disparities and other social ills (Smith, 2016). ■ The majority of urban growers are beginners and are less likely to come from a lineage of farmers (Pressman, Oberholtzer & Dimitri 2016). Therefore, internships, apprenticeships, and 4H programs are indispensable resources for burgeoning food producers (DeMarsh 2022). ● Urban community members bring their own foodways, needs, and desires particular to their context to the table and should be central actors in programmatic decision-making and development. Community-based participatory research is one avenue in support of shared decision-making, as is involving community in needs assessment and evaluation. ● Programmatic recruiting should be geared to a diversity of audiences, including youth. ● Involve elementary, middle, and high school students in urban food production. Extension educators have also seen success in engaging at-risk youth in community gardening and commercial food production (personal communications, July 2022). ● Provide college students from 1890 Institutions with community engagement and outreach experiences, thus preparing them through opportunities that will promote the proliferation of urban agriculture ● Offer internships and apprenticeships to urban college students and other young people looking for new career paths (personal communications, June-July 2022).
● Intensify Strategies for Community Resilience ○ Adapt to Changing Climates
■ Climate change is a present and growing threat to food production, social solidarity, and ecological well-being. It is negligent to do anything but center this reality in Extension programming. ● Extension must invest in horticultural research concerning food production in arid zones and regions where the climate is recognizably changing. Urban growers face unique environmental challenges, including soil, air, and water contamination, urban heat effects, and various pests. Research is needed to inform adaptable urban food production strategies given this context. ● Extension staff must incorporate climate adaptation and mitigation strategies into their workshops and training courses.
○ Consider the Context of the (Post-) COVID-19 Era
■ The Covid-19 pandemic forced Extension staff to adapt as their
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