Developing regional and multi-state extension collaborations

Abstract Text:

The new norm for extension includes smaller budgets, fewer individuals tasked with greater job duties, and rapidly changing clientele wants and needs.  Consequently, historical state boundary- based extension personnel and programs don’t make as much sense as they did previously. In many situations, regional and multi-state programs provide a viable alternative to meet the needs of clientele and state universities.  Many extension programs recognize this and provide short-term multi-state conferences and workshops, which have been successful in attracting individuals from not only the participating states, but regionally and nationally.  However, much less common are regional or multi-state programs where individuals are identified to provide direct support to commodity-based clientele in states other than their own. Utah State University has experience with this type of programming through MOU’s developed to provide dairy extension expertise for Montana, Wyoming and Nevada, which lack dairy specialists, but were getting requests from clientele for support.  The MOU for each state specified the amount of time spent within the state as well as other activities to be made available.  In return, specialist time was bought by the participating state.  Our experience provides evidence these programs can be successful, providing that there is appropriate support from administrators, specialists from the host state, and local county agents.  County agent support is critical for achieving the greatest success.  Alternatively, there may be opportunities for agreements between states on a county-basis, rather than a state-basis because of proximity of a specialist to localized clientele.  Our experience suggests it works best if money is paid by the state receiving the support to the state that is providing the expertise; it is much cheaper than hiring a new specialist. If a state wants to provide support, but doesn’t want to provide in-state visits, training workshops via electronic media are an easy option.  With the advent of internet audio and video capabilities, extension programming can also be accomplished faster and more economically than physically traveling to that site.  Sharing extension expertise across state borders makes sense in many situations, allowing for support of underserved clientele; however, the development of agreements and sharing of a specialist’s time requires administrators who are willing to work under a different extension model.

Keywords: Extension, Multi-state, Programs