Land Grant Institutions (LGIs) and Cooperative Extension were founded to bring educational access to the states they serve. In contrast to this mission and the ubiquitous nature of Extension services in US counties, Extension offices can only be found in a small number of indigenous communities. Despite these inequities, there are Extension…

Times are changing, and so are Extension programs. These changes affect every aspect of the educational effort, including program development, project funding, educational delivery, partnership building, marketing, sharing impacts, and revenue generation. This article is not about how Extension is restructuring to adapt to changes; instead, it…

This article summarizes the results of an evaluation of the impacts of a community development program to develop leadership skills in its adult volunteers. The evaluation featured 20 questions about leadership skills learned as a result of volunteer experiences. Data analysis strategies beyond a simple means ranking resulted in evidence…

Through its educational programs, extension is increasingly concerned with helping people know better how to live as well as how to make a living. Extension works with local people on problems calling for community consideration and group decision. The need for this type of education is particularly pressing in rural areas; hopeful signs are…

This study was conducted to find out how effective Extension Community Resource Development Advisory Committees are in achieving their purposes and functions. Both committee members and extension agents agreed that committees were meeting their purposes by making sound program decisions, securing community acceptance of programs, and improving the…

In response to a state budget deficit, the University of Minnesota Extension restructured its field staff, establishing a new regional and county delivery system, shifting all supervision of field staff to campus faculty, and encouraging greater field staff specialization, program focus, and entrepreneurial efforts. Nine economic concepts and…

Disengagement, the final phase in the community development process, receives little attention in the literature. Many community development practitioners make decisions regarding disengagement intuitively. This exploratory study of disengagement from community units was based on interviews with eleven University of Missouri Extension Community…