The Extension Foundation (EXF) helps drive local impact by supporting the Cooperative Extension System nationally. EXF accomplishes this through facilitating conversations across the system, connecting Extension specialists with their peers, and by providing professional development, organizational support, and access to new tools and resources. These are some initiatives that EXF works to expand thought leadership and bolster Extension programming at a national level.
New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) is a grant from USDA-NIFA in partnership with Oklahoma State University is in its fourth year beginning on September 1st, 2022 (grant no. 2020-41595-30123). The Foundation is supporting competitively selected Extension programs aligned with USDA and Extension Committe on Organization and Policy (ECOP) strategic goals/priority program areas. Programs receive funding and support from the Extension Foundation for one full year.
This program serves all Land-Grant Universities in the United States.
Additionally, this program funds national tools for Cooperative Extension such as Ask Extension and Connect Extension.
Grant-funded projects utilize an external and impartial review process for applications
The Extension Foundation has entered into an agreement with USDA-NIFA as the Technical Service Provider for the From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals (NEXTGEN) funding opportunity. All eligible institutions may utilize Extension Foundation services. Membership in the Extension Foundation is not required to participate. There is no cost in using the Extension Foundation’s technical services.
The ECOP Economic & Workforce Development Program Action Team in collaboration with the NECIW National Working Group (NWG) and Extension Foundation (EXF) will collaborate with NIFA staff to form a robust network of public and private entities across every U.S. region to build the nation’s capacity to respond to the changing needs in the food and agriculture sector. The primary audience for this project, “will be Cooperative Extension practitioners, workforce intermediaries, and the participants they serve. Intermediaries such as the US Department of Labor, American Jobs Center, industry partners, state and local workforce agencies, and vendors like Eduworks, AgCareers, and EBSCO amongst others are critical partners for this project. The intermediary’s role is to “bridge” the timing and information gap and align employee preparation and training to employer needs, thereby creating the optimal connection between the demand and supply sides of the world of work, ultimately serving as the direct connection to job seekers.
The Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) is a collaborative network of Cooperative Extension educators across the United States and territories who work to improve the delivery of education and information, and the availability of resources related to disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Historically, this grassroots network has been aligned with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) and supported by USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Food and Agricultural Defense Initiative (FADI) grant.
The Extension Foundation in partnership with Washington State University, Iowa State University, and the Cooperative Extension System, will support the administration of the FADI-EDEN project. The Extension Foundation assists in aligning system-wide formal work to increase system capacity while providing programmatic services. This partnership will help Extension programs scale and investigate new program implementation methods and models.
The Extension Foundation, in cooperation with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP), through an Interagency Agreement (IAA) with the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are funding the Cooperative Extension System (CES) to address health disparities among rural and other underserved communities. (AWARD NO: 2021-77041-34831)
The Extension network as a trusted leader in communities across the nation is a key factor in the selection of Extension as a CDC partner. On behalf of the Cooperative Extension System and in collaboration with ECOP, the Extension Foundation serves as Principal Investigator; provides grants administration; fiscal, operational, and technological services; system-wide communication; innovation processes; wrap-around services for projects; data collection and dashboards; and partnership development.
Grant-funded projects utilize an external and impartial review process for applications.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a cooperative agreement to the Extension Foundation (EXF) to administer a national subaward program supporting Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEPs). The new project, titled “Empowered Up: A Comprehensive PSEFMP Promoting Efficiency & Environmental Justice,” will receive up to $15 million over five years. It will build upon a previous PSEP subaward program, also managed by EXF, which concluded in July 2023.
The Impact Collaborative is home to a national network of Land-grant university professionals led by the Extension Foundation to empower individuals and the communities they serve to cocreate solutions through Extension programming that have greater sustainability with the goal of making a greater impact locally.
The Impact Collaborative was developed in partnership with the Cooperative Extension System since 2014 and continues to evolve to meet the needs of Extension professionals nationally. It is guided by the expressed needs of Cooperative Extension professionals. Since 2018, this has included developing a skills curriculum to help participants think about program development in new ways, and training hundreds of Extension professionals in this curriculum to serve as resources in their local communities, county Extension offices, and in their state Extension system. In addition, the Impact Collaborative has led dozens of national events aimed at equipping Extension professionals and their partners with new skills, resources, knowledge, and tools to help enhance program development, pilot, and implementation efforts.
The ECOP Program Committee establishes and manages a portfolio of Program Action Teams (PATs) that focus on high priority societal issues that may benefit from coordinated system-level leadership in Extension programming.
As such, each PAT provides systemwide or multi-state leadership to programming related to a particular area of focus. PATs may focus on Extension’s base programs (Agriculture and Natural Resources, Family and Consumer Sciences, Economic and Community Development and 4-H Youth Development) or on cross-cutting and timely issues related to one or more of these base programs. Currently there are seven PATs.
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