For over 100 years, Cooperative Extension has served communities through local Extension agents with expertise in such topics as agriculture, youth development, and family and community health. In 2008, the Oregon State University Extension Service launched a pilot (Open Campus and Juntos) to broaden Extension's reach by placing agents with…

Today's Cooperative Extension organization continues to face challenges of providing relevant, quality programming in urban communities. Challenges include the ability to build capacity in Extension's urban youth educators to assess and interpret the unique, variable needs of urban clients and to communicate effectively the identified…

Land-grant extension is an ongoing example of higher education outreach and community engagement. Population, food, climate, and geographic isolation all factor into the importance of producing and facilitating agricultural knowledge. This qualitative study took place in a geographically isolated region with potential food security issues to…

Urban agriculture initiatives are on the rise, providing healthy food while teaching a land ethic to youth. In parallel, increasing numbers of university graduates are obtaining Extension work requiring the effective communication of science in a diverse, urban, low-income setting. This study evaluates a pilot service-learning program, the…

Beginning with the 4-H professional research and knowledge base in 1986, to the recent launch of an online master's degree in youth development by the GP-IDEA consortium of land-grant universities in 2003, to the implementation of the U.S. Department of Labor's certificate in youth development, youth development is now recognized as a district…

In response to a state budget deficit, the University of Minnesota Extension restructured its field staff, establishing a new regional and county delivery system, shifting all supervision of field staff to campus faculty, and encouraging greater field staff specialization, program focus, and entrepreneurial efforts. Nine economic concepts and…

Are communities better off because of the efforts of higher education? Extension educators have extended university-based research and technologies that have helped create strong, natural resource-based communities. However, the political and socioeconomic environments in which these communities function are changing even faster than the natural…

Universities are frequently criticized for being unresponsive to the needs of their stakeholders. In response to this perception, many institutions of higher learning have taken steps to become more productively engaged with the people, organizations, and communities they serve. In this article, we analyze the process of engagement by focusing on…

The cooperative extension service faces various changes in society that will affect its funding, programming methodology, and mission over the next five years. Most of the changes have begun to occur and to have an impact on extension and university outreach. This study utilizes a literature review, primary data analysis, and personal experience…

The perceptions of stakeholders as well as leaders' self perceptions are critical in maximizing leadership and outreach capacity within higher education and extension organizations. This study demonstrates a leadership style assessment that includes perspectives of both leaders and stakeholders. West Virginia University Extension Service county…