OSU Extension CD

Strengthening teamwork and leadership: conference planning-style

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When trying something new we’ve not done before, it doesn’t take us long to realize that proficiency requires a dedication to practice and in most cases a good bit of patience. And, you might say that Extension professionals work in teams all the time. It is not often, however, that we work together in national conference planning.

Logo photo courtesy of: ThisisCleveland.com and Larry E. Highbaugh, Jr.

CD professionals have been practicing teamwork and leadership skills around a singular focus since June 2014. That’s when the idea of hosting the annual conference for our professional association, the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (a.k.a. NACDEP), was first shared. After learning of our proposal’s success about 18 months later, even more opportunities to practice really kicked. For example, as a team, we have:

  • Participated in the past three NACDEP conferences like never before (i.e., ‘What does it take to put this on?’)
  • Encouraged colleagues to serve on the national NACDEP board (thank you, Nancy Bowen, treasurer; David Civittolo, president-elect; and Brian Raison, north central representative)
  • Served on a variety of prior NACDEP conference sub-committees
  • Worked together to identify our conference location (Cleveland) and venue (Renaissance Cleveland Hotel – Downtown)
  • Brainstormed and investigated the best things to experience in Cleveland

Exploring a potential conference MLW site: Edgewater Park

With Ohio JCEP’s support, a couple of weeks ago we were able to practice our teamwork and leadership skills in a face-to-face retreat at the conference venue in Cleveland. During this two-day retreat, we:

  • Investigated potential conference mobile learning workshop (MLW) ideas in small groups
  • Explored the conference hotel and surrounding areas
  • Continued our subcommittee work focused on sessions, speakers, sponsorship, publicity, hospitality, MLWs, etc.

This work required our best leadership and teamwork by subcommittee chairs and co-chairs, MLW investigation leaders, and situational leaders too. Even better, we were able to team up with members of the national NACDEP board in this work as they overlapped their annual face-to-face retreat with our conference planning retreat at the 2018 NACDEP Conference venue in Cleveland.

No doubt, there has been much to learn throughout this conference planning process. And when we consciously make the time for it, there is much to learn beyond the ins and outs of how to produce a top-rate NACDEP conference. Every day we have countless opportunities to actively and deliberately practice our skills necessary for working with others. Opportunities to strengthen our skills and build proficiency. The work that lies ahead will require our best teamwork and leadership.

Regardless of the task at hand or the challenge you face, how you go about practicing your skills is up to you.

Let’s ‘suit up!’

Greg Davis is a 2018 NACDEP Conference planning committee co-chair and Extension Assistant Director, Community Development.

How Economic Developers Engage with Extension

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Smith Lever Act of 1914

Credit: www.archivesfoundation.org

Extension has long been an economic development partner involved in a wide range of issues, from water quality and agricultural practices to retail and energy. Since passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, Extension has provided outreach and non-formal education to strengthen lives and communities across the country.

Over the last century, Extension has continued its original mission to extend university resources while also adapting to changing times, to address a wide range of challenges and opportunities in both urban and rural areas. Extension can be found in all 50 states, with about 2,900 offices nationwide. In Ohio, over 700 Extension professionals staff offices within all 88 counties, in addition to numerous regional and state offices, that enable this outreach arm of Ohio State University to engage communities, businesses, and organizations of any size and location.

How do local economic development organizations (EDOs) find out about and engage with Extension? Typically, they hear about services and contact Extension directly, or Extension professionals reach out through workshops and forums about their programs and resources. Extension professionals are frequent speakers at a variety of conferences and meetings at the local, state, and national levels. EDOs are also often in contact with Extension professionals as co-members on boards of community and economic development organizations.

Extension has partnered with EDOs in pursuit of just about every imaginable economic development function. In Ohio, Extension was an early adopter of business retention and expansion practices, developing one of the first formal BR&E programs. Since 1986, Ohio State University Extension’s BR&E Program has developed capacity of community leaders via more than 140 programs in 77 Ohio counties, in both urban and suburban areas.

In terms of workforce development, OSU’s STEM Pathways program aims to increase youth curiosity, logical thinking, problem-solving skills, and team communication abilities, to ensure tomorrow’s workforce is highly skilled and globally competitive. Extension professionals teach the STEM program curriculum directly to students and in a train-the-trainer format for the teachers who will then deliver the program.

Energy development, including renewables and shale gas, is a focus area for Extension. New programs have been developed to help businesses and communities assess the costs and benefits of energy development. The commissioners of Wyandot County recently enlisted Extension to conduct a survey of residents and land owners on their feelings toward wind farm development. Survey findings enabled the county commissioners to decide whether wind development was a good fit for the county.

Most of Extension’s work is research-based, involving collecting, compiling, and analyzing original data through surveys, focus groups, and other outreach techniques. For instance, Extension professionals implement a variety of qualitative and quantitative tools to help communities better understand trends and conditions of their local and regional economies.

The Economic Impact Analysis (EIA) and Retail Market Analysis (RMA) programs are good examples of applied research in action. Both programs help communities measure change in their local economies to guide local decision-making. Extension professionals recently completed an EIA project to estimate the impact of tourism generated by the Lakeside Chautauqua in Ottawa County. RMA projects are frequently implemented, usually on the county level, to help inform EDOs about which retail sectors are growing and to identify gaps in the retail market.

Extension professionals and resources are also widely available online. Economic developers can find out more about Extension services on university websites, many of which have extensive links to fact sheets, blogs and social media sites. A somewhat new initiative, “eXtension,” is an internet-based portal with access to specialized information and research on a wide range of topics from land-grant universities across the country.

The pursuit of meaningful and productive partnerships is a core principle of Extension. Extension professionals seek out opportunities to collaborate on mutually beneficial projects and welcome new project ideas from economic developers and others. Economic developers can partner with Extension to leverage a wide range of useful university resources.

Nancy Bowen is an Associate Professor & Extension Field Specialist, Community Economics.

Rollin’ on the River

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Dr. Michael Drake

Ohio State President Michael V. Drake. Photo credit: Kevin Fitzsimons.

A crisp, sunny, blue-sky morning greeted Ohio State President Michael V. Drake, along with Dr. Cathann Kress, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, other OSU staff, students, and guests as they visited southeast Ohio’s Washington County. The group boarded the Valley Gem Sternwheeler, built and operated by a local family to journey the Muskingum River. The fog had lifted to reveal the calm and gently flowing river banked on each side by lush green vegetation. Just over the top of the riverbank, homes could be seen in the City of Marietta. Perhaps with the rhythmic splash of the paddle of the sternwheeler, these passengers could imagine years long ago and the early pioneers who would establish Marietta and Washington County.

The Treaty of Paris greatly opened expansion of territories west of the Appalachian Mountains.  In need of revenue and in payment to Revolutionary War veterans, the lands in the Northwest Territory were established with the passage of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. Rufus Putnam, who was appointed Chief of Engineers by General George Washington, along with Manasseh Cutler and two other Continental Army officers, formed the Ohio Company of Associates and bought over 1,000,000 acres of land in the Northwest Territory. In 1788, with Putnam as their leader, 48 Revolutionary War veterans settled at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, founding Marietta as the first organized settlement in the Northwest Territory. In accordance with the terms of the Northwest Ordinance, the settlers began the establishment based on legal basis land ownership, organized government, natural rights and prohibition of slavery. Later, Marietta and surrounding communities would become key locations in the Underground Railroad.

The Northwest Ordinance held language that carried forward the concept of land grants to support education. Arthur St. Clair (first governor of the Northwest Territory) originally chartered the American Western University to be the public university in the settlement (between Chillicothe and Marietta); however, the university never opened under that name. The next charter two years later established the first university in the territory: Ohio University. Rufus Putnam served as a trustee of the university for twenty years. Mr. Putnam also originated Muskingum Academy in 1797, a predecessor to Marietta College.

Just as the Northwest Ordinance presented opportunities for expansion, The Ohio State University offers opportunities for expansion of knowledge, careers, and development of social and economic initiatives. Visiting various areas of our great state gives our students, faculty, and staff a broader understanding of the impacts made by the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

Valley Gem Sternwheeler

Valley Gem Sternwheeler. Photo Credit: Kevin Fitzsimons.

Marietta and Washington County, Ohio invite you to visit. Plan a ride on the Valley Gem Sternwheeler and enjoy the many historical sites and scenic beauty of the area. The Columbus Dispatch’s recent article “Marietta preserves its past as Ohio’s oldest city,” describes many visitor attractions. For more visitor information visit: http://mariettaohio.org.

Darlene Lukshin is an OSU Extension Program Specialist (Washington County & Buckeye Hills EERA).

Collaborating to Educate on Agriculture in the Community

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How do you learn about agriculture and your community? With “two faces” in Clermont County – urban and rural – it is important to address how agriculture and the community work together to provide the necessary resources for everyday life. A diverse audience attends the Clermont County fair: rural, urban and suburban. This is due, in part, to the location of Clermont County in southwest Ohio (it is situated adjacent to the urban city of Cincinnati) and it being a county with rich roots in agricultural history.

As the need was identified to inform the diverse audience, the Clermont County Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator and Community Development Program Coordinator collaborated to educate the public on agriculture and community development. The specific audience targeted involved the public and exhibitors who attended the Clermont County Fair in 2016 and 2017.

To educate this audience, posters (Ag in the Community) were created with facts from United States Department of Agriculture statistics, county statistics and various commodity organizations. Each poster has a QR code or barcode, which may be scanned with a smart device, linked to an online blog page for data collection. Posters were color printed on 11”x 17” paper and laminated before being displayed around the fairgrounds at designated locations.

Our specific AG IN THE COMMUNITY GOALS were to:

  1. Address the need for educational programming for the “two faces” of Clermont County (urban/rural interface)
  2. Educate the public about agriculture and the community
  3. Inform Clermont County, Ohio residents of the services offered through Ohio State University Extension
  4. Gain contact information from individuals interested in learning more about Extension programming
  5. Utilize blog and QR code technologies to measure reach and impact of the Ag in the Community posters

There were approximately 65,000 people who attended the 2016 Clermont County Fair who could have viewed the educational materials. We know that 376 fair-goers viewed the posters via the QR code. Results from the 2017 Ag in the Community posters are pending.

Our Ag in the Community posters have enabled us to better educate the public on types of agriculture and community development issues and opportunities in Clermont County and gather contact data for our newsletter and blog page as well as to determine if a participant knows about Extension or has ever used Extension services.

Results indicate that audiences in Clermont County were interested in learning more about agriculture and the community. Most have attended educational programs and want to learn more about the work we do. This effort has aided in bringing the OSU Extension Clermont County blog site to nearly 1200 subscribers.

Through the Agriculture in the Community poster program, we were able to collaborate in educating the public on agriculture and their community. Reach out to other Extension program staff in your office today to collaborate in this one simple way.

Trevor Corboy is a Program Coordinator in Clermont County & Miami Valley EERA.

Communities that Rock! NACDEP Conference coming to Cleveland!!!

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To borrow an old baseball phrase, “you’re on deck” means you are the next person to bat against the pitcher. As yet another reminder of the pace at which time passes, it does not seem all that long ago that Ohio was “on deck” to host the 2018 NACDEP Conference.

Now that the 2017 NACDEP Conference is behind us, it is our turn to bat.

NACDEP 2018 LogoIn June, 2018 (June 10-13 to be exact), Ohio State University Extension will be hosting over 250 practitioners, academics, and Extension professionals in Cleveland, Ohio to engage, learn and share how we make a difference in the communities in which we live and work.

The OSU Extension planning team has been hard at work for the last six months preparing for the conference.

Mobile learning workshops and pre-conference workshops and tours are being planned that include a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (the city where rock was born), the Great Lakes Science Center, and a visit to Stone Laboratory (on Gibraltar Island) to name a few.

For our foodies we are also exploring food-related options such as a visit to a vineyard in Cleveland, a tour of the historic West Side Market, and dinner in ‘Little Italy’ where you can dine, recline, and catch up with colleagues.

Like Beer? Like local microbreweries? If so, you will enjoy learning about the Great Lakes Brewing Company and its famous Christmas Ale.

Are you ready to roll?  How about a short drive to visit Cedar Point, the roller coaster capital of the world?

Still not sure if you want to come to Cleveland? Check out this video.

 If you want to learn more about NACDEP 2018 contact: David Civittolo, Associate Professor and Field Specialist, Community Economics (civittolo.1@osu.edu) and NACDEP 2018 Conference Co-Chair.

BIG Skies, BOLD Partnerships

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Visiting with a colleague recently, she shared that these uncertain times in our workplace, in our communities, and in the larger world around us require that we ask ourselves what we really are about.

For the past several days, nearly 350 practitioners, academics, and Extension professionals came together to share and learn and discuss how we can make a difference within the various communities we serve in the first-ever joint conference with NACDEP and the Community Development Society (CDS).

Big Sky, Montana, provided the conference venue for over 130 concurrent session presentations, 40 poster presentations and 3 IGNITE presentations. Five keynote presentations were included along with 8 mobile learning workshops focused on culture, local food, leadership and collaborative partnerships for economic development.

June conference surprise

Among the presentations were ten involving a dozen of Ohio’s Extension professionals. Topics and presenters (including those involving out of state collaborators indicated with an *) are listed below:

  • Credentialing Local Planning Officials: Master Citizen Planner Program (Wayne Beyea*, Myra Moss & Kara Salazar*)
  • Entrepreneurial Networking Competencies: Contemporary Perspectives on Social Capital (Julie Fox)
  • Energize Job Retention: Energy Management Strategies as a Component of Business Retention and Expansion Programs (Nancy Bowen, Eric Romich & David Civittolo)
  • Bold Partnering: Join a National Network on Leadership Programming (Brian Raison, Kyle Willams* & Elizabeth North*)
  • A New Tool for Increasing Marina Resiliency to Coastal Storms in the Great Lakes (Joe Lucente & Sarah Orlando)
  • Building Collaborative Partnership Around Critical Community/Stakeholder Issues: Watersheds, Agriculture, and a City’s Source Water Quality (Myra Moss)
  • Maximizing the Gains of Old and New Energy Development for America’s Rural Communities (Eric Romich, David Civittolo & Nancy Bowen)
  • Partnering for Community Health (Becky Nesbitt)
  • Exploring ways of using Community Arts, Cultural and Heritage businesses to stimulate Rural Community Economic Development (Godwin Apaliyah & Ken Martin)
  • Using Farmers Markets as a Tool for Economic Development: Increasing Healthy Food Access While Benefiting Small to Mid-Sized Farms (Amanda Osborne)
  •  A Dialogue Prompt for Housing and Land Use Policy in a New Administration (poster) (Anna Haines* & Myra Moss)

Three Ohioans were also installed as officers on the national NACDEP board: Nancy Bowen (re-elected Treasurer), David Civittolo (elected President-elect), and Brian Raison (elected north-central region Representative).

Two OSUE NACDEP members were also recognized with national and regional awards. Raison received regional and national recognition for using educational technology in developing  ‘A Virtual Farm Market Pilot’ and creating materials for ‘Top 10 Ways to Improve Online Teaching and Learning.’  He received regional recognition in the category ‘Excellence in CD Work’ for his effort, ‘Establishing an Impactful Local Food Council.’ Romich received regional recognition (honorable mention) in the category ‘Distinguished Career.’

Sunrise over Big Sky

Leadership, teamwork and collaboration were celebrated and cultivated throughout the conference. And after a very moving final keynote address by Sarah Calhoun of Red Ants Pants, we were reminded again that working together we truly can move mountains. See you next year in Cleveland, June 10-13!

 

 

Greg Davis is a Professor and Assistant Director for OSU Extension Community Development.

Education through Social Networking

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Social MediaI have the best job in the world. As an extension educator for Ohio Sea Grant and OSU Extension, my job is to help communicate science in an easy-to-understand way to the public. When I started in this role, this was done mostly through in person meetings, phone calls, emails, and within educational settings such as outreach events. I still continue to communicate with the public and my stakeholders through these outlets, but I have added a new approach for reaching others to this list: social media.

When I created my first Twitter account and a Facebook page for our program, I wasn’t really sure what I was doing! I had used these platforms to interact with family and friends, but was unsure of how to engage the public. However, I soon found that by following other colleagues and programs there was a community well-versed in the art of social communication. In my case, I found a group of science communicators who have taken to social media to help engage the public around the topics that they are researching, and to aid in communicating the scientific process to the public. The #SciComm community – as they call themselves – has helped me to realize the value of social media as a method for education and outreach. Another great network of people who provide helpful guidance on social media is the Educational Technology Learning Network, or #EdTechLN. You can find their social media feed here: extedtechs.org/edtechln/.

I use social media to promote outreach events, share news about recent accomplishments in my organization, and to provide current and factual information on a variety of topics related to my program and organization. As a company, community, or citizen – you can use social media to promote your business, recognize an exceptional employee or colleague, and to provide up-to-date, reliable information to your audience. There are many ways that you can follow and interact with OSU Extension and Ohio Sea Grant on social media – I’ve listed a few below. Feel free to engage with us through these platforms – we’re listening and here to help!

OSU Extension and Community Development:

 Ohio Sea Grant:

Clean Marinas program collage

On our Ohio Clean Marinas and Clean Boaters Page, we promote marina businesses that take steps to improve air and water quality at their facility. We in turn encourage these businesses to use social media to promote themselves as a certified Clean Marina to their clientele.

Sarah Orlando is the Program Manager for the Ohio Clean Marina Program. She can be contacted at: 419-609-4120, orlando.42@osu.edu, or @SarahAOrlando.

Building healthy and productive lives together

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Without a place to call home, it is difficult to build a healthy and productive life. And while being number one is usually a good thing; it is certainly not so in this case.

Franklin County has the highest number of evictions in the state, averaging 19,000 filings annually over the last 10 years. Matthew Desmond’s book, Evicted, indicates that evictions occur for a variety of reasons, including: a limited understanding of the tenant’s responsibilities and rights; lack of financial management and home maintenance skills; and, an untenable rent to income ratio.

Franklin County Extension is attempting to address this issue by offering to residents throughout the community a vast array of programs and services focused on, for example: HUD-certified home buyer education; money management; food production, preservation and nutrition; workforce development and much more!

To learn more, check out the materials shared on the Franklin County Extension website. To learn about what’s happening in your community and how OSU Extension can help, visit the OSU Extension website or call your local Extension office.

Susan Colbert is Program Director for Expansion and Engagement in Franklin County (Heart of Ohio EERA).

Recognizing Extension professionals for impact

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extension-annual-conference-2016Investing for Impact – the theme of this year’s OSU Extension Annual Conference – describes our work each and every day. Such investment was realized on December 6th and 7th as dozens of Extension professionals were recognized for their accomplishments at the Ohio Union on the Columbus campus of OSU.

OSUE CD educatorsThe continued excellence of OSU Extension professionals was formally acknowledged by JCEP/ESP awards for scholarships, team teaching and creative works; ESP chapter and regional awards; CES and national association awards; and awards for service. Our very own Raymond A. Schindler Excellence in Community Development Award was bestowed upon Eric Romich.

Click here to read more about all of the CD professionals who were formally recognized for their valuable work in 2016 as well as the 2016 Excellence in Community Development awardee. Kudos to all of these individuals who worked in collaboration with others and invested every available resource to make significant impact for the communities we serve.

To learn more about the high impact efforts that are bringing people and ideas together throughout Ohio, click here.

Using technology to expand our reach

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There are only so many hours in a day and yet our work never seems to end. How can we better extend our reach and increase awareness of Extension?

For almost three years we have been using technology to enhance our efforts to inform and interact with the publics we serve. We drive web travelers to this very blog using popular social networking tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Together, these tools and the blog link users to our other web-based content that includes podcasts, videos, and a variety of downloadable materials.

In days past, we assembled a quarterly newsletter that required formatting, copying, and then hard copy distribution. With the advent of email, that approach gave way to an electronic PDF version that could be sent to an email list. The web enabled us to post the PDF but who would actually go there to read it?

blog-stats

Today, we are reaching literally thousands of people, many of whom are connecting with us for the very first time. Not only are they able to acquire the specific content that is of interest to them, we are also now able to interact in ways we could not ever before.

The entire staff plays a creative role which has built a real sense of teamwork. And knowing we are extending our reach and increasing awareness of Extension has been very motivating as well!

To learn more about our approach, please feel free to contact me or any of the CD team members.

To see how it could work for you, take the opportunity to investigate some of the recent posts, categories or tags that interest you on the left side of your screen. Notice how you can share the content you like with others, interact with the author and others who have an interest in the topic, and find additional information linked to the post. Enjoy!!

Greg Davis is the Assistant Director for OSU Extension, Community Development.