Chapter Professional Development: Serving our Members

Julie Buck, Idaho Theta Chapter and Sandy Corridon, Maryland Tau Chapter

Idaho – Theta Chapter

Members of the ESP Idaho Theta group are participating in a Book Club to read leadership books and then to meet in a Zoom meeting to be led in a discussion. The books which have been chosen are, "Dealing with Difficult People: 24 Lessons for Bringing Out the Best in Everyone" by Brinkman and Kirschner. "Mindsight" by Daniel J. Siegel. "Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek. Other books which the University of Idaho Extension has provided to Extension faculty (agents) are "The Happiness Advantage" by Shawn Achor, "Choose to Matter" by Julie Foudy, and "Small Acts of Leadership" by G. Shawn Hunter.

Book clubs have a long history of providing groups a meeting for like-minded and varied interest persons to share their insights about a selected reading. Clubs meet in libraries, virtually, and as families to share in good company and good food.

As the county chair in my office, I have used the three books provided by my university as a source of leadership thoughts to share during staff/faculty monthly meetings. My listening to "Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek provided a look at how businesses and industries have treated employees with varying results. The title of the book is from the practice in the military branch of the Marines regarding serving meals in mess halls. Leaders in the Marines eat last because they rely on their support staff to run the working parts of the offices, the service men, and women to be first to the battle, and then the leaders eat last to honor the many working persons to make a military effort successful. What a great idea! The Marine’s practice of leaders eating last reminds me of how our six children ate at the evening meal. To make sure everyone had enough food for their growing bodies, I would adjust my portion accordingly and serve myself last. As a dietitian, making sure those most in need at a meal are fed first is not a new concept. Using the practice in our various work settings would be a game changer.

Maryland – Tau Chapter

Members of the Tau chapter for the last 2 years have used our national conference as a spin off for professional development for our chapter members. Following the national meeting, we hold a Tau chapter meeting via zoom. Our professional development component of that meeting includes highlights from the national meeting. We've had members who attended the national meeting report on keynote speakers take-aways and have additionally used some recordings of conference programs. We've also asked our members who were presenters at the national meeting to share their presentation during our zoom session. Our goal is getting the best information sharing we can offer our membership from national meeting attendees. Last year we engaged our Extension IT Specialist to provide a hands-on presentation to help us all get better at utilizing zoom. This professional development activity was offered to all University of Maryland extension faculty.

The ESP Professional Development committee looks forward to hearing about professional development activities in other chapters across the country. If you would like to highlight your chapter’s efforts, email Travis West, Chair PD Committee at west.222@osu.edu

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Urban and Culturally Diverse Audiences Affinity Group (UCDA) Chartered by the National ESP Board

As a member of Epsilon Sigma Phi, you have likely heard about the Urban and Culturally Diverse Audiences (UCDA) Affinity Group. Discussions on the need for Affinity Groups within ESP have been held since 2016 with efforts to organize Latino and Latino-serving Extension Professionals. Later, separate discussions about urban and urban-serving Extension Professionals began to develop. In 2018, these two efforts merged to form the UCDA Affinity Group. Last month, the ESP National Board adopted the Group’s draft charter to formalize its position within the national organization.

“The National Board’s adoption of the UCDA Charter is a strong signal that The Extension Professional’s Organization is dedicated to increasing our collective cultural competence and is committed to providing inclusive spaces for its members to address urban issues,” said Affinity Group Co-Chair Marlin Bates.

The Charter for the UCDA Affinity Group emphasizes the mission and vision established in 2020, introduces structure to the leadership team and creates spaces for members to pursue work in areas of interest through a hub and connection group model. The authors were deliberate in their efforts to draft the charter to make the Affinity Group as welcoming and inclusive as possible and to depart from conventional committee structures that can be viewed as unapproachable by some. “The Connection Group model is an invitation to anyone in ESP with an idea to connect with others and provide a supporting platform for pursuing it,” said Karen Sergent. “We hope that this structure inspires grassroots work and influences the structure of other efforts within the Cooperative Extension model,” Marvin Young said.

The current leadership team was full of gratitude for their predecessors – leaders of these discussions that both assembled a critical mass of Extension Professionals and defined the roles of the early Affinity Groups and then coordinated their merger. “Our role in bringing this formalizing document to the National Board was the final stone in the foundation of what we hope to be an enduring platform for progress in Epsilon Sigma Phi and the profession as a whole,” said Marlin Bates.

The full charter can be reviewed on the group by visiting the Affinity Group page on the National ESP website: Epsilon Sigma Phi - Urban and Diverse Affinity Group (espnational.org)

ESP Members interested in learning more about the UCDA Affinity Group are encouraged to join the group by attending a monthly gathering on the second Tuesday of the month at 12:30 PM Eastern.

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Peer Reviewed Articles

Creating Change Through School Gardening

Eva Timothy, Utah Iota Chapter

Recent droughts, natural disasters, a breakdown in global supply chains, and worldwide health concerns have led to financial strain for farmers and ranchers. Furthermore, it has limited consumers' access to specialty crop foods (fruits, vegetables, and nuts). Rural areas are at higher risk for food insecurity due to demand, limited access, transportation difficulties, the distance between towns and a grocery store, and higher numbers of residents being unemployed or underemployed. As a result, some states began programs to distribute goods from local producers to community members.

From March 2021-September 2021, 4-H staff, a Home and Community Professor, an Agriculture, Horticulture, and Natural Resources Professor, and an Agricultural Communication Associate Professor worked together to implement a school garden and farm stand to increase specialty crop food access in a rural county to school-aged children and families. A local, unused garden area containing 8 raised beds was updated and used to produce 299.8 pounds and 7.4 oz of garden-fresh foods. The county Extension office collaborated with an elementary school, county fair, and county offices building to hold 11 farm stand days to distribute food to 199 residents.

The 2021 season served as a pilot for the farm stand. We used intercept surveys at the farm stands to capture data about the consumers’ knowledge on how to access, produce, prepare, and preserve specialty crop foods. Data were collected from 10 consumers who picked up specialty crops at the farm stand. Five consumers strongly agreed they can grow food in a garden, while three consumers somewhat agreed, and two consumers were undecided. Six consumers were confident they could use food from the garden in meals or snacks. Whereas three consumers were somewhat agreed and one consumer was undecided about their confidence. Eight consumers either strongly agreed or agreed they were confident in their ability to safely preserve foods grown in a garden, purchased at the farm stand, or from a grocery store. Two consumers strongly disagreed they can safely preserve food grown in a garden or purchased at the farm stand, or from a grocery store. This pilot increased community access to foods and surveying farm stand consumers provided feedback that will guide educational offerings within a rural county.