September 30, 2009
Thomas W. Blaine, Editor
CD Colleagues: Greetings!
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Notes from Interim AD, John Conglose
Greetings:
CD Educators in their respective EERAs have been busy delivering programming, developing new programs relative to clientele needs, teaching, providing service and creating scholarly work over the past month. Here are highlights from just three of these activities: * 110 people from throughout the state ranging from elected and appointed public officials, lawyers, educators from other educational institutions as well as OSU Extension and University Educators gathered on September 16th at the 4-H Center for the 15th Annual Ohio Land Use Conference 2009. Peggy Kirk-Hall along with Jill Clark, both from AEDE Dept, College of Agriculture, provided leadership for this event with a number of CD Educators serving as presenters, moderators and committee members to get this event accomplished. The State CD office provided support with techonology, registration and meals. * The Roads Scholars Tour made a stop in Wyandot County where Eric Romich, CD Educator for the Erie Basin EERA, hosted a lunch and conducted an educational program for over 100 guests including Roads Scholars Tour attendees and various public officials and business leaders from throughout the County. President Gee and the Ohio President and Chief Operating Officer from American Electric Power, Joe Hamrock, were speakers on the agenda. The program highlighted the first Solar Energy field to be built in the State of *CD educators in each EERA are in the process of developing and circulating a research tool to assess the Community Development Needs in each OSU Extension Education and Research Area (EERA). You will also be hearing more about this tool in future editions. As we move forward in the implementation of the OSU Extension Strategic Plan there are going to be many possibilities and opportunities for Community Development programming. Please let us know of your ideas by contacting us at http://comdev.osu.edu/ |
Local Foods Signature Program Proposal – Work Day
When: Thursday, October 8, 2009 from 10:00 am till 3:00 pm (9:30 am for coffee!)
RSVP via Zoomerang: http://ag.osu.edu/Redirect/www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229N4PSRSFY This 1-day working session will focus on developing a PROPOSAL to create a new “Local Foods Signature Program.” This is a multi-disciplinary proposal that is evolving to pull together the good work so many people have been doing throughout the state. Curriculum modules will be contributed by various individuals/teams. Some ideas include: - Overview of local/regional food systems & what’s happening in Brian Raison and Julie Fox will be compiling the agenda and sending pre-meeting assignments in the coming week. The 8th is a working session; so dress comfortably. Please bring a brown-bag & drink for lunch. There will be a break for about 30 minutes, then the group will dive back in! If you have questions, contact Brian at raison.1@osu.edu or Julie at foxosu@gmail.com |
BR&E Seminar Opportunity
Now is the time to schedule your area’s fall program seminar with interested local officials, development leaders, community leaders, Extension county directors, regional directors, area leaders and other Extension educators. The goal: to better understand the BR&E program’s objectives, how it is typically delivered, and how it can be tailored to best meet community needs. We’ll also be unveiling newly created CommTech ‘branded’ materials. The group is envisioning a 60-minute seminar-type program that is co-sponsored with each of the area CD educators that will facilitate: 1. greater awareness and increased interest in the BR&E program;
To learn more or to get your seminar scheduled please contact Greg Davis or any of the other planning team members: Nancy Bowen, David Civittolo, or Joe Lucente. To learn more on your own, check out BR&E on the web at http://ag.osu.edu/Redirect/localecon.osu.edu/brne |
Survey Says! - Cleveland Community Gardeners Respond to Summer Survey – Thomas W. Blaine
This summer, a group of student interns at OARDC (Ohio Agricultural Research and Community gardens are urban open spaces shared by local residents to grow food and ornamental plants. Typically, community gardens are divided into separate plots with individual participants gardening one or more plot. The land used for community gardens is often owned either by the city or a non-profit organization such as a church. Extension plays an important role in the program in The community garden folks at Cuyahoga County Extension gave us a list of names and phone numbers of program participants. We randomly selected a total of 390 gardeners with valid phone numbers, and we made the calls. We finished up with a total of 124 completed surveys. Here are highlights of some of the things we found: Community gardens bring people from a wide range of age and income groups together: Ages of gardeners range from 14 to 85. Peak participation is among those in their 50s, and the average age overall is 55. A total of about 52% of gardeners have household incomes below $40 thousand a year - yet 20%, or one in five, have incomes above $80 thousand. Participation in the program leads to significant changes in the diets of participants: A total of 74% of those who have been in the program for more than a year said that their diet has changed as a result. Among those who are in their first year, a total of 71% said they expect that their diet will change as a result of gardening Community gardening promotes a sense of altruism: Every single gardener surveyed grows edible produce, but a total of half (50%) also grow flowers. A total of 31% give vegetable or fruit they produce to local food banks, hunger shelters, or other charities. We also found that the gardeners who donate some of their produce spend about 40% more time working on their plots than other gardeners do. Overall, the average gardener spends about 7 - 10 hours a week working on his or her plot. Community gardening “grows on” participants: Nearly half of the respondents (48%) have been in the program for fewer than five years, but over one in four (28%) have been doing community gardening for 10 years or more. Those who have been in the program longer spend more time per week working on their plots, about 2 hours more per week for every 10 years in the program.
Taken together, the results of our study show that community gardening plays an important role in the lives of people who participate in the program, and it also benefits the community. I want to thank everyone who helped make our study possible. If you are interested in doing a survey of people in your community, clientele groups, elected officials, or others, please contact me at blaine.17@osu.edu |
Award Opportunities
Being awarded for professional work in community development is an important part of the process of promotion and has a very definite place on a Curriculum Vitae. It is also important as we build our CD unit into a team of highly sought after and recognized CD professionals. Below is a summary of award titles, sources and deadlines that would apply to CD appointments.
Epsilon Sigma Phi (ESP), http://ag.osu.edu/Redirect/www.espnational.org/
1. ESP National, Regional and Special Awards, submit by 10/1/09, Jessica Rockey (rockey.16@osu.edu)
2. Excellence in Extension Award, submit by 9/20/09Vicki Schwartz (Schwartz.4@osu.edu)
1. Specialty Awards (Individual and Team)
2. Communicator Awards (Individual and Team)
3. Service Awards
As you all can see, there are plenty of opportunities available for recognition. Multiple awards are no problem - so make sure to apply for as many as you want or nominate colleagues. Hopefully, we’ll make an even bigger impact for recognitions at Annual OSU Extension Conference and NACDEP this year. If you have questions or additional information, please contact Nancy Bowen at: nbowen@cfaes.osu.edu |
Still Time to Register for 4th Annual Why Trees Matter Forum
There is still time to register for the 4th Annual Why Trees Matter Forum that will be held on October 27th. The event will be held in Fisher Auditorium on the Wooster Campus of OARDC. This year’s speaker is Mr. Joe R. McBride, Professor of Urban Forestry in the Department of Landscape Architecture, |
KUDOS
- OSU Extension CD Educator, Glenn Welling, is back from Iraq and we are very proud of his accomplishments while serving our country. Glenn was awarded the Bronze Star which recognized that during his command there was not a single incident of misconduct or abuse of detainees. Before the Ohio State - Navy football game Glenn was recognized for his June 2008 - 2009 service in Iraq where he was Command Master Chief for a Navy Provisional Detainee Battalion. Congratualtion Glenn and welcome back to work with us in the Community Development Program! |
Dates to Remember:
- There is still time to register for the 4th Annual Why Trees Matter Forum that will be held on October 27th. The event will be held in Fisher Auditorium on the Wooster Campus of OARDC. http://woostercenter.osu.edu/why-trees-matter/why-trees-matter - Farmland Preservation Summit - Nov. 5, 2009 - Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center, Columbus - OSU Extension Annual Conference - Dec. 16 - 17, 2009 - Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, 4900 Sinclair Road, Columbus - NACDEP Annual Conference - April 12 - 14, 2010 - Bloomington, MN |