Equity Strategic Plan for 4-H

All Extension Directors and Administrators are invited to attend the next Learning for Leaders, Friday, May 7, 2021, 3-4:00 p.m. ET, to explore the National 4-H Equity Design Team Strategic Planning Report. with their colleagues, 1 per region, listed on page 13 here. The event will reinforce and build upon the collective mindset of these Extension Leaders that establishes short- and long-range goals for system change for diversity, equity, and inclusion at national, state, and local levels.  Portions of the program will be recorded and made available here in the ECOP Monday Minute. 4-H Department faculty and Administrative Leadership Teams are welcome. To register, email Sandy Ruble. 

Brent Hales, Director, Penn 
State Extension

Hales to Liaise with Urban Extension Leaders - Last week at their April Meeting, ECOP affirmed Brent Hales, Penn State, to represent the Cooperative Extension Section with the National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL) steering committee. Brent has served on ECOP since September 2020. The  steering committee of 17 meets virtually each month to 1) advance the strategic importance and long-term value of urban Extension activities, and 2) to foster collaboration at the local, regional and national levels that create greater capacity within the Cooperative Extension System to serve urban communities. Jason Henderson, Purdue University, served as ECOP Liaison to NUEL 2018-2021, and continues to serve the Section/ECOP as Vice-chair of the Budget & Legislative Committee. 

2021 National Urban Extension Leaders Virtual Summit - NUEL’s 2021 Virtual Summit will be held May 17-20, 2021. The purpose of NUEL is to advocate and advance the strategic importance and long-term value of urban Extension activities by being relevant locally, responsive statewide, and recognized nationally. Register for the Summit here.

$10 Million for Partnerships/Collaborations with Climate Hubs - USDA NIFA will award approximately $10 million in competitive awards (AFRI) to support Cooperative Extension partnerships and collaborations with the USDA Climate Hubs. This program area priority will support projects that provide effective, translatable, and scalable approaches to address climate change through regional partnerships including the USDA Climate Hubs and Extension. This is a new program priority (program is A1721) in the current AFRI Foundational and Applied Science RFA – it is on page 71. The RFA is located here.

Farm of the Future Integrated Research and Extension Competitive Grant Planning - USDA NIFA is seeking input to establish a new Farm of the Future competitive grant program. Section 799 of the FY2021 Omnibus Appropriations Bill provided $4,000,000 to NIFA “for a competitive grant to an institution in the land-grant university system to establish a Farm of the Future testbed and demonstration site.” NIFA plans to implement this program by supporting an integrated research and Extension project. At this stage of planning, the agency is seeking expert stakeholders, customers, and partners opinions on how Federal investments can best address current needs and challenges facing farms of the future. Today, there are 2 ways to provide input (see below). Direct general questions to NIFA.FarmOfTheFuture@usda.gov

    -- Register here to attend a virtual stakeholder listening session on
        Thursday, May 6 from 2 to 4 p.m. (CT).
        Each participant who wishes to speak will be unmuted for up to
        3 minutes. 

    -- Submit written comments (2-page limit) to:
        FarmoftheFuture@USDA.gov by May 6, 2021.

Upfront Conversation - Extension and NIFA

For a quick read on what the "new" NIFA looks like, the ways Extension leaders can serve as a resource to ensure support for programmatic and advocacy priorities, and the future of Interagency Agreements for funding for Extension, click here and see what was shared at the last ECOP Meeting.

Photo caption: USDA-NIFA Liaisons to ECOP, (L) Parag Chitnis, Associate Director, and (R) Mike Fitzner, Science Program and Analysis Officer.

Cooperative Extension Federal Budget and Legislative Update - As promised, below are the products of the annual Cooperative Extension Directors and Administrators Budget and Legislative Session at PILD. All are encouraged to review them and know their members of the ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee by Region listed on page 4 of the ECOP List Resource. 

    --> Video - https://youtu.be/mqb6upMrifA

    --> Slide Presentation - View/Download

Contact Executive Director Caroline Henney or Assistant Director Sandy Ruble for more info.

White House Releases State-by-State Sheets on Jobs Plan - The White House on Monday released facts sheets to highlight the needs in each state that it says would be addressed by President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal known as the American Jobs Plan. The state-by-state documents note the number of bridges and miles of road in poor condition, the percentage of households without access to broadband internet access, the billions of dollars required for water infrastructure, among other infrastructure needs, the White House said. The White House previously released fact sheets  found here on how Biden’s plan would address issues important to rural America and racial inequity.

Earth Day Webinar Reminder - As announced by APLU, Extension Directors and Administrators may still sign up to attend Cultivating Climate Resiliency - How North American Public Universities Are Addressing Climate Change on April 22, 2021 from 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM ET.  The event will include a list of special presenters and conclude with a panel representing the North American Knowledge Zone featuring speakers from Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Register for the event here.

NIFA Program Plan/Report Learning Event - On May 20, 2021, 12-1:30 p.m. ET, the National Association of Extension Program & Staff Development Professions (NAEPSDP) will host a panel discussion on LGU experiences and tips for preparing NIFA Plans and Report. Lynn Khadiagala, NIFA's Planning and Evaluation Lead, will outline the requirements for the reports and the value of the data received. The panel will feature representatives from both 1862 and 1890 institutions. Panelists will share their process for developing their plan and report and how that process contributes to the success of their report. Example recent plans and reports will be shared with registrants of this webinar. Register here.

Budget and Legislative Virtual Meeting 4/13/2021

Each year the ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee (BLC) leads a session for Extension Directors and Administrators who attend the Public Issues Leadership Development (PILD) Conference. Since the meeting is virtual this year, members of the AEA, NEED, NCCEA, ASRED and WEDA organizations were invited to join the session at no charge on Tuesday, April 13, 11 a.m. - Noon ET. For any members who wish to attend and have not yet registered, click here to sign up. A recording will be released in next week's ECOP Monday Minute. Participants will come away with knowledge of the innerworkings of a federal budget process through the Board on Agriculture Assembly and the latest updates from government affairs advisors. Chair Jon Boren, New Mexico State University, is moderator and hopes to see a good number of his fellow Extension Directors and Administrators on Zoom tomorrow. 

New Technologies for Agriculture Extension Funding - NTAE, an Extension Foundation project administered by Oklahoma State University provides an open opportunity for all land-grant institutions. Extension (formerly eXtension) Foundation membership is not required to submit early stage, high potential projects that could benefit from market research and/or strategic messaging, digital engagement, leadership and team development, partnership development, efieldbook publication, professional engagement with peers, evaluation support, and mentoring. A highly informative introduction (45 minutes) is available here. A mandatory application workshop will be held on Monday, May 10, 2021 (2-4:00 p.m. ET) and again, Wednesday, May 12 (3-5:00 p.m. ET) that will provide guidance, tools, and templates for a successful project application. Contact Tira Adelman tiraadelman@extension.org for workshop connection details.




USDA Farm Service Agency Funding Opportunity - The U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency has announced the availability of $2 million to establish partnerships with organizations to provide outreach and technical assistance to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. The funding was made possible by USDA’s new Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative, an effort to distribute resources more broadly and to put greater emphasis on outreach to small and socially disadvantaged producers impacted by the pandemic. To view this funding opportunity, visit here.

Strengthening Rural Anchor Institutions - Federal Policy Solutions for Rural Public Colleges and the Communities They Serve Report - This report focuses on a group of 118 rural public colleges, including 1862, 1890 and 1994 institutions that prioritize access for students. This access mission is particularly important because institutions dedicated to access are often overlooked and under-resourced compared to institutions that are more selective in their admissions practices. Read the report here.

Conveying Land-grant Mission Impact

Current stories and talking points that document and demonstrate the value and collective impact of the national system of land-grant universities mission areas, teaching, research and Extension, were released in the National Impact Database (NIDB) landgrantimpacts.org last month. ECOP thanks the Communications Writing team for the numerous products - stories, summary factsheets, and a video - that highlight impacts that entered into the database by many of the 76 institutions. Use the Areas of Impact and Associated Impacts menus to browse the product titles. Two summaries related to COVID-19 response are found here and here. To begin using the Search dashboard, pause 20-30 seconds to load. The "Resources" menu is helpful for knowing best practices for entering data. The NIDB is an enterprise of ECOP, ESCOP and USDA-NIFA.

2021 County Health Rankings - The annual update to County Health Rankings is available at www.countyhealthrankings.org. The information is based on more than 30 factors which influence health and show that where people live influences how well and how long they live. An easy-to-use snapshot, the Rankings compare the health of all counties within states and call attention to the differences in opportunity to live long and well from one county to the next. In addition to the county-level data, the Rankings also features What Works for Health, a database of more than 400 evidence-informed strategies to support local changemakers as they take steps toward expanding opportunities. The Take Action Center also provides valuable guidance for communities who want to move to action with data . The data is released every year by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute with Extension's funding partner on health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.



Globalizing Extension Innovation Network (GEIN) - GEIN connects professionals interested in Extension innovation in a global context. The network shares and develops best practices for augmenting Extension programs through cross-cultural and international experiences and supports the engagement of Extension professionals through international programs emphasizing global dynamics and cultural knowledge. GEIN can be followed on Connect Extension, a service of the Extension Foundation and is an open sub-group accessible to anyone within the Cooperative Extension System. Visit GEIN for more information. A Connect Extension Account is required. 



Community Engagement Scholarship Awards - APLU’s Commission on Economic and Community Engagement (CECE) invites all CECE members, Extension professionals, and the broader APLU membership to apply for the 2021 Community Engagement Scholarship Awards cycle. Both the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Awards provide recognition for the outstanding community-university engagement work of public universities. Prizes range from $5,000 to the grand prize of $20,000 for the national C. Peter Magrath Award. The deadline for applications is April 30th.