April 23, 2024
KSRE Delegation Attends Conference in Washington D.C.
The Joint Council of Extension Professionals (JCEP) recently hosted the Public Issues Leadership Development (PILD) conference in Washington D.C. This educational conference is set in in our nation’s capitol to emphasis the advocacy with national legislation affecting extension across every state.
Attendees are provided training on activities that our national leaders are working on for the national system and learn about what other states are experiencing with their own state-wide advocacy. The conference consists of two days of traditional conference style presentations and breakouts, followed by a day of delegate visits to the hill to visit with senators and representatives (in many cases their legislative assistants).
K-State Research and Extension was represented at the conference with officers from extension professional associations, State Extension Advisory Council members and extension administration.
The meetings opened with welcomes and guest speakers. Ethan Orr, director of Arizona extension, then addressed the audience with the importance of the Cooperative Extension budget and how Arizona has doubled their budget with a focus on partnerships to make meaningful change.
This was followed by an Extension Committee on Organizational Policy (ECOP) leadership panel that addressed questions on building capacity within extension systems in their respective states and the affect it has had within their legislative support. Similarly, a panel of extension professionals discussed engagement skills that they utilized at the state and local level.
The preparation for a trip to visit legislators was conducted by Christina Laridaen of Lewis-Burke Associates, which included the do's and don’ts of what can be done when visiting with congressional representatives. It’s always interesting to hear stories of folks that work closely with the legislators.
The breakout sections had many excellent talks, including some from our very own Becky Reid, but also included the eight program action teams that ECOP is focusing on at this time:
1) Climate Mitigation, Resiliency, and Adaption: Connection to Climate.
2) Health Equity and Well-Being.
3) Urban Agriculture and Food Systems.
4) Broadband Access and Digital Skills.
5) Economic and Workforce Development.
6) 4-H Positive Youth Development.
7) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
8) Food Systems and Food Waste.
To learn more about ECOP and the action plans, please visit https://pats.extension.org.
A key theme emphasized throughout the conference was utilizing the strong partnership that extension has with other organizations. My impression was that KSRE employees are the greatest strength we have in maintaining and growing our presence. As the saying goes, “all politics are local,” and the legislative folks are hearing what is going on back home. Keep it up folks!
Many of the staff that we met with during the legislative visits had local ties to Extension and/or were K-State graduates. A couple of them were 4-H graduates and it showed in their understanding of KSRE.