PART ONE: THE IMPACT COLLABORATIVE ROADMAP
The core purpose of Extension Foundation’s Impact Collaborative practice for each Project Team going through the process and engagements, is to create measurable tangible impact[s] in its respective community [county, city, region] or university. To describe the process progression toward that impact, the Impact Collaborative methodology leverages a roadmap instrument, The Impact Collaborative Project Roadmap – available as a downloadable PDF here - allows participant teams to lay out and visualize their work through defining roles and responsibilities within each project team. The Impact Collaborative Roadmap design supports CES professionals in the role of facilitator and learning collaborator and seeks to leverage the wisdom of the community in implementing an impactful project, program, or initiative. Its structure is organized by combining the P.L.A.N. framework [ P urpose, L eaders & S takeholders, A ctions, N eeds] with a focus on how leaders and stakeholders drive action by identifying those R esponsible, those A ccountable, those needing to be C onsulted with and I nformed as well as those F acilitating the process [ RACI+F ]. This brings the focus to Extension professionals being the facilitators of the change, facilitators of project incubation, iteration, and implementation. The roadmap enables the structuring of the diverse expertise needed to inform, implement, and iterate the project. The Impact Collaborative Roadmap, therefore, allows a refocused consideration of the needed expertise that moves each individual project forward. This includes subject matter experts and key informants on aspects of implementation, accessible to the participant teams through Extension Foundation Impact Collaborative Engagements like Innovation Skill Building experiences, the Engage and Empower Online program, and Impact Collaborative Summits. It also seeks to engage community leaders with expertise and access to local channels and networks for implementation, as well as funding and resource partners, both locally, as well as those national or regional partners leveraged during Extension Foundation ’s Impact Collaborative events.
PART TWO: ENGAGEMENT IN COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
Through interviews with 35 Extension educators in two state Extension organizations, Vines (2018) identified the following as reasons educators prefer to use engaged models of program delivery. They are increased local program support, increased administrative support, increased achievement of medium and long-term outcomes, stronger relationships, and support for the future of Extension. The study also developed definitions that can be used to define the engaged and expert models of program delivery for Cooperative Extension .
2.1 Engaged Model
Definition: The engaged model of program delivery in Cooperative Extension is characterized by community involvement in all aspects of program development, sharing in the identification of issues to be addressed, developing a process for implementation and development of knowledge, evaluation and securing funding. Expertise and learning processes are shared. In the engaged model, Extension serves as a conduit between the community and the university. The engaged model is based on relationships with the community developed through continual interaction, partnerships and collaborations. Relationships and learning extend beyond traditional program boundaries. Learning experiences involving an engaged model are robust and rich, as the community works in both formal and informal settings to identify problems and develop solutions (Vines, 2018, Results and Conclusions para 1).
The conceptual framework for this model (Vines, 2018) is based on the use of collective impact (Kania & Kramer, 2011) for community involvement in identifying problems and working towards solutions. In
6
Powered by FlippingBook