● “Extension has such a ‘Good -Old- Boy’ mentality. ” (R12)
● “[Extension] is built on this information deficit model of, ‘there are these people, they have these empty heads, just fill them up and they'll make the right d ecisions.’ People aren't making bad decisions because they don't have enough information. They're making bad decisions, because of a multitude of other things. They're trapped in a system. They have these values that are from another time. There are so many reasons why they're not making the decisions we wish they would make and it's not information …it's bigger than that. ” (R13)
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Extension Culture & Programming
Several respondents raised challenges related to a lack of diversity, equity and inclusivity within our Extension culture and suggested the need to actively invite and engage more fully around C/EW issues with Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), Multilingual, and LGBTQIA Communities. These observations are especially relevant given that these communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change and extreme weather events and that they are also often underrepresented and underserved by Extension.
● “In the current environment, climate and environmental justice is a big issue .” (R06)
● “At least one of the counties that I’m involved with in my unit ...has a very large Hispanic population. That population is very hard to reach with Extension programming and we need more educator folks who are bilingual to help out with that. And that’s one of the main drawbacks, that we don’t have the bilingual skills [within Extension] to address that.” (R08) ● One expressed a top need of “...being able to translate the products and information into different languages and make it more accessible .” (R10)
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