Tag Archive for: NPSEC

Mass Media: Sustaining Pollinators Publication Reissued

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The Mass Media: Sustaining Pollinators fieldbook published by Extension Foundation in 2020 is now available in a flipping book format to be consistent with other publications on the Extension Foundation’s new Publication Bookshelf on Connect Extension. The publication is a result of a three-year collaboration between the National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC) and a team from Prairie View A&M University in Texas.

NPSEC has been supporting pollinator health since 2017, primarily via providing education and training materials to Extension programs that teach pesticide applicators how to minimize the risk that pesticides pose to pollinators. The Cooperative Extension Program at Prairie View A&M University partnered with NPSEC to share its pollinator stewardship research and best practices with a consumer audience in a mass media campaign in Texas.

This publication explores the process the team followed to create an effective mass media campaign. Mass media isn’t always an option for Extension programs for many reasons, including cost. The Pollinator Stewardship Pilot, NPSEC, and its media partners demonstrated that market research and mass media campaigns can be within reach for Extension programs.

This publication will be of value to Cooperative Extension professionals who are considering how to use mass/social media campaigns in their work and those who want to learn more about market research resources and audience segmentation. It takes a deep dive into analyzing millennials. In addition, the resource section includes sample blogs and social media posts. Also discussed is the collaboration framework utilized by project members.

The authors are Kara Maddox, Tom Smith, and Courtney Weatherbee from NPSEC, with contributions from Nathan Hermond, Dr. Carolyn Williams, and Dr. Clarence Bunch of Prairie View A&M. A team from several private media companies collaborated on the project, and additional support was provided by two University of Missouri Adzou graduates.

Additional titles have recently become available in the Extension Foundation library on topics such as game-based education, wellness in “tough times,” innovating curriculum, prescribed fire, emergency preparation and response, understanding food labels, and building farm and farm family resilience. You can find the entire library of publications here

A note about our Publications:

After listening to the feedback of our Cooperative Extension partners, the new Publication bookshelf serves as a replacement for our old eFieldbook library. We greatly value and appreciate the feedback we received, including eliminating a LinkedIn login to access titles on the bookshelf. All titles are publicly available on our Connect Extension platform. Titles that were on our former eFieldbook bookshelf are in the process of being migrated.

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Announcement of Extension Foundation Pesticide Safety Education Funds Management Program (PSEFMP) Funding Opportunity

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The Extension Foundation (EF) is pleased to announce a funding opportunity for Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEP) for 2022. This opportunity is made available through a cooperative agreement (X8-83698001) with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish and administer a national sub-award program in support of pesticide applicator education, and training for certified applicators of restricted use pesticides. The National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC) will continue to support as an unfunded collaborator with EF to lead the professional development part of the project and to assist PSEPs in enhancing some of the educational products they develop as part of the expectations attached to the funding. 

Requirements of sub-awardees for this program to receive funding are as follows:

  • agree to share one educational deliverable for the purposes of enhancing PSEP programs both regionally and nationally.
  • submit progress reports every six (6) months using a standard online webform.
  • attend a minimum of one 1-hour training webinars for the reporting system.
    Anticipated dates are: May 4, 2022 at 2 pm EST; July 13, 2022 at 3 pm EST; September 27, 2022 at 3 pm EST and December 6, 2022 at 3:00 pm EST. 

Eligibility 

In order to be eligible for this funding applicants must be affiliated with a U.S. Land Grant University. Only one application per state or territory will be eligible for funding. Please contact psefmp-helpdesk@extension.org if you have any questions regarding eligibility. 

Funding Period 

The funding period for this subaward will be January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022. 

Funding Available 

Each PSEP will be eligible to apply for a base amount of $17,025.00 USD plus an additional 5% of the funds divided proportionally based on the percentage of the number of certified applicators in each state or territory. The number of certified applicators in a state or territory will be based on the most recent figures of certified applicators as supplied by the EPA. Additional amounts available to the state or territory will be listed in the budget section of the application. Payments to successful sub-awardees will be made January 3 – 15, 2022. 

Key Dates: 

Application System Opens: Monday, October 4, 2021 at 8 am EST 

First round of reviews: October 29, 2021 

Second round of reviews: November 12, 2021 

Application Deadline: Monday, November 29, 2021 at 8 pm EST 

Final round of reviews: December 2, 2021 

Sub-award Notification Announcement: December 17, 2021 

Funds distributed by: January 15, 2022 

Application Review Process: 

EF will use a multi-step approach in the receiving and review of applications for this program. Each application will be reviewed by EF and an advisory committee including representatives from NPSEC, and the PSEP community for eligibility, compliance, completeness and potential collaboration. 

Application Submission 

In an effort to make the application process as streamlined and user friendly as possible, applicants will be able to download, sign, scan, and upload the sub-award agreement from the application site. Applications that have not been signed will not be considered for funding. The average time for completion of an application is 45 minutes. 

Applications for this funding opportunity can be accessed at the following link on October 4, 2021 at 8:00 am EST: https://applyextension.smapply.io (Note: Link will not be active until October 4, 2021 at 8:00 am EST). 

Online Application System Training: 

PSEPs will receive an invitation for optional training via Zoom for October 11, 2020 at 11 am and 3 pm EST for the online application system. During training, EF will provide a step by step walk through of the application site, application and submission. For those who are unable to attend the training, it will be recorded and sent via email to view at your convenience. Additional training sessions will also be held the same week. 

Applicants with any questions please send an email to psefmp-helpdesk@extension.org. 

About Extension Foundation 

The United States Cooperative Extension System, with funding from Cooperative Extension directors and administrators, and USDA-NIFA, shares resources and tools through eXtension that enables the Extension workforce to scale up its local and national impact. eXtension is an integral part of the national Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) and is organized as a 501(c)3 non-profit membership organization. Its Board of Directors represents the five regions of Cooperative Extension, ECOP, and USDA-NIFA. 

About National Pesticide Safety Education Center 

NPSEC seeks to strengthen the national system of university extension Pesticide Safety Education Programs by improving the quality, consistency, and accessibility of educational offerings, promoting collaboration and leveraging of educational resources and learning assessment tools, and increasing revenue generation. NPSEC does not receive any EPA funding under the EPA Extension Foundation cooperative agreement. 

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New eFieldbook Available! Using Radio & Digital Advertising for Extension Campaigns

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As part of eXtension’s New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) Cooperative Agreement with USDA-NIFA, the eXtension Foundation selected the National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC) in partnership with Prairie View A&M Cooperative Extension to pilot a mass media campaign using radio and digital advertising to promote pollinator protection messages to the public. The results and method is published in this new eFieldbook.

Using this eFieldbook, Cooperative Extension professionals can learn more about how they can replicate a similar model for their Extension programs. Topics of this eFieldbook include:

  • Narrowing the Audience – Characterizing Millennials, Reaching the Audience, Creating the Campaign
  • Collaboration Team Demographic Diversity, the Speed of Changes, and Strategic Plan Alignment
  • Campaign Outcomes – Metrics, Behavior Change, and Future Campaigns

NPSEC researched how to tap Millennials—a large segment of the intended audience—with the help of several research resources, including the advertising and marketing students from the University of Missouri School of Journalism’s Adzou program, a capstone course in the university’s School of Journalism. Additionally, NPSEC created a network of media partners for both digital and radio advertising to make this possible. In the spring of 2020, Prairie View A&M University’s Cooperative Extension Program in Prairie View, Texas, became the Extension partner, as they were interested in new ways to reach large audiences. The mass media campaign was then focused on driving the public to Extension resources created in partnership with Prairie View A&M University regarding pollinator stewardship.

 

Key campaign metrics of the work of NPSEC, Prairie View A&M Cooperative Extension, and their media partners includes:

  • Over the six weeks, radio messaging through the Texas State Network (which broadcasts across the state) reached 21,411,900 people.
  • Over the six weeks, radio messaging through the Gow Media network (which focuses on the Houston area) reached 1,270,500 people.
  • Banner ads displayed through Learfield IMG on college sports websites generated 1,181 total clicks. People saw the banner ad and clicked through to AgNearMe.com.

Authors:

  • Kara Maddox, Creative Director, Communications, National Pesticide Safety Education Center
  • Tom Smith, Executive Director, National Pesticide Safety Education Center
  • Courtney Weatherbee, Executive Assistant, National Pesticide Safety Education Center

Contributors:

  • Nathan Hermond, Lead Entomologist on the Pollinator Stewardship Pilot, Prairie View A&M University
  • Dr. Carolyn Williams, Executive Associate Director for Extension, Prairie View A&M University
  • Dr. Clarence Bunch, Cooperative Extension Program Leader, Prairie View A&M University

Media Team

  • Herb Hoffman, President, Blackhawk Audio
  • Adam Winters, President, Explore.US and Land.US
  • Juan Rivas Caban, Senior Vice President, Explore.US and Land.US
  • Graham McKernan, CMO, Gow Media
  • Eddie Quagliariello, Learfield IMG Associate
  • Rachel Conrad, Senior Account Executive, Culture Map
  • Braden Kobeski, University of Missouri Adzou Graduate
  • Erica Overfelt, University of Missouri Adzou Graduate

The Mass Media: Sustaining Pollinators eFieldbook is available on the eFieldbook bookshelf at efieldbooks.extension.org, or can be found on the main navigation in Connect Extension at connect.extension.org. 

LinkedIn login is required to access the eFieldbooks. This is similar to using Google or Facebook to log in instead of setting up an account via email. If you do not have a LinkedIn account, you can register for one free here. The purpose of the LinkedIn login is to provide an encrypted ID to the eFieldbook so users can securely interact with that eFieldbook, take notes, and make contributions. The eXtension Foundation is not collecting your personal information. In order to receive notice updates from eXtension, we invite you to opt-in the first time you login to an eFieldbook by providing your desired email address.

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What’s It Like to Work with the eXtension Foundation as an NTAE Project? – Using Mass Media for Extension Messaging

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eXtension recently announced the opportunity for nominations for the New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) for Year 2 projects. The nomination form will be available on June 15th until July 20th, 2020. Selected projects will receive wrap around services from the eXtension Foundation to support, accelerate, and amplify the project/program outcomes. Wrap around services include:

  • Project/Program advisory support from a Catalyst (current or past senior program or administrative Cooperative Extension Service (CES) personnel).
  • Support to compose a formal peer-reviewed publication of resources and processes used by the project which might be an eFieldbook or ePub publication.
  • Evaluation support
  • Digital engagement support for digital learning and instructing
  • Leadership support and training for adaptation to a digital environment
  • Professional engagement and development by encouraging all projects to share their processes and products via connect.extension.org.
  • Optional Wrap Around Services for selected project(s)
    • Marketing efforts with an outside firm
    • Partnership development assistance

What’s it like to work with eXtension Foundation as an NTAE project? We caught up with one of our Fellows that is leading one of our Year 1 projects.

@Tom Smith is the Executive Director for the National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC). NPSEC supports and serves Extension Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEPs) to be the premier national source of high quality research-based pesticide safety education.

Increasing the level of awareness about pesticides and their impact on pollinators by the general public can help to sustain pollinators around homes, farms and businesses. This project led by NPSEC is targeting messaging about pollinators and using mass media (radio, digital, social) to reach a larger audience than is typical with most Extension messaging. The project directs the audience to additional Extension resources and has developed a methodology to measure audience engagement, including change in behavior and implementation of practices benefiting both native and managed pollinators. The pilot is in a select group of Texas communities and the content resources available through the Cooperative Extension program at Prairie View A&M University.

Nathan Hermond, Extension Associate with Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension is working to help curate the content and resources available through the university and working hand-in-hand with the NPSEC team, including @Kara Maddox – Creative Director – to drive the public to those resources through the mass media initiative.

According to Dr. Carolyn Williams, Associate Administrator for the Cooperative Extension Program at Prairie View A&M University, “we are excited about this great opportunity to expand our program outreach to target the millennial population in an urban county.  This partnership with eXtension and NPSEC has been an exceptional process working together to promote the Cooperative Extension Program at Prairie View A&M University and the Pollinator Pilot Campaign in an amazing mass media approach like never before.”

According to Tom Smith, “eXtension’s wrap around services have been very helpful. The eFieldbook provides an opportunity to create a unique and robust complementary resource. The NTAE catalyst team has provided us validation, support, and advice. The encouragement to design professional development webinars has allowed us to focus more purposely on the key components of our project.”

Thinking back to right before this team started working with the eXtension Foundation, Tom stated “eXtension has allowed us to accelerate our project and will hopefully provide proof of concept. During the course of the project, we had to make a pivot with one of our partners. The NTAE Catalyst team and others were supportive in really helping us convert a challenge into a real opportunity.”

Reflecting upon the value that the eXtension Foundation has brought to the project, Tom shared “one added value is the funding that has allowed us to take an idea and implement it as a pilot project. Additionally, the organizational support for scheduling meetings and professional feedback from the eXtension staff has been valuable. Connect Extension has also allowed us to have a great promotional and collaboration platform to engage with a broad group of Extension Educators and others interested in this project.”

Do you have an early stage, high potential project that you would like to nominate? Requirements of projects/programs are as follows:

  • Projects must be in early stages of maturity and have a high potential for making a significant local impact and providing a model for adoption by other Extension professionals regionally or nationwide. This means the project is likely to have objectives completed, audiences identified, outcomes identified and has had some early stage of implementation.
  • Each nomination should identify a lead (a Fellow) for the project that will serve as the primary contact.
  • All nominations must have the support of the Extension Director/Administrator.

Learn more about the application and nomination process here.

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NPSEC and Prairie View A&M University Extension partner with eXtension through USDA-NIFA Cooperative Agreement for Mass Media Pollinator Stewardship Effort

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Advancing the role of integrated pest management, including effective use of pesticides, is critical to controlling the spread of harmful pests and diseases. It is estimated that 40 percent of global crops are lost to agricultural pests each year.

The US Department of Agriculture Strategic Plan 2018-2022 emphasizes prevention and mitigation of agricultural pests and disease. There are recognized, undesirable effects associated with application and misuse of pesticides, especially by the general public without knowledge or training in pesticide safety. The potential to negatively impact pollinators is one of those effects.

Pollinator health and sustainable colonies is critical for In the United States. One third of all agricultural output depends on pollinators. Insects and other animal pollinators are vital to the production of healthy crops for food, fibers, edible oils, medicines, and other products. The commodities produced with the help of pollinators generate significant income for producers and those who benefit from a productive agricultural community. Pollinators are also essential components of the habitats and ecosystems that many wild animals rely on for food and shelter.

As part of eXtension’s New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) Cooperative Agreement with USDA-NIFA, the eXtension Foundation is partnering with four existing programs aligned with USDA strategic goals across Cooperative Extension in Year 1 to explore new methods and models for program scale and implementation. These initiatives are being documented in a series of eFieldbooks to inform the system of the models, learnings, and outcomes. Professional development opportunities will be created and delivered centered upon these learnings and offered to the entire system beginning in 2020. 

One initiative identified for partnership is a mass media effort led by the National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC). NPSEC supports and serves Extension Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEPs) to be the premier national source of high quality research-based pesticide safety education.

Increasing the level of awareness about pesticides and their impact on pollinators by the general public can help to sustain pollinators around homes, farms and businesses. This project led by NPSEC will target messaging about pollinators using mass media (radio, digital, social) to reach a larger audience than is typical with most Extension messaging, will direct the audience to additional Extension resources and will develop a methodology to measure audience engagement, including change in behavior and implementation of practices benefiting both native and managed pollinators. The approach will be pilot tested in a select group of Texas communities and the content resources available through Prairie View A&M University Extension.

Kara Maddox, Communications and Engagement Manager for NPSEC is serving as an eXtension funded Fellow to produce an eFieldbook focused on using large-scale mass media techniques to achieve measurable behavior changes and adoption of new practices. The pollinator stewardship initiative will serve as the example of the mass media campaign for this eFieldbook. An eFieldbook is a digital, curated, peer-reviewed collection of program resources that provide multimedia communication and interaction between and among experts, individuals, teams, partners, and other content contributors. Professional development opportunities will be delivered to the entire system through eXtension’s new FlexLearn platform to provide information and support for replicating this model across the system. FlexLearn will be available for the entire system in Spring, 2020. 

Three other program initiatives have been selected for 2019-2020 aligned with USDA strategic goals including a program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln centered upon row crop producers taking risk-reducing strategies to build farm resilience against weather and climate incidents, and a food sovereignty initiative in partnership with the College of Menominee Nation and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Topic areas and programs were identified by a three-member Catalyst team consisting of former  senior Extension leaders that address USDA strategic goals. The Catalyst Team includes:

  • Scott Reed, Former Vice Provost University Outreach & Engagement, and Director of Extension at Oregon State University
  • Fred Schlutt, Former Director of Cooperative Extension at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks
  • Jimmy Henning, Faculty, Plant & Soil Sciences Department, and Former Director, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky

About the eXtension Foundation

The eXtension Foundation is a membership-based non-profit designed to be the engine fueling U.S. Cooperative Extension’s advancement in making a more visible and measurable impact in support of education outreach from land-grant universities/colleges located in every state and territory. eXtension provides an array of opportunities for Extension professionals that foster innovation creation, the adoption of innovations at member institutions, and increased impact of Extension programs.

USDA NIFA logo

This work is supported by New Technologies for Agriculture Extension grant no. 2015-41595-24254 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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National Pesticide Safety Education Center team participates in Impact Collaborative Summit

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For Immediate Release
May 9th, 2019
Contact: Aaron Weibe, aaronweibe@eXtension.org

Atlanta, GA. A team from the National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC) participated in eXtension’s Impact Collaborative Summit. As a result of their work, they have been invited to apply for a $5000 grant to help bring new capacity to their project. Members of the NPSEC team include Candace Bartholomew, Kara Maddox, Courtney Weatherbee, Dean Herzfeld, Kerry Richards, and Mike Wierda.

28 Project and Program teams across Cooperative Extension representing 36 institutions attended the Impact Collaborative in Atlanta for a unique opportunity to create impactful results at the local level by increasing Cooperative Extension’s organizational readiness and capacity for innovation and change. Teams were connected with skills, tools, resources, and partners that helped expand and deepen their impact.

Partners representing organizations external to Cooperative Extension were invited to attend the Impact Collaborative Summit and participated in our first national Partner Forum, with a guided discussion by leaders from the Institute for the Future.  This forum was designed to connect private and public sector organizations focused on community impact, including leaders from Cooperative Extension, and look for future opportunities to engage collectively. After the forum, partners had the opportunity to spend time talking with teams and learning more about the work they are doing to make an impact in their states, locales, and across the nation.

After three days of hard work, teams participated in a LaunchFest where they presented their project or program to a panel of partners and Cooperative Extension leaders.

eXtension will continue its support of the NPSEC team through Engage & Empower Online, our new resource that offers Impact Collaborative teams and Innovation Facilitators unique professional development opportunities including webinars and learning circles, exclusive access to publications and presentations, access to a new online version of the Impact Collaborative Innovation Skill-Building Experience tool, and a place where the Impact Collaborative can continue to connect teams with the resources they may need to continue project or program growth towards increasing innovation and local impact.

The next Impact Collaborative Summit will be from October 15th -17th, 2019 in Atlanta, GA.

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This website is supported in part by New Technologies for Ag Extension (funding opportunity no. USDA-NIFA-OP-010186), grant no. 2023-41595-41325 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Extension Foundation.

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