Community are complex organizations in which no single person or entity is “in charge.” Most communities lack the “civic space” in which to frame issues and identity ways to address them. In many communities, Extension provides that civic space acting as a neutral convener, providing the facilitation needed to engage stakeholders, and serving as an impartial source of research-based information to assist the community in making better-informed decisions.
In 2007, Extension staff, both specialists and educators, were involved in 370 communities helping them build their capacity to identify and address critical issues. The array of issues is wide and the ways in which Extension has assisted has taken a number of forms. Some of the areas in which community issues have been identified and addressed include local government finance, land use and natural resource, entrepreneurship, workforce development.
There are many examples of Extension’s work in this area. The following are two representative examples of Extension programming that took place during the reporting period: (1) Responding to the need for programming related to local government finance, two state-wide sessions were delivered on the topic. Over 600 local government officials attended these programs. (2) In Allen County, Extension assisted in forming a new coalition of youth-serving organizations that resulted in a youth summit. One of Extension’s contributions was to assist the helping the community’s youth conduct town hall meetings to identify priority community needs.
The following are some of the impacts and results from the programming related to this issue. (1) In the local government finance program 97% of participants indicated that the information from the session helped them identify important community issues related to local government finance and 88% indicated that their new knowledge would have an impact on the fiscal well-being of their community. (2) The adult advisers attending the Allen County youth summit indicated their perception of the significant benefits of a venue in which youth could identify community issues about which they are concerned and to communicate these concerns to adult civic leaders. As a result, the youth applied for and received three grants of $500 each (total of $1,500) to help address community needs.
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