Monday, May 18, 2020

The ECOP Monday Minute will resume on June 1. Have a safe Memorial Day Weekend!

Invitation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - Cooperative Extension is invited to nominate professionals to the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF). The Richard Dunville (CDC), member of the ECOP Innovation Health Task Force, indicates experts in rural health are needed to serve. The CPSTF is an independent, nonfederal panel of public health and prevention experts whose members represent a broad range of research, practice, and policy expertise in community preventive services, public health, health promotion, and disease prevention. Complete details and means of submission are found here. Nomination packages must be received on or before 5:00 p.m. EDT, on Friday, June 26, 2020.
 


Online NIFA Urban, Indoor and Emerging Ag Stakeholder Listening Sessions - NIFA is accepting stakeholder input to help inform and set priorities for $40 million of grant funding for research, education and extension around urban, indoor and emerging agriculture. To respond to NIFA during the pandemic with aggregated and organized comments, the National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL), Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research (WCMER), and a number of local Farm Bureau chapters located in urban counties from across the country are partnering to host four online, interactive stakeholder listening sessions on May 28 and May 29. For more information and to register, visit the WCMER website.



The National Urban Extension Implementation Plan - Advancing the Cooperative Extension System’s work in urban areas continues to be an ECOP priority. Since 2015, ECOP has helped to formally organize the National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL) and asked NUEL to identify opportunities to increase the capacity within the Extension system to serve urban residents. In April 2019 ECOP approved the National Urban Extension Implementation Plan that outlines six goals for helping the national Extension system achieve measurable results. To learn more about NUEL visit the NUEL website or contact Jason Henderson (Purdue University), ECOP Liaison to NUEL and member of the steering committee.



USDA Grants Available for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production - Competitive grants ($3 Million) are available for urban agriculture and innovative production projects. USDA will accept applications on Grants.gov until midnight July 6, 2020. Planning Projects should initiate or expand efforts of farmers, gardeners, citizens, government officials, schools, and other stakeholders in urban areas and suburbs. Projects may target areas of food access; education; business and start-up costs for new farmers; and development of policies related to zoning and other needs of urban production. Implementation Projects should accelerate existing and emerging models of urban, indoor, and other agricultural practices that serve multiple farmers. Projects will improve local food access and collaborate with partner organizations and may support infrastructure needs; emerging technologies; educational endeavors; and urban farming policy development. Click Here for details.

Monday, May 11, 2020

Regional Rural Development Centers Issue Urgent Call for Investment in Rural Broadband

Rural areas still struggling to recover from the 2008 Great Recession may face even greater economic fallout as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While broadband access was critical to the pre-COVID-19 economy, the current crisis dramatically highlights the implications of this digital divide in rural areas. The Regional Rural Development Centers have issued a research-based explanation of why investments in broadband access and education are critical to ensuring that rural areas will be able to compete in the post-COVID-19 economy, and that rural-urban differences and inequities do not become even more pronounced. Read more and respond here.




May National Activities - Be sure to know your regional representatives here.
  • Chair Jon Boren (New Mexico State University) will preside on Tuesday, May 12, during the ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee (BLC). Chuck Ross (University of Vermont), ECOP Chair-elect, serves as Vice-Chair. Be sure to know representation by Region. 
  • Thursday, May 14, the ECOP Executive Committee holds an enhanced meeting with all ECOP voting members. On the agenda is the 2021 Cooperative Extension Section/ECOP Budget Process and 2020-2023 Strategic Directions. Chair Mark Latimore (Fort Valley State University) will preside.
  • The National Office, EDA Team and APLU are gearing up for the arrival of Caroline Crocoll as Executive Director of Cooperative Extension System/ECOP on June 1. 
For more information contact Rick Klemme rickklemme@extension.org.



Summit on Virtual Programming - On the first 2 days of eXtension's recent Impact Collaborative Summit, dozens of small groups from across the system identified immediate needs for Virtual Programming and priority issues. During the Summit, they and looked deeply at ways to progress on key topic areas including Digital Engagement Strategies; Low/No Tech Engagement Strategies; ADA/Accessibility/DEI: Equitable Access Strategies; Virtual/Online Impact & Evaluation Strategies 98% of participants stated that they recommend the Impact Collaborative Summit to their colleagues. On May 15, 2 PM - 3 PM ET, the Summit continues with strategies for working during and post-crisis, Impact Collaborative Innovation Skill-Building tools, and connecting participants with their locally trained Innovation Facilitators. All member insitutions are invited to participate in the final day regardless of past participation. To register for a free account go to connect.extension.org




Thrive Rural Awareness - Last month, with the support of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (also funding source of land-grant Well Connected Communities), the Aspen Institute and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute launched Thrive Rural. The two-year project will address the issue of vast diversity of rural expertise and help to modernize rural legislative policy. Due to the initiative's strong emphasis on Public Health, Directors and Administrator should contact either Health Extension Director Roger Rennekamp rogerrennekamp@extension.org or ECOP Member Jason Henderson (Purdue University) jhenderson@purdue.edu, Thrive Rural Steering Committee, for more information.

Monday, May 4, 2020

Crisis Response Opportunities and State/Regional Strategies: Farmer Mental Health

Last Friday Administrators and Directors or their respective Farmer Mental Health experts from 28 states joined ECOP Chair Mark Latimore for a timely Learning for Leaders session. For all who missed the presentation - Resource Inventory, 2 Institutional Examples, NIFA Support, Regional Program Response, Ideas for Leading on Challenging Issues - go to YouTube Archive. The interactive slide presentation with expanded resources shared in the Zoom Chat is found here.



Preparing to Help Rebuild Communities | Virtual NACDEP Conference June 1-2 - The Annual NACDEP Conference, to be held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has been transformed into an engaging, informative professional development online experience that will be held June 1 -2, 2020. Participants can choose from a variety of presentations including thought provoking and COVID responsive plenaries and timely community re-building concurrent sessions. Discounted registration is $105/member, $195/non-member (includes a year of professional development webinars we couldn’t fit into the 2 days!). Please share registration information found here. Contact Susan Kelly susan_kelly@ncsu.edu for more information.



Searchable Database of Extension COVID-19 Resources Now Available - The COVID-19 resource hub located at https://virtual.extension.org/extension-responses-to-covid-19 is being converted to a searchable database that will allow users to easily locate COVID-19 resources on a particular topic such as farmworker health or coping with income loss. The new database resides on the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) COVID-19 resource page located at https://extensiondisaster.net/current-situation-covid-19 Once at the site, a "filter" option allows a user to narrow the resource collection to a particular subject, audience, or institution. A “sort" option allows a user to display resources in a particular order. The links to each institution’s COVID-19 resource hubs will remain at https://virtual.extension.org/extension-responses-to-covid-19 for the immediate future.



4-H at Home – Mitigating Learning Loss for Children - In order to address the opportunities for school children impacted by school closures associated with COVID-19, 4-H programs around the country are contributing to 4-H at Home, a consumer-facing compilation of virtual positive youth development programming for families. This resource is designed to promote the important role of the land-grant universities and Cooperative Extension—and to mitigate the substantial learning loss that has occurred and could continue over the summer. Please consider directing State 4-H Program Specialists and Leaders to submit content/links at https://bit.ly/4-HatHome. Thank you.