December 9, 2024

One of NERCRD’s longstanding priorities is to promote capacity building for Extension professionals within the Northeast region. Through a partnership facilitated by the Association of Northeast Extension Directors (NEED) Association, the Center recently collaborated with Dr. Justine Lindemann (Assistant Professor) and Cristy Schmidt (Senior Research Associate) from Penn State University to design and deliver the Northeast Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) Workshop, which was hosted by University of Delaware Extension in Newark, Delaware, from November 11-14, 2024. Justine and Cristy were part of a team from across the region that included Abby Harper (based in Maine, formerly with Michigan State Extension), Patreese Ingram (professor emeritus, Penn State), Melissa Schroeder (Cornell University), and Jennifer Seabrook-Scott (University of Delaware) to lead and facilitate the workshop.

Sixteen people representing nine Land Grant Universities from the Northeast region participated in the workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to enhance the capacity of Extension professionals’ ability to understand and integrate DEIJ principles into their Extension programming, especially in their community-facing work. Through the dialogue-based curriculum, the facilitators led discussions on topics including different forms of discrimination and inequity at personal, interpersonal, systemic, and institutional levels, building relationships within the communities we serve, and understanding the role of race and racism in history of land-grant universities. Participants worked collaboratively to develop action plans for integrating these topics into their programming areas and on how all Extension programs can help address issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.

This was the second such workshop held in the Northeast region. The facilitator team facilitated a similar workshop in Philadelphia in 2023, which was organized and funded by NEED under the leadership of NEED Executive Director Ali Mitchell. Both workshops have drawn upon the processes and principles from the award-winning Coming Together for Racial Understanding curriculum spearheaded by the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy and the Southern Rural Development Center. NERCRD is pleased to have sponsored this latest offering with the goal of growing the region’s capacity for embedding DEIJ principles within all Extension program areas.

NERCRD is grateful for the willingness of the facilitator team to lead this program in the region and for the participants’ commitment to engage in this important topic. We look forward to the learning more about the future efforts and impacts that will result from this program in the region.