Conversation About Inclusivity in 4-H Programming May 18

ECOP Chair Chuck Hibberd and Chair-elect Ed Jones will moderate the up-coming Next Generation Extension - Learning for Leaders entitled, A Conversation for Extension Directors and Administrators About Inclusivity in 4-H Programming. The invitation to the the Zoom session with connection details for Friday, May 18, 2018, 3-4:00 p.m. ET, will be released by email this week. The Session will be archived HERE with the ability for Partners and Liaisons to provide comment. Questions may about the session may be directed to Executive Director Rick Klemme rickklemme@extension.org. 

NIFA Data Gateway - The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is committed to serving its stakeholders, Congress, and the public by using new technologies to advance greater openness. To strengthen transparency and promote open government, NIFA is providing easy access to data and metrics on how the agency disseminates funding. NIFA’s Data Gateway enables users to find funding data, metrics, and information about research, education, and extension projects that have received grant awards from NIFA. Users can use terms and filters to search for projects, choose the data elements to see in the results, and export the results. Visit Project Based Search Highlights and Congressional District Map Highlights for a quick visual overview of the features available. For a general overview, view the Data Gateway Factsheet. For details on the Data Gateway tool, visit the Data Gateway Resource Page. The main Date Gateway Page is at https://nifa.usda.gov/data.

Emerging opportunities for Cooperative Extension to bring Community Learning through Data-driven Discovery (CLD3) to Our Communities - Community Learning through Data-driven Discovery (CLD3) is a bold new approach for Extension professionals and Regional Rural Development Centers to use data in new and innovative ways not previously conceivable. To address increasingly complex issues of our communities. CLD3 is a collaborative approach among Extension professionals, university researchers, and local communities to use data, including local data, to inform and guide community level decision-making. Virginia Tech (VT) and Iowa State University (ISU) have an exciting partnership to implement CLD3 in their states, with the goal to rapidly expand CLD3 to other states. One example of CLD3 in action is ISU and VT’s work with Marshalltown, Iowa, where the multicultural population has increased from less than 1% in the early 1990s to over 25% today. Through the CLD3 cycle the government officials are gaining a data-driven understanding of how public transportation is meeting the needs of this demographically changing population, how current fee structures governing access to and use of parks and recreation programs might be adjusted to increase use by all, and what strategies might help in maintaining the quality of the neighborhoods through improvement projects. To learn more about CLD3, see "Helping Communities Use Data to Make Better Decisions", just released in the National Academy of Sciences Issues in Science and Technology Spring edition.

ECOP/ESCOP Health Action/Implementation Teams’ Work Recognized - ECOP commissioned the work of Extension and Experiment Station colleagues in 2014 in five teams to address five critical areas underlying the health and wellness extension programming across the country. The work of these teams has resulted in a special edition of the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension (JHSE). "The Cooperative Extension National Framework for Health and Wellness: Implementation and Scholarship Reports" was released last week at the 2018 National Health Outreach Conference. JHSE is a peer-reviewed, open-access, online journal focused on disseminating knowledge and information to academicians, educators, and practitioners on topics addressing human 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. To learn more about JHSE, CLICK HERE. To subscribe to updates from JHSE, CLICK HERE.