September 2021 Urban Extension News Bulletin | Metropolitan Center for Applied Research and Extension

Features: NUEL fellowship, 4-h focus groups (help with outreach!)

Dear Colleagues,

Are you getting back into the swing of things?

After hiccups and growing pains building or expanded our virtual programming and online work, some of us might be feeling like we’re back on track. It’s a mix of nervousness and excitement.

Thinking ahead, the idea of building impact reports can sound a smidge annoying, Push through the monotony! I for one look forward to reading them and sharing your learning and success. Add my email to the list of folks to forward those celebrations when the time comes (gaolach@wsu.edu).

Please be in touch if I can answer any questions about getting more involved with the National Urban Extension Leaders or any of the other events or programs we share in this bulletin.

Brad

Fellowship Opportunity: Urban Agriculture and Communications

2021 Nat'l Tourism Conference poster - bird flying over water

The National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL) has an one-year Fellowship opportunity open for interested Extension professionals. The Fellow will work with NUEL to help expand its capacity and communication tools, and with NUEL and ECOP to support the work of the newly forming national leadership program team for Urban Agriculture & Food Systems.

Applications should be submitted through email to: ceoassistant@extension.org

NUEL Communication Capacity Building Fellow Job Description v2

4-H Access, Equity, & Inclusion Committee Seeks teen focus group participants

Please spread the word!

Share this opportunity from the PLWG 4-H Access, Equity, and Belonging Committee.

“We’re recruiting youth (in 4-H and not) for focus groups this fall to help us plan a national Youth Advisory Committee on DEI.”

For more information, please contact, Phillip Ealy at ple@psu.edu

Journal of Human Sciences & Extension (JHSE) Special Issue Call for Author and Reviewer Recommendations

The development of an urban Extension special issue of the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension (JHSE) is underway. The release of this issue coincides with the National Urban Extension Conference, which will be held in New Jersey, May 23-26, 2022.

This will be a themed issue (like the May 2017 JHSE issue) for educators, administrators, and other Extension professionals to learn more about Extension in urban communities. This special issue will be for invited authors who have demonstrated expertise in urban Extension and successful scholarship.

The goal of the special issue is to better understand the unique aspects of Extension in urban communities by

Providing examples related to how Extension engages with diverse urban audiences.
Describing the urban context that presents both opportunities and challenges for Extension.
Illustrating how Extension draws upon resources for impacts – public and private good.
Exploring the current state of the country and of urban Extension.
Contributing to the base of existing knowledge for decision makers to efficiently draw upon as they consider the urban influence in Extension.

Call for Author and Reviewer Recommendations
The following are 10 proposed cases to focus on the people we serve to illustrate and show what’s working. We would like each to demonstrate urban Extension relevance, illustrate engagement models, and include how they incorporated strategy due to the urban context of scale, diversity, and/or complexity.

·Hispanic or Latino
Black and Brown
Asian
Multi-Racial
Faith-based
Immigrant/Refugee
LGBTQ+ (not necessarily youth)
Different Ability
Urban-Rural
Social Class

Do you or your colleagues have successful experiences working with one of these populations that should be shared to a broader audience? If so, we want to hear from you. Not enough time to write, but have interest then please sign up to be a peer reviewer. If you are interested please contact Brad Gaolach, gaolach@wsu.edu.

Ideally, this body of work will illustrate Extension’s relevance, accessibility, and impact in urban communities across the United States metro areas. It will also encourage critical thinking, keep conversations going, move people toward action, and demonstrate the value of our national networks.