Turning the Tide on Poverty: The role of the Cooperative Extension Service in the initiative

Abstract

Cooperative Extension Services (CES) played a critical role in the Turning the Tide on Poverty (Tide) project in the southern US. In an effort to explore how CES professionals perceived their role in the initiative, data were collected from CES leaders and agents. Focus groups were held at the beginning (N  =  11) and conclusion (N  =  12) of the first year with Extension leadership to discuss their thoughts on CES’ role in civic engagement activities. Survey data were collected from Extension agents (N = 17) to gauge attitudes and beliefs during the course of Tide. Leadership and agents noted potential to expand and strengthen outreach through Tide but also expressed concerns about constraints. Implications are that Tide provided a way to enhance the mission of CES and that community development efforts implemented through Tide could be replicated by other CES.

Keywords:

• Civic engagement
• community development
• Cooperative Extension Service
• outreach

Notes

1. At the inception of the Tide effort, Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) leaders assembled a team of both research and Extension professionals (“the research team”) from within the region served by the SRDC to help shape this work. Each member of the team was affiliated with a land-grant institution in his or her respective state. The research team guided the development of materials as well as the implementation of the program in local communities and ongoing program assessment. As the work continued, the team continued to guide and evaluate its impacts, helping to clarify and refine the path of the Extension outreach efforts. While the composition of the team has varied over the years, the team’s overall mission to ensure evidence-based directions has remained focused. For this special collection, all current, active research team members participated in the evaluation of lessons learned and outcomes from Tide to date. Research team members actively interviewed participants, coded and analyzed data, and prepared manuscripts to develop the body of knowledge contained in this journal edition.