USDA-NIFA Hosts EFNEP Listening Session – February 23

On Friday, February 23, 2024, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will host a listening session for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) at 10:15-11:30 AM ET – immediately following the EFNEP National Conference. The hyperlink below provides details for this live and virtual event. Please consider attending, submitting written comments, and sharing this event information with Family and Consumer Sciences and EFNEP Coordinators. NIFA is seeking stakeholder feedback on all aspects of EFNEP.

https://www.nifa.usda.gov/events/expanded-food-nutrition-education-program-efnep-listening-session

ECOP Appoints Martin as NUEL Liaison  - ECOP has appointed Dr. Edward C. Martin (pictured left) as the Liaison to the National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL) Steering Committee. Dr. Martin serves as Associate Vice President and Director of the Arizona Cooperative Extension System and is a faculty member in the Biosystems Engineering Department. Ed replaces Dr. Brent Hales, University of California, in this role. The appointment was established in 2015 with the adoption of A National Framework for Urban Extension. Please join ECOP to thank Brent and Ed for their national leadership!




ECOP/APLU Modernizing Scholarship for the Public Good Webinar Now Online - Last Friday, ECOP sponsored a webinar titled, Modernizing Scholarship for the Public Good, which is now online for asynchronous viewing. APLU launched the initiative to spur more publicly engaged and impactful research and scholarship. Over the past two years, Civic Science Fellow Elyse Aurbach led this initiative, and focused on the strategies public research universities can support scholars working in Public Impact Research, Cooperative Extension, civic science, and other forms of public engagement. ECOP thanks Elyse for sharing and discussing the initiative, action framework and case studies. The recording is available on ECOP's YouTube Channel. 

Associated links from the presentation: 

• Slides - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lH0lfG_ekefCYejSPaaSHAj2u_wIGbMh/view
• Report Executive Summary: https://osf.io/b4qw3 
• Access the Database: https://airtable.com/appTKXGHSza4RHNJj/shraoZlcCgYrXCiki

Rural Health & Safety Education RFA - NIFA recently published the 2024 Rural Health and Safety Education Competitive Grants Program (RHSE) RFA. The RHSE program improves the quality of life in rural communities by providing the essential knowledge necessary for successful programs of rural health and safety in the context of food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences. Proposals are expected to be community-based outreach education programs, such as those conducted through human science Extension outreach that provide individuals and families with information regarding:

• The value of good health at any age;
• To increase individual or family’s motivation to take more responsibility for their own health;
• Rural environmental health issues that directly impact human health;
• Access to health promotion and educational activities; and
• Training for volunteers and health services providers concerning health promotion and health care services for individuals and families in cooperation with state, local, and community partners.

Application deadline is March 14, 2024. For more information, read the RHSE funding opportunity.




GusNIP - Produce Prescription Award Applications - The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) presents the opportunity to bring together stakeholders from various parts of the food and healthcare systems to foster understanding of how they might improve the health and nutrition status of participating households. The Produce Prescription portion of this program is of particular interest to Cooperative Extension. Applications for this portion of the program are due February 28, 2024. NIFA recently conducted a technical assistance webinar, for which the slides are now available.




USDA Names Participants in 2024 Future Leaders in Agriculture Program - On January 17th, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the selection of 20 undergraduate and graduate students as the 2024 winners of the USDA Future Leaders in Agriculture program. The selected students hail from land-grant universities and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSI). The recent USDA press release names the students, their hometowns, and their universities. Program winners will travel to Washington, D.C., in February to tour the nation’s capital and attend USDA’s premier annual event, the Agricultural Outlook Forum. They will also participate in several USDA briefings, gaining numerous opportunities for career development with leaders at USDA.