As interest in local food development and urban agriculture increases, the Cooperative Extension Service is challenged to serve local and urban food communities in Arkansas. Urban farmers in Arkansas have differing motivations for operation than those in production agriculture, so understanding agricultural county agents' perceptions of urban…

The 4-H Professional Research, Knowledge and Competencies (PRKC) is a professional development framework that can be used to identify competency gaps and training needs of 4-H professionals. The PRKC consists of 6 competency domains, 1 being access, equity, and opportunity (AEO). A tailored design method was used to gather data and sort the…

Determining strategies for success within the urban environment is necessary for Cooperative Extension to accomplish its mission, particularly given the large percentage of Americans who now reside in or near cities. Three levels of needs exist within a system such as Extension: primary user, service provider, and system resources. A needs…

Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has been a widely utilized framework for educational practice and research (Ladson-Billings, 2014). It is built on the ethics of care, first established in consideration of education among Black youth (Ladson-Billings, 1995). However, applications of CRP to youth physical activity (PA) programs are largely…

Urbanization is causing a major shift in Extension's programming throughout the United States. We present results of a nontraditional urban program (the Parent-Child Reading Enhancement Program) that is being implemented by Alabama Cooperative Extension System's Urban Affairs and New Nontraditional Programs unit. Findings suggest that this…

The Welikeia project and the corresponding free online tool Visionmaker. NYC focus on the historical landscape ecologies of New York City. This article provides a brief introduction to online participatory tools, describes the Visionmaker tool in detail, and offers suggested ways to use the tool for Extension professionals based in and outside New…

Using social media is an inexpensive, innovative approach to supplementing direct education provided by the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Focus group research was conducted with EFNEP paraprofessionals (n = 33) and participants (n = 39) to inform the development of a social media presence for the program. Although…

This article explores shared space at the University of Minnesota's Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach Engagement Center (UROC), located four miles off campus in a community strong in assets, but facing inequality, disinvestment and racism. UROC's mission promotes university-community collaboration to solve critical urban challenges. We…