Tag: north central region

Categories
Success Stories

Impact Collaborative Process Helps Extension Professionals Create Online Civil Rights Training

What I think helped with the process was having people tell their own personal stories. It made the difference. People resonate more with personal stories versus, “this is the law.”

While presenting at the first eXtension Issue Corps (now called the Impact Collaborative) Designathon in 2016, Renee Pardello, assistant dean for the University of Minnesota Extension, began to have conversations with Extension professionals from across the country about integrating global dynamics and cultural knowledge into Extension education, research, and outreach.

“What I discovered is there is a wide range of people’s knowledge regarding the interplay of global realities and understanding the variety of cultures representing work clients, partners, and colleagues,” Pardello said.  “Some people said they’d never even thought about it,” regarding topics such as civil rights and why Extension complies with civil rights laws and the value it brings to Extension.

After finishing her Impact Collaborative experience, Pardello began developing a civil rights training designed to be effective for Minnesota faculty and Extension faculty across the country. Pardello received assistance creating the training with more than 40 Extension faculty, educators, and staff from the University of Minnesota. She also used resources from other land-grant universities to include Washington State University, Ohio State University, and Pennsylvania State University.

Pardello credits the Impact Collaborative process for reinforcing the need. “What I think helped with the process was having people tell their own personal stories. It made the difference. People resonate more with personal stories versus, ‘this is the law,’” Pardello said.

The training, which is currently offered through eXtension, is a robust online training with five modules consisting of videos, activities, and resources that provide a thorough review of civil rights laws and resources. Real-life scenarios and group discussions are included to educate, enlighten and inform Extension professionals about equity, diversity and civil rights. The goal is to address equity, diversity, and inclusion and to surpass civil rights expectations.

As a result of the work and expertise used to develop the civil rights training, Pardello was asked to return in 2017 and serve as a key informant for the 2017 Impact Collaborative.

The original Designathon was a day and a half process that includes four steps, which are design thinking, key informant expertise, growing base of evidence-based practice and dynamic synergy. Each step comes with objectives that serve to change the way the teams work. After completing the process, the teams leave with a new plan allowing them to work more effectively.

As a key informant, Pardello spoke to each group about their projects. She also helped the groups develop strategies to effectively reach new audiences and to be inclusive in regards to language. When creating a strategy map, Pardello began to understand the barriers that challenged many of the groups.

“The barrier was giving people language so they could be successful in initiating conversations with diverse groups. Hopefully, as these groups move forward, they will feel comfortable going into a community in the U.S. where they don’t fit in,” Pardello said.

Holli Arp, the University of Minnesota program leader for leadership and civic engagement, recently completed her online civil rights training. She said the training provided a common understanding of the laws and expectations of a land-grant institution. She said the intentional efforts of the organization to have everyone complete the training, but also to go beyond what is required by law, helped her analyze the team’s programming delivery.

“It gave you a chance to reflect on your own thinking and your own processes,” Arp said.  “It made me really think, is our programming really accessible to all?”

Recognizing there are communities that are underserved or unserved because of current processes, Arp said in Minnesota they began focusing team conversations about how to expand their reach.

Through the help of a seed grant with South Dakota State University, Arp said they are initiating conversations in the Latino community with the goal of helping the community understand the breadth of what Extension is and the services it provides.  They also would like to create leadership programming that fits the community’s needs.  “We hope to co-create something that can be more meaningful and grow,” Arp said.

In addition to Arp, Michael Darger, Extension community economics specialist at the University of Minnesota, said the training helped him realize the need to be prepared to do something different.

“Changing structure is hard, but I’m optimistic. I recommend the course; I think it was put together intentionally,” Darger said.

Although this effort began in Minnesota, concepts such as global dynamics, cultural knowledge, and civil rights are ideologies that Pardello believes will overall benefit Cooperative Extension programming in the U.S. and abroad.

More Information

This story was written by ChaNae Bradley, Senior Communications Specialist  at Fort Valley State University

Categories
Success Stories

eXtension NAEPSDP Fellowship Provides Opportunity to Work Differently In Program Evaluation

As long as we are in the realm of ‘I finished my program, now I need to evaluate it’ we are not serving diverse, or really any, audiences as well as we could.

When Julie Huetteman saw the call for applications for a joint eXtension/National Association for Extension Program and Staff Development Professionals (NAEPSDP) fellowship, she was intrigued.

In her role as Strategic Initiatives Coordinator at Purdue University, Julie tracks metrics, reads every impact report, and analyzes the impact of Purdue Extension and how it fits with the University strategic plan. She interacts with people in many different positions, all the way from individual consultations on program evaluation to system-wide reporting. As she puts it, she gets to see both the forest and the trees.

It was also because of these many roles, that she has a unique perspective on the “busy-ness” experienced by most Extension professionals.

The busy-ness of Extension has created a reality in which we ‘add-on’ evaluation. It is something we have to get done. We don’t take the time to engage the stakeholder and fully consider their perspectives.

Huetteman applied for the Fellowship because she saw a moment where she could step forward and focus on the most important part of her job, evaluation. The Fellowship gave her the permission and the time to pursue additional knowledge and skills and focus on something she is passionate about, program evaluation that is responsive and inclusive. She not only saw the opportunity to apply a new approach to her own program but also a platform to influence other Extension professionals’ approaches to evaluation.

As she read literature and connected with colleagues for recommended resources, she soon gravitated toward an emerging approach known as Culturally Responsive Evaluation or CRE. CRE requires engaging the stakeholders at the beginning so that the program evaluation uses culturally appropriate ways to collect, interpret, and share data that is valuable to the audience. It is a way for data and information to serve the culture and not the evaluation itself.

Instead of ‘I’m the evaluation specialist and we need to do this’, we need their perspectives from the beginning to learn what is of value to them and so we can adjust our approach as needed.

This seems self-evident, but it is not how many Extension professionals have traditionally evaluated their programs. During her fellowship, Huetteman served as a key informant for the Diversity & Inclusion Issue Corps (now known as the Impact Collaborative). Through her interactions with different projects, she found herself repeating the same question….”Have you asked them?” She was surprised to hear how often the answer was “No.”

She suspects one reason for this, beyond the busy-ness of Extension, is that Extension has served a fairly traditional audience that is somewhat homogeneous (at a system-scale). This is changing in many areas and has caused some Extension professionals to rethink their approach. She recently toured an Extension office whose 4-H program largely serves a diverse, urban audience. “They are completely changing their way of thinking and considering new ways to serve their audience differently.”

The hard part of CRE, according to Huetteman, is that every program evaluation effort will be different. Every audience, every program, and every change in context requires a different approach.

What’s next? Huetteman plans to use what she learned and created during her Fellowship to help Extension professionals at Purdue approach program evaluation in a new way. She is also part of a network in the North Central. Each person holds a unique program evaluation role at their respective institutions, and by working together they hope to share resources, consult, mentor, and form a critical mass that can advocate for an engaged and responsive approach to program evaluation as the norm for Extension.

Considering the polarized political climate we all live in, taking time to listen and adapt our approaches and appreciate the perspectives of other people is more important than ever.

You can contact Dr. Huetteman at jhuettem@purdue.edu and visit her fellowship page for links to webinars and blog posts developed during her Fellowship.

Learn more about the National Association of Extension Program and Staff Development Professionals (NAEPSDP)

Learn more about eXtension

Categories
Information Success Stories

‘Leading with Generosity’ Leads to Expansion of Kansas City Food Hub

A more enhanced localized food system with increased food security is the public good to come out of this project. Our feasibility study and local food systems assessments have pointed to over $188 million of unmet demand for locally produced food in wholesale markets. The food hub is working to satisfy that demand by delivering what buyers are seeking.

marlin bates“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know … but who you know is up to you.”

This pithy addition to a well-known aphorism is from Marlin Bates, Douglas County Extension Director with K-State Research and Extension. Bates is a co-founder of the Kansas City Food Hub Working Group and a key organizer of an agricultural producer cooperative now in its second year of operation in the KC Metro area.

Bates’ concerted efforts at relationship-building, due in part to insights gained during his i-Three Issue Corps experience with eXtension, have resulted in the development of a regional food hub that gives fruit and vegetable producers a new way to market their fresh produce.

Bates says that 100 years ago, there were 176,000 farms in Kansas, and 75,000 of them produced fresh fruits and vegetables.  Today, there are 71,000 farms, and fewer than 1,000 of them commercially produce fruits and vegetables.  “We have the capacity, the land, and better mechanization and infrastructure than we did a century ago. We also have consumer interest in eating locally grown products.”  What’s missing?  Connections, to put it all together.

When Bates first joined K-State Research and Extension as a horticulture agent, two groups had conducted feasibility studies to determine ways to grow the local food economy – the Douglas County Food Policy Council and the Kansas City Food Hub Working Group.  When Bates found himself at the table of the policy council, he decided to employ an insight he had gained with the i-Three Issue Corps – “leading with generosity.”  (See John Stepper, “Working Out Loud.” http://workingoutloud.com/about/) Rather than being directive and coming in as the “expert,” he decided to simply be open to what might happen, to concentrate on getting to know those involved. Within six months, the chair of the council asked him to organize a group of people to move forward in getting a hub established.

Bates says “leading with generosity” means going into a conversation or situation “without preconceived notions,” not leading with direct expectations of what you can get out of that relationship.  “My relationship was not just at the table,” Bates says.  Outside conversations in getting to know the chair, building rapport, and becoming a trusted, reliable resource to producers, buyers and a “whole swath of players,” became crucial.  I was no martyr, but I was willing to dedicate the staff time necessary to make conversations work, to bring resources to the table, to develop a good team and to develop a farmer-owned operation.”

The “proof in the pudding” of his other-centered approach came when Bates put out the call for farmers to join the effort. He was met with resounding success.  Farmers from western Missouri, central Kansas, and points in between met with him and each other for nine to 10 months, every other week, to discuss and plan next steps.

Now the KC Food Hub allows smaller-scale fruit and vegetable producers to sell to the wholesale cooperative rather than, or in addition to, selling directly to consumers through farmers markets or similar venues. The hub has grown from five producer members to 17 since 2016.

The recognition and encouragement I received from my upper administration was not just a validation of the work that I am doing, but also something that can help accelerate the conversation about local food system development work.

Tom Buller, an area fruit and vegetable grower and president of the Board of Directors of the Food Hub, says “The Food Hub gives me the opportunity to specialize … to emphasize doing the things I’m good at doing and less of what I’m not good at doing. Rather than having to grow “everything from asparagus to zucchini” to meet the demands of rapid turnover for perishable products, he can specialize in one or several things.  Additionally, “I’m not a marketing person at all.  Brand imaging is not my area of strength or interest, so the hub takes some of that responsibility from me so I can focus on growing things.”

Buller credits Bates with building bridges to make the hub a reality. “I think, more than a lot of people I’ve observed, Marlin really goes out of his way to put himself in situations to meet a broad variety of interesting people and to learn something about them.  Then somewhere down the line, that someone knows something that’s related to a topic or program he’s interested in, and connections are made,” Buller says.

Those connections for the Food Hub include like-minded entities such as KCHealthy Kids; After the Harvest, a group that gleans crops and donates food to shelters and food pantries; and industry partners involved in transportation and logistics. Bates also stays in touch with colleagues and session leaders that he met in San Antonio at the issue corps sessions.  Now when he attends meetings such as the National Urban Extension Conference or the National Association of County Agricultural Agents, he has new colleagues with whom he interacts and shares ideas.

Stepper’s presentation at the i-3 Issue Corps also emphasized to Bates the “duty to be more visible and provide communication about the work that we are doing.” Bates worked with others at the university and in the community to develop a more comprehensive outreach and communications plan, which has included giving presentations to state legislators and bankers, visiting with the director of the regional economic development council, and keeping county commissioners informed.

Bates’ achievements have made him more visible within his own organization as well.  He was recognized by his dean in front of 250 of his peers at the K-State Research and Extension annual conference as the Outstanding County or District Extension Professional.  “It validated the work I’m doing,” he said.

“In extension, we think of ourselves as conveners or connectors, but you can’t be connected if you’re not out there,” Bates says.  “We only have so much time, but building relationships, regardless of what public you’re working with, has to be a major piece.  And I’ve found that ‘leading with generosity’ leads to more satisfying, more productive relationships for all involved.”

For more information, contact Marlin Bates at 785-843-7058 or batesm@ksu.edu

Learn more about the Northeast Kansas Food Hub Feasibility Study

Categories
Success Stories

Data Jams Breathe Life Into Extension Reporting

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. That’s a sailor cast away on the high seas, surrounded by a never-ending ocean but without a sip of liquid to sustain life.

In like manner, extension administrators and faculty are surrounded by oceans of data but without the means to make sense of that data to help sustain their programs.

Christian Schmieder, eXtension Fellow and Qualitative Research Specialist at the University of Wisconsin Extension, says, “We collect over 1,200 impact statements and 600 to 800 program narratives every year. That’s a lot of time and money invested, but if we don’t use those data well, it’s money out the window.” Schmieder and his colleagues are changing that by teaching extension professionals how to deal with large amounts of textual data through the Data Jam Initiative.

What Is a Data Jam?

Single- or multi-day Data Jams provide an opportunity for extension colleagues to get together in an intensive experience to do analytic work using analysis software. The goal is to end the experience with concrete write-ups, models, theories and visualizations that can be shared with colleagues, partners and relevant stakeholders.

Josset Gauley, Program Development & Evaluation Specialist, FoodWise, at UW-Extension, says, “A neat thing about the Data Jam is putting aside a whole day to talk about your program outside the normal work-day routine.  When you have 5 to 10 people, all concentrated on the same task, you can accomplish a lot. You can see what’s missing, where the gaps are.”

In Data Jams, groups of 4 to 12 extension colleagues look at narratives and impact statements from central data collection systems to answer questions such as, “How do our programs affect those in poverty?” Creating and fostering a common institutional language is key to this process because “analysts need to agree on the meaning of core terms – for example what ‘program’ means, or what we institutionally mean when we say ‘poverty,’” according to Schmieder.

Schmieder continues, “Oftentimes we do analysis in silos; that means that the knowledge we produce remains also in silos, and we keep on re-inventing the wheel.” Data Jams – and the institutional use of specialized analysis software – allow extension personnel to build on each other’s analytic work to “radically reduce the amount of time it takes to analyze and synthesize massive amounts of data.”

Collecting usable and relevant data is one of the core challenges for institutional data sets. Engaging more colleagues in the analysis of data increases institutional buy-in into reporting, which ultimately strengthens data quality. During Spring 2017, John Pinkart, FoodWIse Program Coordinator, Oconto and Marinette Counties, Wisc., participated in a three-day Data Jam coordinated by Schmieder and colleagues.  What Pinkart discovered was, “We do a good job of setting the context, describing what we’re doing and writing results narratives, but we really struggle to see a lot of evidence of behavior change and impact.”  Pinkart’s FoodWise program receives federal SNAP-Ed funding, so he’s very aware of the need for accessible, useful impact data.  Pinkart says after the Data Jam, he and those he coaches will be “much more mindful in describing impact and focus more on holistically connecting direct education, policy system work, and results.”

Gauley allows that not every extension professional is excited about reporting and data evaluation. He says Data Jams are “super valuable” because educators “walk away with a better understanding of how their data are used, and they feel appreciated and more valued by the organization.”  Then, in the future, as they report outcomes and impacts to teachers, parents, policymakers, county boards and others interested in obesity prevention, they will do a better job.

What Is Next?

Schmieder and colleagues are taking a big-picture approach to data analysis and organizational change. Justin Smith, eXtension GODAN Fellow and county extension director in Mason County, Wash., and Schmieder are currently developing and testing analytic workflows based on Data Jams that can be used to seed crowd-analysis of massive data sets, and to quality-control automated categorization of data.

Last March, Smith and Schmieder co-conducted a Data Jam focusing on extension data related to climate change.  Smith says, “Ultimately, someone will be able to query the eXtension system and be connected not only to extension literature but also local information and data sets from around the world  about weather, health, vegetation, population and more to solve problems, such as those related to climate change.”

“We also want to connect people – experts with particular skills and knowledge to inform the data and help design research models,” Smith says, all with an eye toward giving educators the gulps of life-giving knowledge they need to serve their publics.

For More Information

For more information about Data Jams, contact Christian Schmieder at:
christian.schmieder@ces.uwex.edu or visit the data jam website  http://fyi.uwex.edu/datajams/

Additional sites to learn about Data Jams:

Contact Josset Gauley at: josset.gauley@ces.uwex.edu or 608-265-4975

Categories
Success Stories

Diversity and Inclusion Experience Spurs Minnesota Professionals to Advocate Up the Chain of Command

silveira and marczak at the designathonMost employers buy into training and developing their employees so that they can be better employees.  But two University of Minnesota extension professionals determined that they needed to do more.  They decided that their charge was not only to “keep and grow” extension paraprofessionals in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, but also to prepare them to leave for other employment.  Radical thought!

“We are developing them not just for us but for them so that when they leave us, they leave with a more robust portfolio where they can be marketable elsewhere and obtain a more livable, higher-wage job,” says Mary Marczak, Director of the Urban Family Development program.

One “aha moment” the women had was when they realized that they need to do a better job of “communicating up and down the system” to inform others of the value of nutrition educators’ work.

Cassie Silveira, EFNEP Coordinator and Extension Educator, says the four-county area surrounding Minneapolis is “amazingly diverse.”  One-third of the growth in recent population has come from international immigration, including people from Laos, Somalia, Ethiopia and Viet Nam. Nutrition educators need to reflect the diversity of the population to do their jobs, but they also need their own upward mobility.

Marczak’s and Silveira’s thoughts about paraprofessionals’ mobility needs crystallized into action steps at an eXtension Diversity and Inclusion “designathon,” a structured opportunity for extension personnel to sit around the table with other professionals to create educational programs that benefit their communities at large.  The designathon is one component of the Impact Collaborative process, in which extension professionals are supported to accelerate the adoption of innovation in local programming.  Each designathon encourages educators to visually map out concepts; get feedback from peers across their states; learn from “key informants,” who are national content or technology experts; explore avenues for funding; and discuss ways to communicate new ideas to their colleagues and potential partners.

One “aha moment” the women had was when the designathon led to story mapping.  They realized that although they know the value of what they are doing, they need to do a better job of “communicating up and down the system” with associate deans, assistant deans and others to inform them of the value of the educators’ work, too. Two specific policy changes for which the professionals are advocating are getting more dollars for staff professional development and opening up university training or courses for nutrition educators.  The designathon experience “helped us refine our story,” Silveira says.

Evaluation results from the February 2017 designathon found that 27 of the 55 participants said the experience helped to push their project forward – most frequently described as finding dedicated work time in a supportive environment.  This is particularly important as only 18 percent of Impact Collaborative project teams in 2017 said they are able to meet regularly, while 37 percent said they never are able to meet and work.

Do designathons have a future in changing how extension workers work?  Very likely.  As one participant said, “I plan to use the process again.  I didn’t think we could get this much done.”

For more information about EFNEP in Minnesota, contact:

Cassie Silveira at silv0100@umn.edu or 612-625-5205 or Mary Marczak at:
marcz001@umn.edu or 612-625-8419

Want to structure a designathon? Contact Terry Meisenbach at: tmeisenbach@extension.org

Click on the link for more information about the eXtension Diversity and Inclusion Impact Collaborative.