Extension, Outreach, and Education from USDA

1. Extension, Outreach, and Educationfrom USDA • Good morning. We want to spend a few moments this morning talking about Extension, Outreach, and Education from the perspective of the Department of Agriculture. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

2. Disclaimers Two disclaimers: • What follows is from the perspective of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) • For our purposes this morning, “Extension, Outreach, and Education” are equivalent to “non-formal adult education” Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

3. Smith-Lever Act • 1914…United States Congress passes legislation to “to aid in diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information.” • The means to accomplish this are the land-grant universities. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

4. LGUs* and Extension • 52 1862 land-grant institutions • 18 1890 land-grant institutions • 311994 land-grant institutions • 7 Land-grant institutions in Districts, Commonwealths, or Territories • (* LGU = Land Grant University) Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

5. The Cooperative Extension “System” • Federal Partner = USDA • State Partner = LGU’s • Local Partner = Counties (~3,150) • Ultimate Partner = American Citizens Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

6. Note on the Partnership • CES is the largest, and arguably the best, non-formal adult education system in the world. • Major reason for success: State and local governments decide which state and local issues to address. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

7. Some Mechanics • USDA MOU  States • States  MOU  Counties • Matching Dollars Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

8. Counties and Citizens • Counties  Volunteers • Volunteers???? Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

9. Anecdote Number 1 A few years ago, USDA’s Forest Service was battling a serious disease problem, “Sudden Oak Death (Phytophthora ramorum ).” They needed hundreds of additional trained “scouts,” but did not have the resources to get them. Solution? Extension Master Gardeners. 150,000 of them. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

10. Anecdote Number 2 • 4-H: utilizes more than 3 million adult person days of volunteer assistance each year. This is equivalent to adding another federal agency that employs 11,500 people. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

11. What Gets Extended? • Objective, unbiased, science-based information • Formerly, most information came from State Agricultural Experiment Stations at LGUs • Currently, information may come from SAES or from many other sources. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

12. How does information get “extended?” • Through the delivery of educational programs in one shape, form, or another • CES (the Cooperative Extension System) does not provide technical assistance. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

13. Types of Educational Delivery • Courses: traditional and on-line • Brochures, fact sheets, and the like: hard-copy and on-line • Demonstrations • 4-H, Master Gardeners, Master Fishermen, etc., ongoing programs • Phone-in Q and A service Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

14. More Educational Delivery • Farm, home, business visits • Radio, newspaper, trade journal items, • And, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

15. Educational Delivery Systems THE WEB! Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

16. eXtension • Communities of Practice Beef Cattle, Consumer Horticulture, Corn and Soybean Production, Cotton, DAIReXNET Diversity Across Higher Education, Entrepreneurs and Their Communities, Extension Disaster Education Network, Family Caregiving Financial Security for All, HorseQuest, Imported Fire Ants, Just In Time Parenting, Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Centers, Map@Syst, Pesticide Environmental Stewardship, Pork Information, Urban Integrated Pest ManagementWildlife Damage Management, Youth Literacy SET, eOrganic Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

17. EDENExtension Disaster Education Network To assist Extension professionals in educational programming efforts, this site offers ready-to-use presentations, case studies, applied activities, and handouts for producer workshops and/or community awareness presentations. http://www.eden.lsu.edu/ Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

18. Beyond eXtension • USIs: Urban Serving Institutions • As the clientele of CES changes, so must we. The current active dialogue on urban serving institutions characterizes this state of change. • USIs also set the stage for the last ancecdotal information: Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

19. Final Anecdote • 4-H: how are 4-H kids possibly related to Urban Serving Institutes? More than half the current 7 million-plus 4-Hers are suburban or urban dwellers. • Remember the 3 million person days of adult volunteer assistance? Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

20. Final Anecdote, Part 2 • Those 7 million kids plus millions of adults should be suggestive of what Extension would call a community of interest, but what I call a political resource: there are more than 45 million living 4-H alumni in the U.S. • That’s a voting bloc! Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

21. Final Words • CES is alive and well, changing its shape and approach, but not its philosophy: educate, educate, educate. • It constitutes a resource that would be prohibitively expensive to create if it did not already exist. • Huge infrastructure, already in place, capable of reacting quickly to emergencies or emerging issues, in a very cost-effective manner. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov

22. CSREES and USDA… Thank you. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service http://www.csrees.usda.gov