Vice President meets with 4-H’ers, Leveraging Extension & University Engagement, Washington Update from Lewis Burke, Time is Running Out: NEDA Registration Reminder

Recently, the White House invited 4-H’ers to join Vice President Kamala Harris on the tarmac of Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport in Westfield, MA for an official visit. A group of 33 Massachusetts 4-H youth and volunteers, proudly represented the 4-H community, receiving gratitude and encouragement from the Vice President. This recognition highlights the importance of 4-H in nurturing future leaders and fostering a strong, vibrant America.

This opportunity was made possible by the leadership of Dr. Bill Miller, Massachusetts Extension Director, Meaghan McDermott, Massachusetts 4-H State Program Leader, and the support of National 4-H Council.



Leveraging Extension and University Engagement: Developing and Implementing Novel Projects Using Transdisciplinary Approaches

September 9, 2024 | 1:00pm ET | Virtual

You're invited to a webinar series highlighting opportunities and challenges of transdisciplinary approaches within agricultural research. Presented by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the National Agricultural Library, the seminar series will examine strategies for implementing transdisciplinary approaches, team-building and overcoming challenges to encourage the adoption of and training in transdisciplinary systems.

Speakers:

Marshall Stewart (Moderator)
Kansas State University
Senior Vice President for Executive Affairs, University Engagement and Partnerships, and Chief of Staff

Chancellor Robert Jones
University of Illinois
Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Wendy Powers
Washington State University
Dean, College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences

Jay Akridge
Purdue University
Trustee Chair in Teaching and Learning Excellence and Professor of Agricultural Economics

See more information and register here.



Washington Update from Lewis-Burke 

The most recent update from Lewis-Burke provides states of play for both Farm Bill and FY 2025 appropriations as well as simple messages to use when engaging with your delegation. As always, we strongly encourage you to connect with your campus’s government relations office to coordinate any meetings, visits, or other events that might involve your delegation. Thank you for all your efforts, it is making a difference!

Time is Running Out: NEDA Registration Reminder

Time is running out to register for the National Extension Director and Administrator's Conference. While the deadline is technically August 29th, if you wait until after this week, your access to the River Cruise and hotel options will be limited. Go to neda.extension.org today to register.

USDA Reaffirms Ties with 1890s with New MOU

On June 14, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Dr. Paul Jones, Fort Valley State University, Chair of APLU's Council of 1890 Universities Presidents signed an MOU to reaffirm and strengthen the ongoing relationship between the 1890s community and USDA through cooperation and partnership. This MOU also establishes a new 1890 Task Force that will inject energy into USDA’s efforts to collaborate with 1890s institutions in the food, agriculture, and forestry sectors. The document underscores USDA’s commitment under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities to advance the goals of equity to better serve the needs of traditionally underserved institutions and communities. The 1890s system has played an important role in building STEM programming for our nation’s youth. 1890s institutions also strengthen research, Extension, and teaching in the food and agricultural sciences and expand the number of students attracted to careers in agriculture, food, natural resources, and human sciences. Read more here.



Listening Session on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health - Nearly 100 individuals recently participated in a virtual listening session summarized here providing input for the upcoming White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health to be held this September. The listening session was hosted by ECOP and the Board on Human Sciences with support of the Extension Foundation. The majority of the participants were state-level coordinators of Cooperative Extension’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and work done by implementing agencies of SNAP-Ed. Information regarding the Conference will be released in the near future. Information gathered through the listening session can be reviewed [here]. For more information, contact Roger Rennekamp, ECOP's Extension Health Director, at rogerrennekamp@extension.org.

Cooperative Extension in Urban America: Place-Based Approaches for Improving Health - A new article was published in a special issue of the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension focused on Cooperative Extension’s role in the nation’s cities. Authors are Dawn Burton (Prairie View A&M University), LaToya O’Neal (University of Florida), Erin Yelland (Kansas State University), Suzanne Stluka (USDA-NIFA), and Roger Rennekamp (ECOP's Extension Health Director). The article is available at https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/vol10/iss2/1/

SNAP-Ed PDT Update - The annual meeting of the land-grant universities SNAP-Ed Program Development Team (PDT) was held in April. Representatives from USDA Food Nutrition Service, and NIFA, and Cooperative Extension met with current and incoming members of the PDT. The seventeen-member PDT for 2022-2023 includes 3 Extension professionals from 1890's institutions. The PDT conducts monthly conference calls, subcommittee work, and an annual face-to-face meeting to improve the consistency and effectiveness of Extension SNAP-Ed programming to address national health and nutrition-related problems facing low-income populations in the context of Extension’s broader low-income nutrition education portfolio. This year there is particular focus was Nutrition Security and Health Equity to align with USDA priorities. Highlights of the meeting and the past year are available here to view/download. In a series of agreements with ECOP/APLU to support the PDT dating back to 2002, the PDT has been headquartered at South Dakota State University.  

Captured from Last Week's ECOP Meeting at JointCOPs - 

Candid photos from 7/20/2022 ECOP Meeting at Historic Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC
- L-R, top to bottom. Executive Committee: Chris 
Watkins, Bev Durgan, Wendy Powers, Caroline
Henney, Mark Latimore; also, John Lawrence  
Brent Hales, Allen Malone, Vonda Richardson,
Damona Doye.                                                       
- $600K 2023 Assessment-Driven Budget Approved     
- ECOP was not asked to contribute $ to support CMC 
or landgrantimpacts.org.                                          
- Consensus Achieved on 2022-2023 Priorities               

JointCOPs General Session on Federal Budget, 7/21/2022
 - Bridget Krieger, Lewis Burke Associates, lower left                      
- Marshall Stewart, University of Missouri, CLP Chair, lower right 

Status of FY 2023 Appropriations Before Senate Action in Late July. 
Cooperative Extension Section/ECOP will respond to a BAC FY24 survey by 9/12/2022.

Background on Farm Bill

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Strategies for Reconnecting with Stakeholders

Last Friday, May 6 Extension Directors and Administrators from every region convened for Extension and the New Normal, Strategies for Reconnecting with Stakeholders through Programming and Personnel, hosted by the ECOP Professional Development Committee. This important dialogue is captured with the links provided below. All members of the Cooperative Extension Section are encouraged to review them. Direct questions to Caroline Henney at carolinecrocoll@extension.org. 

   --  Notes are captured at https://bit.ly/L4L-May22.

   --  Video is available at https://youtu.be/w-ZZG0akodk



Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching and Engagement (EXCITE) Concluding its First Year - EXCITE teams have reported 131,148 engagement events and activities, with print materials and direct communication being the most frequently used methods to deliver immunization education. EXCITE teams have reached 9,978,580 individuals, with mass media being the single engagement activity reaching the most individuals. 730 vaccination clinics have been held in collaboration with community and healthcare partners, and 25,492 immunizations administered. Diverse assets, including text and images, social media graphics and videos have been developed through EXCITE projects, and these assets are archived at the National Registry of Cooperative Extension Programs & Assets. For an update on EXCITE project(s), in your state visit the new EXCITE Dashboard.



Upcoming APLU Mental Health Summit - Registration is now open for the APLU Virtual Mental Health Summit. The state of student mental health has been a rising concern for campus administrators for the last decade. Indeed, the COVID pandemic has only exacerbated these concerns. In response to this trend and feedback from membership, APLU will hold the first APLU Virtual Summit specifically addressing mental health. Leading voices from across the United States will provide a discussion on the state of student mental health from a variety of vantage points and perspectives. The event is Wednesday, May 25, 2022, 2:00-5:00 p.m. ET. For details and registration, click here.



Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health - The White House announced its commitment to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, reduce diet-related diseases and close disparity gaps by 2030. As part of this commitment, the White House will hold a conference this September to catalyze the public and private sectors around a coordinated, whole-of-government strategy to accelerate progress and drive significant change. As of this writing, details are unavailable. A means to find out more or express ideas is found here. USDA Secretary Vilsack statement on the conference is found here. Stay tuned to the ECOP Monday Minute for more information.



NIFA Employment Opportunities Webinar - NIFA will host an Employment Opportunities Webinar on May 18 at 2 p.m. ET. This webinar will review various employment positions at NIFA. It will provide overviews of the available roles, how to view NIFA vacancy postings online, tips for navigating USAJobs, and NIFA staff will be available to answer questions.

White House Office of Public Engagement Listserv - The White House Office of Public Engagement offers weekly updates specific to federal programs, state and regional updates and priority areas from the administration. For more information and to stay connected, visit Office of Public Engagement | The White House.