The Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) has entered into an agreement in partnership with US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) (National Program Leaders, Ahlishia Shipley and Brent Elrod) to help coordinate the Land-grant University system's response to the opioid crisis. Several institutions have already identified evidence-based curriculum for replication nationally in response to the first ever Cooperative Extension Section
Next Generation Extension - Learning for Leaders Web Conference. In this new agreement a set of 9 activities will culminate in the writing of a report for ECOP within a six-month period. The formation of the Extension Opioid Crisis Response Workgroup, a group of opioid experts from the Land-grant system will serve as a resource and provide input. Those with expertise and interest in serving on this workgroup are urged to contact Mark Skidmore (
mskidmor@msu.edu) Director of the
North Central Regional Rural Development Center, the lead coordinator for this effort. Last week, USDA launched a webpage highlighting resources to help rural communities address the opioid crisis:
https://www.usda.gov/topics/opioids.
Register for the APLU CEO-CICEP Summer Meeting - Extension Directors and Administrators are cordially invited to join university economic development, community engagement, public service and outreach officers in
Richmond, VA from
June 25-28 for the
2018 CEO-CICEP Joint Summer Meeting. The theme is
Creative Placemaking for Healthy Communities. The meeting will explore creative placemaking in action via university partnerships in the arts, health and innovation. Through presentations, interactive sessions, and field experiences, participants will gain new insights into how public research universities as key “anchor institutions” leverage innovative and interdisciplinary strategies to address complex social and economic challenges facing our communities. The meeting will also feature APLU’s 5th annual
Innovation & Economic Prosperity Universities Program workshop.
Note that early registration rates end in early March.
There’s Still Time to Respond to the 2017 Census of Agriculture - As of today, the return rate on the 3 million 2017 Census of Agriculture questionnaires mailed last fall is just over 40 percent. Though making progress every day, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) needs to hear from the rest of the producers. More details of the obligation to complete the census may be found in the
February 5th edition of the ECOP Monday Minute. For questions about or assistance filling out the census, producers can call toll-free (888) 424-7828. Please help NASS spread the word that farmers and ranchers still have time to be counted in the 2017 Census of Agriculture.
Climate Change Papers Available For Review - Extension Directors and Administrators are encouraged to review materials shared by Sonny Ramaswamy, Director of USDA-NIFA, last week,
Climate Change Papers from NIFA-Funded Colleagues. This is good background for an upcoming
Next Generation Extension - Learning for Leaders Web Conference which occurs on the first Friday of the month, 3:00-4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Please stay tuned for more information and contact Executive Director Rick Klemme
rickklemme@extension.org for more information.
