Building Extension's Public Value through Community Capital Investments

Success Stories

In the history of the land grant mission, the need to document the value and the impact of our work has never been greater. To meet this challenge, a group of Extension faculty have developed a training program for community development Extension professionals. The unique program combines two heretofore separate approaches: The Public Value of Extension Programs and The Community Capitals Framework. The combined approach acknowledges that Extension programs, by generating public value, help develop community capitals. Recognizing how individual Extension programs contribute to community capitals highlights opportunities for Extension to focus its investments.

The new one-and-a-half-day program, "Building Extension's Public Value through Community Capital Investments," consists of a series of interactive workshops, including opportunities for participants to work together in program teams. These teams leave the training with (1) a draft of a "public value message" (a response to the question, "Why should your program receive public funding?"); (2) a "map" of how program inputs benefit public life through community capital investments; and (3) a sketch of a program evaluation design that uses community capitals to identify indicators, outcomes, and impacts.

In October 2005, the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD) the Northeast Section of NACDEP, the Northeast Family and Consumer Sciences Program Leaders, and Cornell Cooperative Extension co-sponsored the first training using this new program for the Northeast Region's community development Extension educators. In the proposed session, the program's organizers and presenters will describe the program's development, the workshop content, and the outcomes from the initial training.