Value-added products can generate farm income and improve community food access, yet lack of available kitchen infrastructure and labor can limit farm production capacity. This project explored how community-based culinary schools might fill the gap. A unique "product share" model was identified and piloted, meeting the collective needs…

Times are changing, and so are Extension programs. These changes affect every aspect of the educational effort, including program development, project funding, educational delivery, partnership building, marketing, sharing impacts, and revenue generation. This article is not about how Extension is restructuring to adapt to changes; instead, it…

Given their positions in communities across the United States, Extension educators are poised to have meaningful partnerships with the communities they serve. This article presents a case for the use of participatory research, which is a departure from more conventional forms of research based on objectivity, researcher distance, and social…

Extension recognizes the importance of data in guiding programming decisions at the local level. However, allocating personnel resources and specializations at the state level is a more complex process. The West Virginia University Extension Service has adopted a data-driven process to determine the number, location, and specializations of county…

University of Idaho FCS Extension Educators in southeastern Idaho developed a five-lesson condensed version of safe food preservation classes, driven by participants' interest to meet the needs of everyday home preservers. A post-test survey revealed that participants took the course to be self-reliant, use their own produce, and be in control of…

New energy policy, industry regulation, and market investment are influencing the development of renewable energy technologies, setting the stage for rural America to provide the energy of tomorrow. This article describes how Extension's renewable energy programming was implemented in two Ohio communities to engage elected officials and residents…

Assessing program impact can provide useful program evaluation data. It also provides a basis for program development, marketing, and justification. This article discusses recent impact evaluation efforts and findings of a long-time Extension program; referred to as Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E). How such information can be…

This article discusses the application of a community mobilization model through a case study of one community's response to address the needs of grandparents raising grandchildren. The community mobilization model presented is one that is replicable in addressing diverse community identified issues. Discussed is the building of the partnerships,…

Extension faculty and agents/educators are increasingly collaborating with local and state agencies to provide and evaluate multiple, distinct programs, yet there is limited information about measuring outcomes and combining results across similar program types. This article explicates the methods and outcomes of a state-level evaluation of…

The University of Minnesota Extension conducted a social network analysis (SNA) to examine its outreach to organizations external to the University of Minnesota. The study found that its outreach network was both broad in its reach and strong in its connections. The study found that SNA offers a unique method for describing and measuring Extension…

The growth of the Children, Youth and Families At Risk National Initiative into a base program was charted through a survey documenting changes in 22 participating states' ability to develop and sustain programs. Data from 1997-1998 and 2000-2001 reveal gains in four of six components: statewide commitment, individuals' understanding of states'…