COVID-19 Proposal and Ideas for Rapid Response for Funding in the Future

On, April 7, 2020, ECOP Budget & Legislative Committee Chair Jon Boren moderated a virtual conversation with Directors and Administrators during PILD. Click here to listen to the 25 minute, to-the-point conversation, COVID-19 Proposal and Ideas for Rapid Response for Funding in the Future; reasons why the proposal was was made; the need to collect impact data and tell stories of Extension's response to crisis; ideas for ECOP to consider on to rapidly respond to budget and legislative initiatives in the future. At the end, Jon Boren invites his colleagues to send him feedback.





Economic and Community Engagement 2020 Webinar Series - The founder of the Rural Learning Exchange Forum, APLU’s Commission on Economic and Community Engagement (CECE) is proud to announce the 2020 CECE Webinar Series Green Economies and Community Engagement. Cooperative Extension Section members who serve on the CECE Executive Committee and the Commission welcome Cooperative Extension colleagues members to join the free webinar series. In an era where climate change, energy innovation, and sustainability initiatives are poised to be an integral part of economic development, the agenda will feature sessions developed by CECE members and their partners addressing a wide variety of programs, projects, and strategies universities deploy to address these particular needs of their economies and communities. The webinar series will take place the second Thursday of every Month from 2:00-3:15 PM EST June-November. Click Here to sign up.



Answering the Call - The Role of Extension After an Emergency - Last week, with the historic Louisiana Flood of August 2016 as their conceptual lens, a Team of Extension Professionals described how their land-grant institution responded to help mitigate future losses and much more. The recording of the highly instructive webinar by Southern University Ag Research and Extension Center is available here. The Team participated in the Impact Collaborative Summit in October 2019 and received a $5,000 grant from eXtension to support their recovery efforts.



Addressing Kids’ Needs During COVID-19 - 55 million school children have been impacted by school closures and need help, especially the 7 million who do not have internet access in the United States. To respond to these Kids needs for a sense of belonging and caring adult mentors, The Fourward Fund was launched to inspire donors and consumers to support Cooperative Extension as it responds to COVID-19. More information can be found through this FOURWARD Fund FAQ document. Assuming the minimum funding level is reached by June 1, Institutions and 4-H Foundations may apply for funding.

New Executive Director Announcement

Dr. Caroline Crocoll to begin 6/1/2020

ECOP Executive Director Mark Latimore, Fort Valley State University, is pleased to congratulate Caroline Crocoll, as Executive Director of the Cooperative Extension System/ECOP beginning June 1, 2020 and to thank Rick Klemme who will stay on as Executive Director to conduct business as usual through May 31, 2020. Additionally, Rick will help Mark, the Executive Committee of ECOP, and the EDA Team through July 31, 2020 to bring Caroline up-to-speed in her new role. Crocoll currently serves as the National Science Liaison for Human Sciences, 4-H, and Community Resource and Economic Development at USDA-NIFA and has dedicated her career to the advancement of Extension since 1993.

Awards Reminder - Nominate by May 1 - $5,000 goes to each winner of the National Excellence in Extension and Diversity in Extension Award. The list of previous recipients is found here. There is no better time like the present to reward Extension Professionals for how well they translate science for application in culturally relevant settings to empower people and improve lives. For complete details go to www.aplu.org/CESawards. Direct questions and concerns to Assistant Director Sandy Ruble, sandyruble@extension.org.




2020 4-H Pathways Leadership Institute - Last Friday, the ECOP 4-H Leadership Committee invited Extension Directors and Administrators to apply to the 2020 4-H Pathways Leadership Institute. The Institute is an intensive, two-day, virtual leadership program that will take place on July 14 and 15 with the goal of driving innovation and developing creative partnerships. It will equip teams of 3 from State 4-H, Extension and Land-grant University Leadership, with tools needed to achieve the strategic change and growth that is sought for 4-H and Extension programs, in alignment with the broader goals of Universities. Apply via this link by Friday, May 15, 2020. Frequently Asked Questions are found here. Contact Co-chair Andy Turner at ast4@cornell.edu with questions.




NIFA COVID-19 Webinar Follow Up - NIFA conducted a webinar last Thursday (April 16) on COVID-19 impacts on NIFA programs. The Frequently Asked Questions link has been (and will continue to be) updated at COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions. Check https://nifa.usda.gov/coronavirus to view the webinar slides and recording as it becomes available.

Appreciation and Encouragement from ECOP

ECOP Chair, Mark Latimore (Fort Valley State University) extends his sincere appreciation to all of his director and administrator colleagues across the country at 1862, 1890 and 1994 Land-Grant Universities, for exemplary work during these difficult times. Mark says, “The ability to work through the major disruptions in our personal and professional lives due to COVID-19 shows the perseverance and resiliency that defines the Cooperative Extension System. Please continue to stay safe while you direct operations and maintain important relationships at institutional/state/local levels. ECOP with its Committees, Budget and Legislative, 4-H Leadership, Professional Development, Program, and Innovation Task Force on Health, is firmly committed to work with the many key partners that make up the System to maintain and enhance national support and opportunities.” The next ECOP Zoom meeting is set for April 23, 2020, 11:00 a.m. ET.



Webinar Answers FAQs on COVID-19 Affects on NIFA Programs - NIFA Director Scott Angle recently announced that on April 16 from 3-4:00 p.m. ET, NIFA will host a webinar for their Land Grant University and other science partners to clarify answers to frequently asked questions about how the current situation caused by COVID-19 will affect NIFA programs. Please register here in advance to attend. Also, kindly send questions in advance, to Director Angle’s Chief of Staff, Bill Hoffman.



New Normal, New Realities, New Opportunities - For Directors and Administrators who missed virtual 2020 PILD last week, here is a chance to review the Capnote Address by colleague Marshal Stewart (University of Missouri).





Results from the National Action Dialogue - eXtension hosted a system-wide National Action Dialogue on Community Based Programming in the COVID-19 Age. 440 individuals from across Cooperative Extension participated in the two part event that prioritized issues of most concern, co-created possible solutions, and then encouraged individual next step actions to focus and gain forward momentum to address and/or solve the most pressing issues they faced. Top issues identified in Part I included: shifting to the digital mindset, the social and emotional well-being of clients and staff, continuity of programs, how to find creative methods to continue to support outside of the traditional curriculum, helping our youth, working virtually, the inequity of resources, and maintaining communication internally and externally. 99% of participants said they would or may recommend a National Action Dialogue to a colleague. The full report is available here.



May 1 Last Day for Awards Nomination - Today Extension Directors and Administrators will receive a reminder to share the reminder that May 1 is the last day to submit nominations for National Extension Awards. Go to www.aplu.org/CESAwards for details or contact Cooperative Extension/ECOP Assistant Director Sandy Ruble for more information, sandyruble@extension.org, 202-478-6088.

Demonstrating Value of Land-grant Extension Programs

The National Impacts Database Committee encourages all Extension colleagues to submit impact statements regarding COVID-19-related and other Extension programs. These impact statements provide the foundation for a special Content Writing Group that is commissioned each year to develop consistent statements to use in 1862 and 1890 Land-Grant advocacy efforts. The Group met January 31 - February 2, 2020 in Louisville, KY, and reviewed the 2019 peer reviewed impact statements that were submitted to www.landgrantimpacts.org. Their effort, financed by ECOP and ESCOP, produced 64 products including 49 fact sheets, 14 web stories, and the production of an animated video (see below).  Browse to “Areas of Impact” at the website to explore and widely share these products with potential stakeholders and social media outlets.




Celebrating 1994 Land-grant Programs - First Americans Land-grant Consortium (FALCON) is pleased to announce the release of a video highlighting three selected 1994 land-grant programs. This video found below was produced in partnership with RezKast Media LLC, a Native-owned small business, and three 1994 land-grant institutions:  College of Menominee Nation (Keshena, WI), Iḷisaġvik College (Barrow, AK), and Diné College (Tsaile, AZ). The participating 1994s were selected through an open process that included a survey of capacities, submission of story lines, and a final panel review that included criteria of geographic and programmatic diversity. FALCON considers this video as the first phase in a larger initiative to celebrate 1994 land-grant programs through video storytelling. Phase two will include securing funding to produce more 1994s’ video stories over the next year.




COVID-19 Resource Collection Grows - A comprehensive collection of COVID-19 resources developed by the Cooperative Extension System is available at  https://virtual.extension.org/extension-responses-to-covid-19. To date, 48 land-grant institutions have contributed to the collection with new items being added nearly every day. In addition to materials submitted by states, the site also includes a number of general resources that Extension professionals and others may find useful. Recently added were collections of materials related to farmworkers, food systems, and health insurance for farm families. Navigation of the site has been aided by the addition of labels indicating whether a particular link contains information regarding institutional policies and procedures related to COVID-19 or programmatic resources for engaging the public. Links to additional resources can be sent directly to contact-us@extension.org. 



eXtension Offers Connect Extension to Entire System - COVID-19 is driving a need for rapid connection and sharing among program leaders, multi-state, and institutional teams across the country. eXtension has obtained a commercially available technology solution, Connect Extension, that is contextualized in an environment that enables the Extension System to stay away from the noise of platforms in shared public spaces. It is an interactive and “living” virtual space, as opposed to being simply an online resource page. In one week, 1000 Cooperative Extension professionals joined the platform and 90% are actively participating. eXtension invites the entire Cooperative Extension Service to use Connect Extension for both accessing opportunities made available through the eXtension Foundation and across the system, and for program and project leaders to create specific groups for internal collaborations. Learn more here and visit Connect Extension here.