2013 PILD Conference

At last week’s 2013 PILD conference, I heard about a couple of national initiatives that, once developed, should help Extension organizations share impact data that can inform public value messages. In my own comments at the conference, I supported cross-state sharing of ideas, so I was encouraged to hear about these national projects.

First, I think it was NIFA director Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy who mentioned an effort this summer to develop a national portal for impact reporting that will consolidate Extension program impact results.

Second, I believe it was ECOP chair Dr. Daryl Buchholz who highlighted ECOP’s Measuring Excellence initiative. It appears that this project is meant to define and demonstrate excellence and to report impacts for Cooperative Extension as a whole. From the website: “Cooperative Extension has advanced from merely reporting inputs and outputs to documenting outcomes and impacts of its programs. However, most of these measures are tied to specific programs. They are not generally assessed or considered at the organizational level.” While the “excellence” part of the website is well-developed, the pages having to do with impact are still under construction. I look forward to the work that will populate these pages with resources and guidance for Extension impact teams. Meanwhile, I have to give a shout out for the public value statements on the front page of the website!

By the way, my notes from the PILD keynote talks are a little sparse. If I am wrong about which speaker spoke about which initiative, please correct me in the comments. And if you know more about how the portal or the Measuring Excellence project can strengthen Extension’s public value case, please share that, too!

(Photo credit: USDAgov on FlickR)

Earlier this week I spoke at the 2013 PILD Conference in Alexandria, VA. The title of my talk was “You can understand and effectively communicate the public value of Cooperative Extension,” but once I was done preparing my remarks, the title might as well have been, “In search of the elusive public value-level impacts.”

Because the goal of the public value approach is to persuade stakeholders–specifically, the non-participant payers of Extension programs–we must credibly argue that our programs will lead to impacts that affect the whole community, not only the participants. The Holy Grail of the public value approach, then is public value-level impacts. In the parlance of the UWextension Logic Model, these are long-term outcomes or impacts: Changes in social, economic, environmental, or civic conditions. Improved water quality, reduced public health costs, greater economic vitality and resilience, higher property values, lower taxes, lower crime rates, more effective leadership.

To address this challenge, Extension organizations can begin with the end in mind, where the “end” is those elusive public value-level impacts. The fact is, not all of our programs were designed to achieve condition changes, and few come packaged with evaluation plans designed to document that level of impact. Keeping that need in mind can help us address this deficit as we move forward.

The action steps in the previous slide illustrate the inherent multi-disciplinarity of the public value approach. For each of the action steps, I have listed the skills or disciplines that I thought could contribute to the success of that step. For example, to effectively determine which public value-level impacts to pursue will require experts in community engagement, facilitation, public and legislative relations, and grant-writing as well as the program area’s subject matter scholars. You may disagree with my list or think of others to add. But we can probably agree that if multi-disciplinarity is a key ingredient to developing strong public value messages, then Extension, as a naturally multi-disciplinary system, is well-positioned to create its own future.

Another encouraging observation is that no Extension organization has to tackle the public value challenge alone–nor should it. We are all working on the same action steps for programs that have similarities across states. Working together and sharing ideas across states we can learn the best ways to tackle each of the steps, and make more efficient use of our resources.

Finally, putting these ideas together can help us strengthen Extension’s public value case and contribute to the organization’s sustainability.

Were you at the PILD conference? Do you agree or disagree with my comments? What did I miss that is important to your organization’s ability to make a public value case?

This year’s Public Issues Leadership Development (PILD) Conference, to be held April 21-24 in Alexandria, VA, has been organized around the theme of “What you CAN do!” The program is packed with practical guidance on how to effectively advocate for Extension with elected officials and stakeholders. There will be two opportunities to hear about the public value approach to communicating about Extension programs. On Monday I will give a keynote talk,”You CAN Understand and Effectively Communicate the Public Value of Cooperative Extension.” I will give a brief introduction to the public value approach and then present my current thinking about how Extension organizations can make a stronger public value case going forward. Then on Tuesday, I will teach a mini Building Extension’s Public Value Workshop for any conference attendees who have not been through the program or who would like to apply the approach to a program of their own. I hope to see you there!