ECOP Monday Minute 3.11.2013

See You in San Antonio -- Nearly all of the 75 institutions in the Cooperative Extension Section will be represented at the National Extension Directors and Administrators Meeting next week. With the theme “Strong Partnerships, Sustainable Resources” this an opportunity to learn of the significant national leadership ECOP provides while benefiting from interaction with colleagues.

Save the Date NEDA 2014 --  The National Extension Directors and Administrators (NEDA) Meeting and the National eXtension Conference (NeXC) will be held jointly in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the week of March 24, 2014. These two events will highlight shared programming and independent business meetings and networking. NEDA will begin Monday evening with a reception and continue through midday Wednesday. ECOP will meet Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. Watch the ECOP Monday Minute for further details.

ECOP-ESCOP Take Joint Message to DC -- In late February, Daryl Buchholz, ECOP Chair, and Mike Hoffman, ESCOP Chair, attended a series of meetings with USDA-NIFA, USDA Research, Education and Economics, and others to carry the joint message of CES and AES research to application and the need to maintain federal capacity funds. On the agenda was a seminar for USDA-NIFA national program leaders and administrators on “Knowledge with a Public Purpose: How Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Stations Work Together.” Presentation slides are at http://www.nera.umd.edu/escop/USDANIFASeminarPPT.pdf.

State Energy Extension Partnership Announced -- The Departments of Agriculture and Energy announces a new collaboration -- the State Energy Extension Partnership -- to equip America’s farm families and rural small businesses with the efficiency tools, resources and training needed to reduce energy costs. This effort couples the Energy Department’s energy efficiency expertise with USDA Rural Development programs and Cooperative Extension learning strategies. The intent is to deliver expert financial and technical assistance across a network of state energy offices and land-grant universities that touch nearly every county. Read more at http://energy.gov/articles/energy-department-and-usda-partner-support-energy-efficiency-rural-communities.

Strategy Session Ahead for 4-H  (by Lisa Lauxman, USDA-NIFA) -- USDA-NIFA 4-H National Headquarters and the National 4-H Council will host a meeting April 2-5, 2013, at the 4-H Center, Washington, D.C. Together with the Public Private Partnership (P3WG) composed of state 4-H program leaders and Extension directors and the Program Management Committee members of the three Mission Mandates, the goal is to develop a 4-H logic model, vision, strategic direction, and an opportunity to merge and meld the mission mandates.