The childcare sector holds vital implications for community development. Overcoming barriers to access and affordability requires a nuanced understanding of this complex sector, a requirement that is further complicated by limited data availability. This paper reviews key data sources and uses historical business data to explore and analyze trends…

Understanding and identifying the professional development needs of 4-H youth development professionals should be the first step in developing the Extension workforce. However, 4-H professionals find it challenging to use the Professional, Research, Knowledge and Competencies (PRKC), which consists of 348 unique competency items, to guide…

Curricula are planned and written by curriculum developers; they serve as instructional guides for educators. Educators make adaptations to written curricula to meet learners' needs and achieve intended learning outcomes. The efficacy of curriculum adaptations is enhanced when educators have a high pedagogical design capacity, which can be…

Extension traditionally involves undergraduate students through experiential learning and internships. We sought to develop a new model, and created an undergraduate life skills course for students in our college that featured Extension educators as guest lecturers in areas aligned with their specialty. Universities have a stable population of…

Leadership development programs are an exploratory journey that develop Extension faculty to better themselves in service to the organization. In an effort to mitigate potential barriers for participants, it is imperative that organizations work to create conditions conducive for success. We posit barriers for extension professionals include,…

We examined the impact of 4-H participation on workforce readiness skill development, including personal, work, communication, and problem solving/decision-making. The study examined two levels of 4-H activities: county-level and state-level. The online survey instrument contained questions about demographics, skill development and 4-H…

Not all Extension professionals enter the workplace with knowledge and experience in program development. Some may possess extensive expertise in their subject matter but need additional training in teaching-related competencies for adult or youth audiences. Even educators with extensive skill and experience benefit from thoughtful and intentional…

Agriculture, food, and natural resource (AFNR) systems need leaders to catalyze positive change. Thus, Extension professionals have consistently developed innovative and impactful leadership programming. In the current study, the alumni of one such program in Michigan were surveyed to evaluate the sustained impact of the program. Program alumni…

This case study describes youths' roles in meal packing events and food drives associated with 4-H and FFA organizations in Missouri. Findings suggest the idea of a local event often stemmed from a youth who had participated in a meal packing event on a state or national level. However, youth perceived that once they expressed their idea, the…

English language (EL) learners, many of whom are immigrants, face economic, social, and cultural constraints when accessing Extension programming. NFNM is an innovative program that seeks to address these constraints by developing and implementing place-based natural history curriculum for adult English language (EL) learners in the authors state.…

The article describes a participatory segmentation strategy, called the Actor Diagramming and Tracing Method, that enables Extension agents to tailor education initiatives. Using a case study, the authors demonstrate the method by segmenting North Carolina family forest landowners based on resources needed for sustainable forestry management.…

Employment and training services offered through Extension are part of and continue a long tradition of policy-focused employment and job training. This paper chronicles the successes of UT Extension's work as a third-party partner in the delivery of workforce development programming geared toward individuals receiving Supplemental Nutrition…

One of CYFAR's unique features is the built-in planning year for all grant recipients. We present our evaluation team's approach during year 1 to establish a foundation and plan for scholarly publications during funding years 2-5. The systematic literature review provided the team with a better understanding of the culture and context of the…

Youth-adult partnerships are a powerful means to nurture and amplify youths' voices and create social change. Drawing on our own framework, critical positive youth development, and our experience pilot testing the #PassTheMicYouth curriculum, we identified four promising practices to cultivate youth-adult partnerships. 4-H professionals can use…

Teaching is an important part of an Extension agent's duties; however, little is empirically understood about effective teaching practices in an Extension context. The purpose of this study was to explore the adult teaching practices of exemplary extension agents. Through a nomination process, seven agents in Florida were interviewed. The analysis…