Cooperative Extension System Climate Action Plan

Planning and Strategy Development

o Develop long-term farm planning that includes a vision for each operation through 2050

o Develop a standardized and replicable model for inclusive resilience planning that includes relevant goals, objectives, and policies

o Document community-specific data needs, such as data gaps that need to be filled

o Review existing policies and update as needed

• Collaboration and Partnership Building

o Formalize standing national and/or regional teams with interdisciplinary Extension professionals and partners o Build strategic relationships with finance professionals, USDA Service Centers, and others to help manage farms’ climate and financial risk hand in hand

o Build partnerships for engagement and implementation, for example via peer partners and networks

Education, Training, and Outreach

o List climate-smart practices and corresponding funding opportunities with insights on how to access funding, ensuring the science spans Indigenous knowledge and voices

o Conduct DEIJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice) training

o Explore and implement creative outreach strategies to engage people in historically underserved communities

Conduct workforce development

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o Enhance and implement improved Extension faculty onboarding

o Develop and provide field days, resources, videos, and workshops to showcase practices

Reporting and Evaluation

o Develop a national standardized reporting system to describe who is doing which activities, what are the outputs and impacts, and what funding was received by communities for their plans o Assess helpful indicators, including but not limited to NOAA # of communities that improve hazard resilience, NOAA # of communities that adopt sustainable development practices, and NOAA # of climate-ready community ambassadors

• Professional Development and Advocacy

o Develop Extension internships and Climate Conservation Corps mentorships

o Present to ECOP, NOAA, USDA, members of Congress, and other key collaborators to reinforce the mission and impact of the program Available Resources: Several existing resources in use by Extension today can be leveraged for delivery of the outcomes associated with this model. These include:

Extension personnel and expertise

• Networks and organizations with which Extension partners

• Expertise and frameworks for promoting equity/access (e.g. NextGen model)

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