Board?

WILD WEST DISTRICT EXTENSION AGENT

FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES

NANCY HONIG

 

 

Board?

Now if you looked at the title and thought, I do get a little board sometimes, you are not thinking of the same kind of board I am. I am talking about the kind of boards that you serve on within your communities. Now, if that statement totally turned you off, I encourage you to keep reading!

According to nonprofitpro.com, 28.3% of Americans (aged 16 and older) formally volunteer through an organization. But less than 0.2% of the U.S. population serves on a local government or school board at any given time. One of the things I have learned over my many years in Extension, is the importance of people serving, whether on a board, or as a volunteer for an organization or non-profit.

If you live in Haskell, Seward, and Stevens Counties, and are a taxpayer, you are part of the K-State Extension Wild West District. The Cooperative Extension Service is a national network that links university research to people’s needs through practical education. With a presence in all 105 counties, Extension agents help connect local residents with the university’s resources so they can solve problems and improve their lives, livelihoods, communities, and state. The local extension board is a partner with K-State Extension and is responsible for oversight of the local educational program, supervision of the professional extension agent staff and establishing a budget. In the Wild West District there are four elected officials who serve a four-year term. They sign up in the spring to run for the board similar to how local school board members are elected.

We also have Program Development Committees (PDCs), which help identify educational resources to address local needs. The committee consists of six volunteers for each of four committees that focus on the following areas: Agriculture and Natural Resources • Community Development • Family and Consumer Sciences • 4-H Youth Development.

Working with agents, PDC members understand and promote the mission of K-State Extension and serve their communities by:

• Expanding committee membership to ensure representation of important constituencies in local communities considering geographic distribution, age, gender, race, or other factors.
• Identifying needs and issues of agricultural producers, communities, families, and youth.
• Noting audiences in the county or district who are not being served and developing a proactive plan to engage them.

We are working within the district to update our committees and to identify individuals willing to serve as members of some of these committees. As extension agents we look to the people we serve to better understand the wants and needs within each of our counties. We have agents that cover a wide range of subjects with their expertise, but we need help to narrow down the priorities each year.

If you are eighteen years or older and live in one of the counties in the district you are eligible to serve. The PDC committees do not take up a great deal of time, but they serve an important service to help us serve our communities better. For more information, you can contact any of the agents in the Wild West District at your local extension office. Remember, if you are “board” we can certainly take care of that!

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