Dialogue on Racism hosted by NUEL
In March of 2020, in response to an increased awareness of long-standing racially motivated incidents, urban Extension professionals sought a means to share professional and personal concerns and development resources. NUEL responded by partnering with the Southern Regional Development Center and the national Coming Together for Racial Understanding training team to host a Dialogue on Racism. This dialogue, attended by 155 participants from across the country and U.S. Virgin Islands, was based on the acknowledgement that Extension has been historically complicit in systemic racism in the United States, urban programming requires non-traditional strategies to achieve positive community impacts, and that our national leaders are necessary partners in community and state level responses and actions to reduce racist acts, behaviors, practices, and policies within our system.
The Racial Discussion Rpt – Final Aug 2020, designed for state Extension Directors, highlights key findings and specific action items we can implement at both state and county levels. The success and overwhelming positive feedback from this dialogue prompted NUEL’s leaders to begin planning for future conversations on topics including gender, disabilities, sexual orientation, and ethnicity.
The Leading Edge Dialogue Series (From the 2019 National Urban Extension Conference)
Leading Edge Dialogues (LED’s) were 90-minute interactive workshops held during the 2019 National Urban Extension Conference which explored critical issues facing our cities and our universities. Each LED consisted of a multi-sector panel presentation followed by a facilitated group discussion with all attendees. Developed by the Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research these papers capture both the presentations and the innovative discussion that followed for one of the LED’s. Papers on the following topics were completed Spring/Summer 2020:
Data & Policy: Responding to human services needs
Fulfilling the Land Grant University mission: Extension and community-based applied research
Reaching 10 million youth with Extension
Smart Cities: Technology, equity, livability, and trust
Urban Ag Listening Sessions Report
In April 2020, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) requested written stakeholder input on the Urban, Indoor and other Emerging Agricultural Production Research, Education and Extension Initiative. The purpose of this Notice was to assist NIFA in developing the fiscal year 2020 Request for Applications for the Urban, Indoor and other Emerging Agricultural Production Research, Education and Extension Initiative.
To gather broad sector input and provide a coordinated response for NIFA, NUEL in partnership with the Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research (WCMER), and a number of local Farm Bureau chapters located in urban counties from across the country partnered, to host four online, interactive listening sessions and an online survey. Input was gathered from 153 participants through the listening sessions and an additional 68 people responded to the online survey. The stakeholders that provided input came from 38 U.S. states, territories and districts. The summary report provided to NIFA at the end of June 2020 is available here.
Journal of Human Sciences and Extension: Special Urban Extension Issues
Through tremendous efforts from a team of people across the U.S. including Donna Peterson at Mississippi State, editor of the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension (JSHE), Julie Fox from the Ohio State University as Guest Editor and Michelle Gaston from the Ohio State University, as well as the authors who put their ideas, experiences and thinking to paper, NUEL is pleased to share the June 2017 and June 2022 issues of the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension special edition focused on ‘urban Extension.’ To access JHSE, visit http://www.jhseonline.
- Articles build upon the National Urban Extension Framework, published in 2015 by NUEL, the National Urban Extension Initiative: Implementation Plan, published in 2019 by NUEL, and decades of applicable insight. The invited authors address the distinct aspects of Extension in urban settings through meaningful examples of research, practice, and theory related to Extension positioning, programs, personnel, and partnerships.
- The Journal of Human Sciences and Extension is a peer-reviewed, open-access, online journal focused on disseminating knowledge and information to academicians, educators, and practitioners. Topics addressed include human development (e.g., early care and education, youth development); family studies; agricultural education; leadership development; Extension; health and wellness; apparel, textiles, and merchandising; agricultural economics; nutrition and dietetics; family resource management; and program planning and evaluation. The journal seeks to bridge research and practice, thus all manuscripts must give attention to practical implications of the work. JHSE is published three times a year.
- These special issues continue
sJHSE’s commitment to promoting the practical implications of research – the goal of this issue these issues is to add to the national conversation on urban Extension through a diverse collection of articles. We hope you enjoy these articles!
Urban County Extension Director Competency Framework
To better understand what it really takes to serve as an Extension leader in urban or metropolitan designated areas, a competency study was conducted with local Extension directors working in large counties. The county Extension director was selected due to their critical role in navigating community and organizational complexity and the dynamic interaction between internal and external environments (Jamali, 2005). The study aimed to systematically tap into the knowledge of practitioners – people who do the job, not who write about it or instruct it. Results of the Competency Framework Development process with urban county Extension directors include evidence these professionals need specific knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs that are both similar and unique when compared with findings from previous studies.
Extension Foundation is implementing the capability for you to offer competency-based education (CBE) into your programs. CBE will also enhance Extension Foundation’s professional development offerings. With CBE, your programs will align more directly with the roles your programs support, such as volunteer training as well as increasing the skills of Extension professionals. For example, the Climate Learning Network CBE framework identifies the training and resources necessary to become a Climate Literate Extension Professional.
New Resources
- Database of Urban Extension Job Descriptions
- Urban Extension professional development eFieldbook for Extension Professionals
- National Registry of Cooperative Extension Programs & Assets – Urban Programs
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