Monday, June 8, 2020

Change and Healing Through Understanding - ECOP is Responding

The Cooperative Extension family grieves as the nation again comes face-to-face with the serious and disheartening mistreatment that, sadly, is a part of African Americans’ daily existence. ECOP Executive Committee will be releasing a call to action later this week. Meanwhile, one effort for the Cooperative Extension System to consider in responding. One effort for the Cooperative Extension System to respond to the need for dialogue to promote racial understanding and healing is Coming Together for Racial Understanding (CTRU). Seeded by ECOP in 2016, CTRU began following a similar season of anguish in our country. CTRU’s vision is to grow a community of Extension professionals ready to aid in fostering meaningful community conversations leading to positive change. Many of the trained teams across 26 states continue to work fervently, aiding both CES professionals and communities toward this vision. As work continues, three principles are clear: 
  1. Dialogues are vital to understanding, and understanding is vital to healing and meaningful change.
  2. CES must do our own work around race before we can effectively engage communities.
  3. Administrative support to these teams is vital to their success.
Learn more about CTRU: http://srdc.msstate.edu/civildialogue/index.html.
To view other great resources: https://civildialogue.extension.org/.
Coordinator: Rachel Welborn rachel.welborn@msstate.edu.






Extension’s Leadership on Climate and Extreme Weather - Last Friday, Directors and Administrators from all 5 Regions joined ECOP Chair Mark Latimore for the latest Learning for Leaders session. The eXtension Climate Fellows introduced themselves and described the project using Project Drawdown framework. ECOP's Chuck Ross, University of Vermont, says, "Collectively, by building a database from across the System, the Climate Fellows will tell the story of the efficacy of the Extension System on the issue of climate and extreme weather conditions. We should look forward to the Climate Fellows contacting us and we should reach out to them to make this possible."   
   Enhanced PowerPoint with chat Q&A, resource links and contact info: Click here
   Recording: https://youtu.be/sA_dGPVoJyc
   Contact information for the Fellows:
    * Jennison Kipp, mjkipp@ufl.edu
    * Sarah Klain, sarah.klain@usu.edu
    * Paul Lachapelle, Paul.lachapelle@montana.edu
    * Roslynn Brain McCann, roslynn.mccann@usu.edu




Health Equity Principles for State and Local Leaders - The COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic downturn have differentially affected certain groups of people causing some to suffer disproportionately. To ensure that all people and communities have an opportunity to recover fully and fairly, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently released an issue brief which identifies five health equity principles that should be considered in state and local decisions regarding the reopening the economy and eventual recovery from COVID-19. These principles include examining dis-aggregated data to surface inequities, engaging those most affected in decision-making, empowering teams take action on disparities, proactively addressing policy gaps, and investing in infrastructure which fosters resilience. Read the full text of the issue brief here.




Nominations for New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) for 2020 - The NTAE cooperative agreement with USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will enter the second year on September 1, 2020. Nominations are a short request for information that is quickly and easily completed in minutes and will be available June 15, 2020. Selected projects will receive wrap around services from eXtension Foundation to support and amplify the project/program outcomes. Wrap around services include program advisory support, publication creation, evaluation, digital engagement, professional development services, and optional partnership development support and marketing/market research services from external firms. Learn more about eligibility, nominations, and the wrap around services that promote project/program progression to an evidence-based model here.  



Small Business Online Training is Available - The USDA SBIR Program Office is offering free, online training to learn more about the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Training is comprised of 5 weekly one-hour webinars (live or recorded) and a brief activity aimed at discovering previous SBIR awardees and complementary service providers in your area. USDA, Land-grant university, and Cooperative Extension (across ALL program areas) that complete this course will receive a Certificate of Completion signed by leadership at SBA and USDA. To learn more and to register, visit www.usdasbir.com. 



CYFAR Annual Report Available - The Children, Youth, and Families At-Risk (CYFAR) Program is funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to support collaborative programming with the nation’s land-grant college and university system. Although only 1862 and 1890 land-grant colleges and universities were eligible prior to passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, these land-grant institutions often collaborated with 1994 land-grants. This collaborative programming between institutions provided positive outcomes for children, youth, and families placed at risk and served by those institutions. The 2018 Annual Report features the highlights of these programmatic activities, outcomes, and impacts.