about the new volunteer program. 

• Watch the recorded Training Information Meeting
  
• Friday, October 25, 2024: 12:00 Noon—1:00 pm
  Q&A session, please watch the recorded training information meeting prior to meeting
• Thursday, November 14, 2024: 6:30 – 7:30 pm
  Q&A session, please watch the recorded training information meeting prior to meeting

These sessions use the same registration link: https://ucanr.edu/2025-mfp-training-mtg.

Complete and submit the online application by the end of Monday, November 25, 2024. Interviews will be during the early weeks of December with the local programs.