Meetings/Conferences

Registration is Now Open for Leadership in the City

Are you interested in Extension in urban areas and ready to improve your knowledge, skills, and results?

The Leadership in the City course will help you learn about leadership, networks, innovation, and management. The 5-month online program will prepare you, as an Extension professional, to be relevant locally, responsive statewide, and recognized nationally.

The goal of this comprehensive professional development program is to improve the knowledge, skills, and results of university Extension professionals working in large cities. You will connect with peers from around the country to engage in critical thinking and creative problem solving to become better prepared to be relevant locally, responsive statewide, and recognized nationally.

The program was developed based on a foundation of entrepreneurial theory and urban Extension practice and will build upon existing leadership experiences, management training, and Extension professional development.

You will learn from experienced leaders; apply what you learn in your city, region, or state; engage in critical thinking and creative problem solving; and participate in online collaborative learning. Each competency-based module incorporates interactive digital delivery and the flipped classroom model for active learning and engagement.

Upon completion of the course, you will be better prepared to:

  • Evaluate, illustrate, and build upon their four dimensions as an entrepreneurial leader (traits and drivers; competencies and experiences).
  • Navigate as a leader working in the urban and university contexts.
  • Implement elements of entrepreneurial organizations.

The investment in the program is $500 plus a commitment to work hard and have fun investing 8-14 hours per month. The 5-month online course begins in January 2021. If you have multiple participants from the same institute, you are each entitled to a $100 discount (Promotion code: LITC21-MULT).

This course is led by Dr. Julie Fox from the Ohio State University Extension.

Complete details and registration information can be found at https://cityextension.osu.edu/leadership. The deadline for registration is November 30.

Reclaiming Spaces and Places: Virtual Workshop

Spaces and Places, born of the necessity to be acknowledged within the built environment, has embarked on its most unique and ambitious convening since its conception. Now in its fourth year, the annual grassroots conference will be hosted virtually in partnership with BlackSpace and Next City. Reclaiming Spaces & Places will assemble urbanists and community leaders for a two-day event of virtual learning and exchange, taking place on Thursday, August 6, 2020 from 12-1:15 p.m E.T. Follow this link to learn more.

Sourced from: Next City

Supporting Each Other and Our Communities – NUEL Inequities Dialogue

National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL), in collaboration with the Southern Rural Development Center and Michigan State University, are excited to host a listening dialogue to inform decision makers next steps in addressing inequities internal to urban Extension and supporting urban Extension professionals to meet the needs of the communities served.

This supportive dialogue space was designed with all urban Extension professionals in mind, regardless of position or tenure. Everyone living and working in urban areas has ideas on how Extension can better support the community. The report will be reviewed by NUEL to map a strategy complementing current and historical contributions. Feedback will also be shared with state Extension administrators to help inform their next steps. The dialogue will be held on Monday, July 20, 2020, 2-3:30 p.m. EDT.  Follow this link to register.

Sourced from: NUEL

Leading Edge Dialog Series

Leading Edge Dialogues (LEDs) were 90-minute interactive workshops held during the 2019 National Urban Extension Conference which explored critical issues facing our cities and our universities. Each LED consisted of a multi-sector panel presentation followed by a facilitated group discussion with all attendees. These papers capture both the presentations and the innovative discussion that followed for one of the LEDs. Papers on the following topics will be completed in Spring/Summer 2020: Density, Youth Engagement, Preparing the Extension Workforce, Data and Policy, Fulfilling the Land Grant University Mission, and Smart Cities. Follow this link to learn more.
Follow this link to read: Reaching 10 Million Youth with Extension.
Follow this link to read: Smart Cities: Technology, Equity, Livability, and Trust.

Sourced from: Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research

Walkability and Health: Building Strong, Vibrant, and Resilient Communities – Part 1: Tools and Techniques

The connection between walkable communities and public health was already at the center of planning discussion in many communities before the Covid-19 pandemic prompted many cities to close public streets for pedestrian use. Join the Maryland Department of Planning and the Smart Growth Network at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 11, as two of the nation’s leading walkability experts, Dan Burden and Mark Fenton of Blue Zones, lay out a significant new canvas for the health of the built environment, with wide application to communities across the nation. Making use of their combined 70 years of experience on walkability and health issues in more than 3,000 communities, they will “walk through” a set of street design tools and techniques as the first of a multi-part series on walk audits they will present with us. Follow this link to learn more.

Sourced from: Smart Growth Online

Strategic Plan of Work in Ohio’s Urban Communities – June 1-2 Meetings

During the January 29 Summit on Extension in Urban Communities your colleagues, along with some external partners, began drafting goals for urban Extension for the focused strategy areas of Positioning, Programs, Personnel, and Partnerships (Ps).

In the last few months, a Plan of Work for Extension in urban communities has been under development with guidance from a steering council. The summit planning committee formed this steering council to keep the momentum going and further focus next steps. The four strategy group leaders have each taken ownership of one of the priority areas to summarize the context; clarify goals, drafts action steps, and suggest internal partner connections; and consider linkage between the other Ps.

Now that the goals have been initially drafted, we would like to invite others to work with the strategy groups to further develop action steps, timelines, measures, connections, and resources.

You are welcome to join any of the following meetings on June 1 and 2.
Personnel in Urban Communities – Strategic Plan of Work group meeting on June 1, 1-2 pm
Positioning in Urban Communities – Strategic Plan of Work group meeting on June 1, 3-4 pm
Programs in Urban Communities – Strategic Plan of Work group meeting on June 2, 9-10 am
Partnerships in Urban Communities – Strategic Plan of Work group meeting on June 2, 11 am-noon

Feel free to invite others. If you have questions or are interested in attending any of these Zoom meetings, please contact gaston.6@osu.edu for the link to the Zoom meeting.

Listening Session for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) RFA Development Program

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recently posted a notice that they are taking stakeholder input to help inform and set priorities for $40 million of grant funding for research, education, and Extension around urban agriculture, indoor agriculture, and emerging agriculture. To respond to NIFA with aggregated and organized comments, the Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research (WCMER), National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL), 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 (see below for details and registration).

Listening Sessions: WCMER member institution Michigan State University’s National Charrette Institute has designed and will provide facilitation for the online listening sessions.  The dates/times and registration links for the listening sessions are:

  1. Thursday, May 28 from 2-4 pm EST, 1-3 pm CST, 12-2 pm MST, 11 am-1pm PST
    Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lfu6hrD8uHtYzm0UxDYIC3v6Dg0yUjHgW
  2. Thursday, May 28 from 7-9 pm EST, 6-8 pm CST, 5-7 pm MST, 4-6 pm PST
    Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUldOqrqjgrHtUuyo1zmS1KAiwyvUQFk7NF
  3. Friday, May 29 from 10 am-12 pm EST, 9-11 am CST, 8-10 am MST, 7- 9 am PST
    Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIocuqurD8vH9JRiHkDDl1kL1tepfCtEWXp
  4. Friday, May 29 from 2-4 pm EST, 1-3 pm CST, 12 pm-2 pm MST, 11 am-1 pm PST
    Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMuf-6pqTkjHtTGkaXRLY9GR17nocRrh_bT

Follow this link to learn more.

Sourced from: The Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research

Empowering the Next Generation through Higher Education

In the latest episode of Critical Value, Host Justin Milner speaks with former Urban Institute Board Member Freeman Hrabowski about how to make education more accessible, affordable, and effective for students of all backgrounds. Recognized by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in 2012, Hrabowski has served as the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, for 27 years.
Follow this link to learn more.

Sourced from: Urban Institute