● Root hiring practices in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to foster welcoming and supportive work environments. Racial and ethnic minorities, non-English speakers, and sexual and gender minorities are often clustered in urban centers (Parker et al. 2018). Employing a diverse staff is an early and essential step to effectively engaging with such diverse audiences. ● Mentorship, professional development, and open communication have all been shown to be effective strategies for staff retention (Besnilian, Goldenberg & Plunkett 2016; Friedman et al. 2021;Javier et al. 2021). ● All Extension staff should be required to complete DEI trainings. These trainings should increase cultural competence and humility and take care to not reinforce stereotypes. DEI trainings should support educators in their internal efforts as well as their community work. ● Due to the growing interest in urban agriculture, Extension offices
should offer internal training and instruction in urban food production methods and technologies (Diekmann et al. 2017). Urban-orientedfaculty and/or Extension staff should communicate, formally and informally, with their colleagues in order to bridge knowledge gaps and reinforce the validity of urban food production strategies. ○ Engage Communities in Program Planning Process & Prioritize Youth and Young Farmers ■ Researchers broadly suggest that adaptation of pre-existing Extension programming for the urban individual- and community-level context should engage the local population directly in collaboratively defining shared terms, priorities, and expectations (Alkon et al. 2013; Christy & Williamson, 1992; Dickman et al. 2017; Fox et al. 2017; Bovitz et al. 2018;Smith, 2016). Youth involvement specifically is key to improving recruitment for urban agricultural programming. Utilizing the established collaborations created by the 1890 Land-Grant Institutions should be seen as a potential solution. Regarding their commitment to aid marginalized producers within urban, as well as rural agricultural areas, these historically Black colleges/universities (HBCUs) have modeled the concept of helping people help themselves advance forward (Christy & Williamson, 1992). Many have successfully recruited and trained students from underserved communities who, in turn, are afforded the capacity to return to their neighborhoods to tackle issues of food insecurity, health
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