Former ECOP Chair Receives ESP Ruby Award

Ed Jones, ECOP Chair 2018-2019, (Virginia Tech) is Epsilon Sigma Phi’s 2021 Distinguished Service Ruby award recipient. The award is designed to recognize outstanding leadership, innovative thinking, and sustained exceptional performance across a lifetime service in Extension. Currently, Ed who is pictured here, is serving as Liaison to the ECOP 4-H Leadership Committee. Read more here. Congratulations Ed!



New Interactive Map Visualizes the Digital Divide - The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a new publicly available digital map that displays key indicators of broadband needs across the country. This is the first interactive, public map that allows users to explore different datasets about where people do not have quality Internet access. The public “Indicators of Broadband Need” tool puts on one map, data from both public and private sources. Additional resources can be found here, thanks to the National Digital Education Extension Team (NDEET)

USDA NIFA Launches NIFA Reporting System - On Wednesday, June 23, 2021, the NIFA Reporting System was officially launched, bringing research and Extension together in one system. In collaboration with Land-grant University System partners, the new platform provides grant management and reporting system that integrates the Plant of Work and REEport applications into a unified system. Land-grant universities can visit, https://nifa.usda.gov/tool/pow-nifa-reporting-system, to view the new system. The release comes exactly 23 years after U.S. Congress enacted the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 known as (AREERA). AREERA authorizes NIFA to provide capacity funding for agricultural research and Extension programs at 1862 and 1890 Land-grant Universities.

 

2021 National Extension Tourism Conference Registration Open - Registration is now open for the National Extension Tourism Conference conference, which is slated for Nov 7-11 in Savannah, GA. The network last met in 2019, and since that time tourism communities have faced immense challenges from natural disasters and social unrest to an ongoing global pandemic. How tourism professionals have responded and adapted to these changes continues to evolve. This year’s conference theme of “Navigating the Uncharted” will reflect on these transformations and catalyze future extension programming that best serves stakeholders’ needs. Please share the opportunity as appropriate. 



Leadership in the City Online Professional Development Program - Brent Hales (Penn State), ECOP Member and Liaison to the NUEL Steering Committee recommends Leadership in the City, a 5-month online professional development program prepares Extension professionals working in urban areas to be locally relevant, responsive statewide, and recognized nationally. To date 103 Extension professionals from 31 states have participated. This online professional development program offers learning about leadership, networks, innovation, marketing, management, and more. The program is based on a foundation of entrepreneurial theory and urban Extension practice and will build upon existing leadership experiences. This course is led by Dr. Julie Fox from The Ohio State University Extension. The investment in the program is $500. Multiple participants from the same institute are entitled to a $100 discount (Discount code: LITC22-MULT). Complete details and registration can be found at go.osu.edu/urbanleadership.

NEDA Begins Today

The 2018 NEDA and Cooperative Extension Section (CES) Business Meeting begins today in Portland Oregon! To date there are 96 individuals from 50 States/US Territories/District of Columbia, with 60 of the 76 Section Member institutions gathering in Portland. To kick off the event participants are asked to:

• Review the sessions and links to materials listed in the online Program before arriving. 
• Voting members of the CES are asked to review the suggested changes to the Rules of Operation, the proposed 2019 CES Budget, and Calendar. 
• Begin reading background materials at www.bit.ly/CESpioneer. (List will be updated throughout the meeting.) 

Former ECOP Member Tim Cross,
University of Tennessee.

Tim Cross is the 2018 ESP Ruby Award Winner - Epsilon Sigma Phi’s most prestigious level of recognition, the Distinguished Service Ruby award, is designed to recognize outstanding leadership, innovative thinking and sustained exceptional performance across a lifetime of career service in Extension. Former ECOP Member Tim Cross, Chancellor-University of Tennessee, Institute of Agriculture, will accept the 2018 Epsilon Sigma Phi Distinguished Service Ruby award on Tuesday, October 2nd. To experience his presentation, "To Every Extension Program There is a Session," at 12:15 p.m. Central Time, register for this event at https://epsilonsigmaphi.wildapricot.org/event-3072323/Registration and a link will be provided.

Extension Community Nutrition Education Visioning Web Retreat - The SNAP-Ed Program Development Team (PDT) has developed a framework to help prepare us as a Land Grant System to meet the challenges and opportunity for our collective work in limited resource nutrition education. This on-line, 2-hour retreat is intended to facilitate discussion to strengthen nutrition programming through shared expertise, state agency relationships, financial accountability and collective evaluation. SNAP-Ed and EFNEP leaders are invited to this event that will occur on October 26, 2018, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET. Directors and Administrators are asked to encourage participation and registration by October 19, 2018 through this link Extension Community Nutrition Education Visioning Web Retreat Registration. A link and passcode will be received by email after registration. After an initial overview of PDT committee chairs, participants will be randomly assigned into discussion rooms with 10-12 people and a facilitator.

Caroline Crocoll, USDA-NIFA

Caroline Crocoll Receives Board on Human Sciences 2018 Ellen Swallow Richards Public Service Award - Caroline E. Crocoll, Director of the Division of Family and Consumer Sciences at the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), who currently represents NIFA on the ECOP 4-H Leadership Committee, is the winner of the Ellen Swallow Richards Public Service Award. The Board on Human Sciences award honors a nationally-recognized leader who has a significant history of promoting and advancing the human sciences. As Director of the Division of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) at NIFA for the past eight years, Crocoll has demonstrated a dedication to creating and facilitating a national agenda for human and community sciences research, education and Extension programs to promote the well-being of families and rural communities. She has served the Extension community at the county, state and federal level in FCS and 4-H since 1993. She is currently the Chair of the Alliance for Family & Consumer Sciences, past Foreign Agricultural Service and State Department Embassy Science Fellow, Corporation for National and Community Service National Service Fellow, and is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute focusing on Leadership in a Democratic Society.


Agricultural Resource Management Survey Participation Opportunity - National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) requests cooperation in alerting growers to an upcoming survey opportunity. In the next few weeks, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) representatives may contact corn, soybean and/or peanut growers to participate in the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). ARMS is the only USDA survey that assesses farm production practices and resource use, and the economic well-being of America’s farm businesses and households. This is an opportunity to have a voice heard! If a grower is contacted, encourage them to provide input on their nutrient and fertilizer use, tillage practices, and pest management practices, as well as production costs for soybean farmers. Thank you for your cooperation in encouraging grower participation! To learn more about this survey opportunity, visit: www.nass.usda.gov/go/arms. To learn more about this survey and its benefits, go to: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2018/08/30/nass-economic-data-help-farmers-and-those-who-support-and-serve-them

Scott Reed Receives Ruby Award

Scott Reed, Oregon State University

Scott Reed, Vice Provost-University Outreach & Engagement, Director-Extension Service, Oregon State University, has been chosen as the 2017 to receive of the highest recognition by Epsilon Sigma Phi (ESP), the Distinguished Service Ruby. As the recipient, Scott will deliver the prestigious Ruby Lecture on Tuesday, October 10, 2017, during the 2017 ESP National Conference in Wilmington, NC. Scott currently represents the Western Region of the Cooperative Extension System on ECOP, and in the past served on ECOP’s Budget & Legislative Committee, Private Resource Mobilization Task Force (Chair) and represented ECOP as Chair of the AHS/CES/ESS Communications and Marketing Committee. Registration for the conference is available at http://conference1.espnational.org or contact 208-736-4495 or espoffice@espnational.org for more information.

Health Insurance Certified Educator Training on Smart Choice Basics - With health insurance policies in the news and summer soon turning to fall, health insurance enrollment season will soon be here. Extension Educators may want to offer the 1 hour Smart Choice Basics course to help reduce confusion and increase understanding among consumers they serve. Remember, the law doesn't change the principles of selection taught in Smart Choice Basics. The Health Insurance Literacy Initiative Team of the University of Maryland Extension and University of Delaware Cooperative Extension is offering a certified educator training on Monday, August 21, 1:00-4:30 p.m. Eastern. Registration is $25 through Eventbrite. Chair of the ECOP/ESCOP Health Insurance Action Team Virginia Brown, vbrown12@umd.edu is a point of contact.


FSA Beginning Farmer Mentoring Program Opportunity - Recently, USDA-Farm Service Agency (FSA) has been working with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Service Corps of Retired (and working) Executives (SCORE), a nonprofit resource partner of the SBA, to develop a peer-to-peer mentor network intended to improve the financial literacy and profitability of agricultural businesses—particularly new farm, ranch, and rural businesses. SCORE offers free or low-cost, one-on-one business coaching that can help businesses develop a business plan, navigate legal and financial preparations in getting started, identify new markets, develop strategies for growth, and more. This resource, already available nationwide to small business owners, can be accessed through USDA’s new farmer website. USDA works with SCORE to increase producer awareness of the mentorship services, complementing Extension resources. USDA is stepping up efforts to recruit experienced farmers and ranchers to become SCORE mentors and roll out new participating states every 3 months over the coming year. A collaboration of SCORE and Extension is currently active in Connecticut, Iowa, and Minnesota; with 5 more states in the queue. This new USDA/SCORE initiative serves as an opportunity to complement new farmer educational resources and is an additional resource that Extension colleagues can offer to producers.


Capacity Funding Reality: Declining Real Dollar Federal Support - USDA-NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy sometimes mentions that Cooperative Extension “local boots on the ground” has lost about a third of its footprint. While this is clearly not a good news story, it does speak to the on-going challenge that Extension Directors and Administrators across the country must come to understand. Bill Hoffman, Chief of Staff to the Office of the Director at NIFA, found the article that documents Sonny’s statement. The article is found in Choices, the magazine of food, farms and resource use, and the principal outreach vehicle of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association, AAEA. Choices provides peer-reviewed articles exploring the economic implications of current food, farm, resource or rural community issues directed toward a broad audience. Sun Ling Wang, an Economist with the USDA's Economic Research Service, published a paper in Choices titled “Cooperative Extension System: Trends and Economic Impacts on U.S. Agriculture” in 2014.