Designathon – Extension Foundation

On December 8-9, 2016, 64 members of the eXtension Foundation’s new Community Issue Corps representing eight project teams from Communities of Practice (CoPs) convened at the Detroit Renaissance Center Hotel to participate in an eXtension Designathon. The Designathon is a high-energy workshop that guides participants with innovative ideas for addressing local issues through the creation of concept maps for their projects, supported by one-on-one mentoring from expert key informants.

The Designathon method was first introduced to the 126 members of eXtension’s first Issue Corps at eXtension’s NeXC2016 national conference. Feedback from this event and several smaller “test” events were so positive that eXtension has refined the Designathon and made it part of eXtension’s “issue response toolkit” offerings.

The Designathon is included as part of each Issue Corps and is available as a stand-alone service that can be requested by eXtension Foundation member institutions. The process helps teams develop and articulate an issue response strategy focused on local, regional, or statewide impact.

For more on the Community Issue Corps projects and teams, see the CIC Roster.

More than 40 project teams, representing 28 institutions from all five Cooperative Extension System (CES) regions, focused on a variety of diversity and inclusion issues will meet in Cincinnati, OH February 14-15, 2017, to participate in an eXtension Designathon. Proposed Corps projects include topics such as cultural competency in youth, community health hubs and diversity, food insecurity, civic engagement, racial equity training for CES, health equity and much more.

The Designathon is a high-energy workshop that guides participants with innovative project ideas addressing local issues through the creation of concept maps for their projects, supported by one-on-one mentoring from expert key informants. The process helps teams develop and articulate an issue response strategy focused on local, regional, or statewide impact.

Key informants are currently being recruited for the Designathon. Key informants mentor the teams in areas such as evaluation, networking, technology, social media, marketing, and much more. Past Designathon participants frequently relate that access to key informants is one of the most beneficial aspects of the workshop. If you have expertise that would be beneficial to the Corps and would like to be considered as a potential key informant, contact Luann Phillips luannphillips@extension.org.

The event will be held as a pre-conference workshop in conjunction with the annual Tri-State Diversity Conference.

The Diversity & Inclusion Corps organizing committee includes: Pamala Morris & Shalyse Iseminger, Purdue University, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Community of Practice; Natasha Saunders, University of Kentucky, Office of Diversity; Brent Elrod, USDA/NIFA; John Phillips, AIHEC/FALCON; Terrence Wolfork, Fort Valley State University, 1890 Institutions; June Mead, Cornell University, CYFAR; Renee Pardello, University of Minnesota, Internationalizing Extension Community of Practice; and Rachel Welborn, Southern Rural Development Center, Leader, ECOP Rapid Response Team for Civil Discourse.
For more information on the Diversity & Inclusion Issue Corps contact LuAnn Phillips luannphillips@extension.org.