Author: Greg Davis

Communicating Our Impact

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We spend days and weeks (and sometimes months) identifying the ideal program date, location, and agenda topics. An equal amount of time is spent scouring the research and assembling the pieces that will address those key learning objectives.

We work with others to assemble an event and when the day finally arrives we hope for the best when our program plan is set into motion. At this point, the countless hours on the phone, sending and scanning email, and sitting in meetings in preparation for this event become but a distant memory.

And ideally, our efforts have attracted enthusiastic and engaged participants and we’ve handled the few minor unforeseen issues with the utmost grace. Thoughtful questions are posed and immediate feedback is positive. At this moment (and during our drive home), we are again reminded how much we enjoy Extension work.

2015 CD HighlightsBut this program’s efforts don’t end here. Narrating our efforts is a key part of Extension work and so too, is communicating them widely. As such, I am pleased to share with you a snapshot of key engagements in the 2015 Highlights. Here you will find individual narratives involving Community Development program partners in Ohio and beyond, including:

  • Businesses such as charter boat captains, marina owners/operators, ag producers, manufacturers, etc. and,
  • Organizations such as state agencies and associations, chambers of commerce, community improvement corporations, food councils, etc. and,
  • Political subdivisions such as townships, villages, cities, counties, school districts, health districts, etc.

I hope you enjoy them. If you have questions or thoughts on how to partner, please let us know.

(Submitted by Greg Davis, Professor & Assistant Director, OSU Extension – Community Development)

2014 Highlights . . . a sampling of our efforts

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2014 CD HighlightsExtension’s Community Development programs aim to engage people in strengthening their organizations, communities and ultimately social, economic, civic and environmental conditions to improve the quality of life in Ohio. A sampling of these efforts is captured in the recently published 2014 Highlights.

We hope these highlights help you better understand how Extension-CD professionals partner to strengthen lives and communities through research-based educational programming and encourage you to contact us if you are aware of additional opportunities to partner or have specific questions about the efforts described.

Extension Community Development . . .

  • Brings people, organizations and communities together to accomplish their goals
  • Helps identify assets, capabilities, needs, resources and solutions
  • Partners in the delivery of research-based programs and services to organizations and communities

What do you get when you partner with Extension CD?

  • Skilled and engaged leaders
  • Transformation, sustainability and livability
  • Greater vitality and more defined sense of purpose

(Submitted by Greg Davis, Professor and Assistant Director, OSU Extension – Community Development)

Cultivating continued excellence at OSU Extension annual conference

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Annual Conference 2014

How do we achieve excellence? We understand what to do and who to engage and we commit ourselves to doing it better than the last time. High-performing Extension professionals also understand the value of collaboration and the critical role that working with others plays in the pursuit of excellence.

Whether formally or informally, when we take the opportunity to recognize excellence, it can be multiplied. In addition to being a fantastic 100th anniversary party, the 2014 Extension Annual Conference enabled us to cultivate continued excellence when dozens of Extension professionals were recognized for their accomplishments. There were a number of CD professionals recognized at the event as well, including our 2014 Excellence in Community Development awardee (Nancy Bowen) and our 2014 Friend of CD awardee (Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts), a collaborator in programmatic excellence since 2008.

Click here to read more about the 2014 Friend of CD and Excellence in Community Development awardees, as well as a number of other CD professionals recognized for excellence.

(Submitted by Greg Davis, Professor and Assistant Director, OSU Extension – Community Development)

Growing the economy with entrepreneurial talent

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Entrepreneur

What community doesn’t want to learn about identifying and growing its entrepreneurs? Communities of all sizes, large and small, are looking for ways to bolster economic growth. While research shows about 60 to 80 percent of new jobs created annually are the result of existing business expansion, new business start-ups create about 40 percent of new jobs annually (about 6.5 jobs per new business on average) (Badal, 2010).

How can we partner with the chambers of commerce, economic development offices and youth leadership programs to cultivate interest in growing new businesses in these communities?

We recently had the opportunity to tour the world headquarters of Gallup (the longtime ‘polling’ organization that has more recently gotten into the business of ‘StrengthsFinder’ among other things). In addition to hearing an interesting overview of the company’s history, we also learned of the newly unveiled ‘Entrepreneurship StrengthsFinder’ from Gallup representatives. We left there convinced that this tool provides us opportunities to stimulate interest in exercising entrepreneurial talents and abilities with audiences of all ages and walks of life.

To learn more about this new tool for identifying entrepreneurial talent, click here.

(Submitted by Greg Davis, Professor and Assistant Director, OSU Extension – Community Development, and Rose Fisher Merkowitz, Associate Professor and Extension Educator, Miami Valley EERA)

Welcome!

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CD Professionals at Lake Erie's Stone Lab

CD Unit Meeting at Stone Lab
on Gibraltar Island (Summer 2012)

Welcome to the new Extension CD blog! We will be posting relevant and useful information on a regular basis. Please feel free to comment on what you read here. Enjoy!

What is Extension? Ohio State University Extension fulfills the university’s land-grant mission by engaging in the creation and transfer of knowledge for use by individuals, businesses, organizations and communities throughout Ohio.

What is Extension CD? Extension professionals with a Community Development focus address issues and opportunities in partnership with:

  • Businesses, organizations, associations and committees
  • Current and emerging community leaders
  • Elected and appointed officials

As part of the national Extension network we are able to share perspectives with residents and leaders regarding local development issues, increase the knowledge base for individual and community decisions, develop skills necessary to help these partners achieve their individual and community goals and help create a more inclusive decision-making environment.

Meet the CD Staff

We hope the content shared here helps you better understand how Extension CD professionals partner to strengthen lives and communities through research-based educational programming. If you are aware of  opportunities to partner or have specific questions about the content shared here, please let us know.

2013 CD Highlights

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WW Branding Strip New

Extension’s Community Development programs aim to engage people in strengthening their organizations, communities and ultimately social, economic, civic and environmental conditions to improve the quality of life in Ohio. A sampling of these efforts is captured in the recently published annual highlights. We hope these highlights help you better understand how Extension-CD professionals partner to strengthen lives and communities through research-based educational programming and encourage you to contact us if you are aware of additional opportunities to partner or have specific questions about the efforts described.

(Submitted by Greg Davis, Professor and Assistant Director, OSU Extension – Community Development)