Community Learning through Data-Driven Discovery

Community Learning through Data-Driven Discovery (CLD3): A Paradigm Shift for Working with Communities to Address Critical Needs - Rural communities, towns, cities, counties, and states have entered a new era where communities of all types have access to data in greater quantity, detail, and variety. These communities face the challenge of integrating these data into their decision-making, planning, economic development, and operations. The Cooperative Extension System (CES) can help. CES professionals are poised to become catalysts to bring the data revolution to their communities and help community leaders address some of the most pressing needs of our time. The CES can develop and sustain a national network of Community Learning through Data-Driven Discovery (CLD3) partnerships that integrate data science expertise with CES professionals in the field and the communities they serve. Data-science research partnerships within the CES contribute to shaping and placing data insights directly into the hands of where they are needed most: with local decision-makers. These CLD3 partnerships help to promote civic engagement among a diverse group of Cooperative Extension, universities, local, state, and national stakeholders. Learn more here about successes in igniting this national network. Participate in some self-paced training to get started. Read some case studies and contact the principals for more information about joining in this effort.

ECOP Program Committee Urban Program Action Team Update - The ECOP Urban Program Action Team, led by Dr. Brent Hales, Penn State, is in the process of inviting Directors, Specialists and Partners to be part of the Urban Extension Program Action Team. In the next two months the PAT will host a series of priority-setting meetings. Once priorities have been identified Implementation Teams will coalesce around the top few, and develop next steps. The Urban PAT will also be closely linked with other PATs including Climate; Workforce and Economic Development; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; 4-H Positive Youth Development and Health.

The Urban PAT, in partnership with NUEL, is also in the process of hiring a National Urban Extension Leaders Communications & Capacity Building Fellow. This Fellowship will help support work moving forward, and engage new partners for the system.

Call for nominations: Implementation Teams, sub-committees of the Action Team, are composed of Extension faculty and specialists from across the nation with the task of identifying Extension programs that are ready to be scaled up and funded at the national level. The Implementation Teams would serve as Extension’s partnering group regarding national urban initiatives for their theme. The implementation team would also be responsible for developing letters of intent or submitting large grants on behalf of ECOP. A second task of the Priority Implementation Team would be to provide content to further develop the advocacy toolkit for urban programs. Initially, these teams would meet monthly. If a faculty and/or staff member is interested in being involved in an Implementation Team, please send contact information to Caroline Henney.

Save the November Dates - Cooperative Extension Directors and Administrators are encouraged to carefully review this list of CFERR/BAA/BoHS Virtual Annual Meeting dates and times recently released by Doug Steele, APLU Vice President, Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources and hold relevant times. Please stay tuned to email to receive connection details from the FANR office. 

Also, APLU President Peter McPherson invites everyone to join Public Higher Education Leaders for the virtual APLU Annual Meeting, November 15-17, 2021, for The New Now: The Promise of Higher Education in a Rapidly Changing World. The registration requiring fees starting at $125 is available here. 

Extension Foundation Announces 2021-2022 New Technologies for Ag Extension Projects - The Extension Foundation will be supporting 20 projects across Cooperative Extension as part of its third year of the New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) program. This program is made possible by funding from USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through a partnership with Oklahoma State University and the Extension Foundation. This program serves all Land-grant Universities in the United States. Year 3 projects include all rural development centers, projects selected through a competitive RFA, projects selected by USDA-NIFA, and ECOP Program Action Teams. The combined award going directly to all projects is approximately $1.26M. A full listing of projects is available here.

Cooperative Extension System/ECOP Seeks Executive Director

The Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) is accepting applications for the Cooperative Extension System/ECOP Executive Director. The complete announcement is found at bit.ly/ExtEDinDC. The full-time position will be based in Washington, DC. Applications will be reviewed by the Executive Director Search Advisory Committee when received and continue until the position is filled. Preference will be given to applications received by September 27, 2019.


Opportunity to Host the National Health Outreach Conference - The call for proposals to host the 2020 National Health Outreach Conference (NHOC) is open! The National Health Outreach Conference (formerly Priester Conference) was established after ECOP adopted the Cooperative Extension’s National Framework for Health and Wellness in 2014. The NHOC was first held in 2015 and has been hosted annually since its inception by a land-grant partner. The conference was renamed for the “purpose of greater integration of health stakeholders and current cultural change.” Please contact Ahlishia Shipley for the proposal application and additional information. Applications are due September 9, 2019.

Ask Extension, Applying Artificial Intelligence to Extension - An initial landscape investigation and overview was completed by eXtension's 2019 Artificial Intelligence Fellow, David Warren, Oklahoma State University. This investigation looks at one solution to the problem of information fragmentation and “findability” of research-based answers with local relevance: the creation of a distributed Ask Extension data registry and search interfaces. Learn more and read the full report here. Direct questions regarding the report to David Warren at david.warren10@okstate.edu.

Cooperative Extension and Data Science: A Strategy for Boosting Rural Economic Prosperity - In June 2018, the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funded a workshop at North Carolina State University in partnership with Research Triangle Institute to explore leveraging Cooperative Extension’s structure to bring Data Science capability to rural areas to enhance economic prosperity. The workshop report identifies concrete next steps, follow-on efforts and recommendations on how to leverage land-grant universities and Cooperative Extension to transfer data science education, activities and literacy to the nation. The report is available at  http://go.ncsu.edu/nsf.sloan.report.