The targeting life skills model created by Dr. Patricia A. Hendricks represents the skills developed by youths participating in 4-H. The model is used to identify desired learning and action outcomes of positive youth development programs. An article related to the origins and validation of the model was never published. This oral history…

In this thought leader commentary, we review the potential devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people, including trauma, impacts on mental health, socioemotional distress, and changes in academic learning. Stating that 4-H is uniquely positioned to mitigate these effects through intentional positive youth development efforts, we…

Extension has developed a strong evaluation culture across the system for the last 15 years. Yet measures are still limited to the private value of programs, looking at problems in a linear way and at isolated efforts. Across the country, Extension evaluators and administrators need to step up to help answer the "so what?" question about…

With education failing nationwide and economic restraints affecting both rural and urban educational institutions, Extension should be taking a more aggressive stance instead of operating in what has now become the way of Extension and "collecting numbers." Why isn't Extension more visible in the urban populations that reside in our own backyards?…

Extension's primary role is to educate. The demands of the future require that extension agents enhance their abilities as professional educators, enhance their status as professional experts at the local level, and become more visible as faculty in the land-grant university system. (SK)

The author suggests that the business of extension is getting people to apply knowledge and use information. He makes observations concerning people and their use of information and knowledge. He presents five characteristics upon which future extension programs should be built. (CT)

Focuses on the implications of the increased complexity, diversity, and uncertainty of the future in relation to marketing Extension Education. (JOW)

Lists some of the most common questions extension field staff ask when working with distressed farm families. (JOW)

Describes the twofold objective of a study: (1) to determine how members of the South Carolina legislature perceived the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service and (2) to determine the association between legislators' perceptions of the service and their role in the legislature. (JOW)

Describes (1) the needs of family caregivers and the attributes of Extension Homemakers that make them suitable to address these needs and (2) how the Volunteer Information Provider (VIP) Program forged a successful liaison between Extension-trained volunteers and family caregivers. (JOW)

The author lists four goals in teaching marketing to farmers: Change the farmers' attitudes about marketing; encourage them to plan their marketing and integrate it with the production, financing, and risk-bearing aspects of their business; get their marketing into a decision-making context; and help them monitor their progress. (CT)

Compares qualitative and quantitative data, identifies common qualitative methods, describes a step-by-step process for gathering and analyzing qualitative data, and discusses two applications of the process to Extension. (Author)

The 4-H program can be improved if Extension agents administer rather than conduct the program. This means that leaders will have to be well-recruited and trained, and take responsibility for conducting much of the program. (Author)

Discusses two teaching models for dealing with public policy issues. The Advocacy Model is used in taking a stand on policy issues and the Alternative-Consequences Model is used if the educator believes that he/she should not take a stand. (JOW)

Charts trends in the family, the composition of the population, and rural economics and highlights the challenges to extension education posed by these changes. (SK)