Project Overview
Research Objectives The objectives guiding this work were described in the eXtension Foundation’s Request for Proposals 2 and include: ● Identify gaps in C/EW programming ● Identify areas of greatest impact (or identify trends) ● Help eXtension identify measurements of acceleration ● Focus CES interests on identified C/EW actions (solutions) ● Help eXtension tell their story around C/EW action (as they seek funding and partners based on their current and future capacity) ● Help identify where CES is accelerating its impact the most ● Empower CES Educators to align with these actions and their strengths ● Allow for some longitudinal analysis ● Create some continuity in CES programming across the country Plan of Work From its inception, our team met for at least one hour, once a week to provide updates, clarify as needed, and to stay focused on major tasks. Upon review of Project Drawdown’s climate solutions, we drafted our database columns with input from our entire team. As a baseline for adding C/EW programs to our database, our student eXtension fellows reviewed all programs listed in the National Sustainability-Focused Extension Programs database https://extension.usu.edu/sustainability/programs/national-sustainability as well as the National Extension Climate Initiative's (NECI) https://nationalextensionclimateinitiative.net/ member programs. Once those programs had been exhausted and added, we sent out a national call through NECI, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Climate Hubs, the National Network for Sustainable Living Education, and all Extension directors involved in the Extension Climate Coalition. Any programs with missing information were contacted for clarification. We then gathered data on successes, challenges, and opportunities experienced by those leading C/EW programming in Extension through a nationwide in-depth qualitative research study. Those findings added to the richness of data collected through the database. The rest of this report shares our research methods, database results, and major findings from our in-depth interviews. Methods We used both quantitative and qualitative survey methods. For the quantitative segment of the research, we created a preliminary database with 33 fields to begin the inventory of C/EW programs
2 eXtension Foundation RFP for Climate/Extreme Weather Fellowship: https://impact.extension.org/2020/04/extension-rfp-for-climate-extreme-weather-fellowship/
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