YOUR VOTE NEEDED: Cooperative Extension Section Meeting 9.21.16

ECOP Chair Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware, encourages Extension directors and administrators to attend the Cooperative Extension Section business meeting Wednesday morning, 9.21.16 as part of the Joint Meeting of the Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Sections September 19-21, 2016 at Jackson Lake Lodge, WY. Get quick updates on ECOP 2016 priorities related to national system, private resource mobilization, innovation, and urban programming. Through on-line voting, indicate your preference related to such topics as the SNAP-Ed assessment, the Extension health agenda, and Extension representation on the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees. eXtension Foundation members also will have opportunity to elect the Board of Directors for 2017. All details about registration and lodging are available at https://conferencereg.colostate.edu/Jackson2016. Early bird registration ends July 31, 2016. 

eXtension Seeking Example Projects for Horizon Report – The 56 experts developing the NMC Technology Outlook for Cooperative Extension 2016-2021 (Horizon Report) have selected topics and trends for the report, which will be released in September 2016. All Extension professionals are invited to submit projects to the panel for possible inclusion as examples representing current and emerging work. This story on the NMC website provides the topics and submission instructions. Deadline is August 1, 2016. For more information, see https://extension.org/2016/07/14/horizon-call-for-submissions-project-stories/. 

ECOP Working for You – ECOP Chair Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware, calls your attention to a mid-year report at http://bit.ly/July2016CES which references progress against the 2016 goals related to innovation, private resource mobilization, national system, urban programming and professional development. See http://www.aplu.org/CESGoals for ECOP 2016 goals and ongoing priorities. ECOP met in San Antonio last week as part of the Joint COPs meeting. Among actions was a budget proposal for 2017 reflecting no need for an increase in assessments and savings in current expenditures, the decision to put continuation of the SNAP-Ed assessment to a vote of the Cooperative Extension Section, an update on progress with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partnership on the culture of health, and further discussion on farm bill 2018 priorities. Minutes of all ECOP meetings are posted at www.extension.org/ecop. 

About National Investments – Please see http://bit.ly/CESAssessmentBasic for an explanation of Cooperative Extension assessments in to support ECOP National Leadership. This is an investment in Extension’s total system/network in order to benefit state and local programming. Also at this site at www.extension.org/ecop are documents, including rules of operation, operating guidelines, meeting minutes, and more that describes the work of ECOP.

New Mexico State’s Educational Videos, Apps and Games – Jon Boren, Extension Director, New Mexico State University, calls your attention to a rich library of electronic resources in 4-H youth development, agriculture, and family and consumer sciences. See http://mediaproductions.nmsu.edu; apps at http://apps.nmsu.edu, and videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/nmsuaces and https://www.youtube.com/user/LearningGamesLab. A recent release is an iPad game called Night of the Living Debt, focusing on financial literacy all while the player is immersed in a fight for survival against zombie bill collectors. Intended for high school age learners, Night of the Living Debt gives students a solid foundational understanding of credit and debt management at a point in their lives when the topic may seem confusing and overwhelming. Download the game for your iPad at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/night-of-the-living-debt/id1057651605?ls=1&mt=8. For agriculture, an example is a free iOS App Southwest Plant Selector made for gardeners and homeowners in the southwest region. The app features an extensive database of drought-tolerant plants (750+) suitable for the Southwest region of the United States. Each entry includes photos, seasonal planting information, and gardening tips, and users can create “favorites” lists to keep track of the plants they are most interested in. Download the app and start planting at http://www.xericenter.com/swplants. For family and consumer sciences, see the food safety video series Don’t Wash Your Chicken! created for learners of all ages to alert them to the dangers of cross-contamination from bacteria present on raw chicken. This series of cooking demos, comic strips, and short telenovela-style videos explains why not washing raw chicken helps stop the spread of foodborne illness. You can watch the video series on the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192C-iKRgFg&list=PLAfTd1WG38jgWOHwkjEmQfgohpLzxL0xK&index=1. Barbara Chamberlin leads this work at NMSU. She was the winner of the national Excellence in Extension award in 2011.