Maryland Extension received a $500,000 grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture to provide behavioral health therapy for the farming population.
Reporting
The evaluation data we collected helped to tell a story with multiple groups. Both quantitative and qualitative data were included in end of year Extension reporting. The final report to funders also was reworked to share with key Extension administrators and colleagues as well as community stakeholders at multiple levels. Lastly, press coverage of the forum and the ability to provide relevant information to our local farming publication, brought additional helpful resources to our clientele.
Opportunities
Planning for, and conducting the forum, helped participants and key stakeholders see another side of Extension; one that can address issues at the community level. This new awareness helped to open doors to funding, new partnerships, and an increased awareness about the breadth of programming that Extension offers to many community partners who previously only knew one program area of Extension. Opportunities provided by the Extension Foundation National Technology Agriculture Extension (NTAE) funding helped Delaware and Maryland become more recognized in a different way as a player in the food system arena. Funding has come to Extension because of the forums. As examples, Maryland received funding to support a SARE project that supports farm mental health while Delaware has received funding to underwrite the Mental Health First Aid training for agriculture service providers and community members living in rural areas. Funding from the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development as well as the Extension Foundation has helped to engage community members in addressing the needs of our farm populations. By engaging the community to help support our farm audiences, Extension has been seen as an important player in community health arenas.
Lessons Learned
These considerations and lessons learned come from informational interviews and NTAE team reflections post 2021 online forum. Some of these are relevant for on-site forums as well.
Post-forum debrief discussion with the team offered these observations: 1. The whole morning worked fine; people stayed engaged; Tools worked to help the audience be part of the conversation. 2. The door prize helper/fun game, gave us feedback incrementally throughout the day; positive reinforcement helped in zoom format. 3. Things were scripted and organized; but didn’t seem scripted. 4. The less formal we got in our interactions, the more comfortable the attendees became with interacting.. 5. Evaluation – the temperature reading evaluation tool worked; people were engaged.
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