The last of three regional meetings for UNH Cooperative Extension staff took place Thursday at the Memorial Union Building Thursday. Five topics, Civil Rights, a financial update, a communications and information technology update, a Strategic Planning Implementation Team update, and an afternoon session on the public value of Extension, were the focus of the day-long meetings.

With USDA planning a Civil Rights audit of UNH Cooperative Extension in August, Paul Bonaparte-Krogh asked staff to take a moment to do a Civil Rights compliance self-assessment tool and talked about the updated resources on our Civil Rights web page.

Hugh Christian provided staff with an update on Extension’s finances, and I took the opportunity to announce that the University has approved filling those positions vacated through the University’s Separation Incentive Plan.

David Foote showcased some new technology staff may find useful, such as the social bookmarking tool del.icio.us, as well as the current efforts to create a repository database and promotional efforts focused on our weekly radio spots with WTPL.

Mike Koski, a member of the Strategic Planning Implementation Team, provided an update, noting that the first round of Significant Issue Grants resulted in three awards. (Darrel Covell and Charlene Baxter presented this information at the previous two regional meetings.) As part of the update on the Strategic Plan, an issues identification/prioritization process for staff is in the implementation stage.

The Public Values workshop in the afternoon, led by Paul Bonaparte-Krogh with assistance from Charlene Baxter, Jim Grady and David Foote, looked at how Extension can explain the value of its program to direct participants and to those who don't directly benefit from the programs. (George Morse, retired Minnesota Extension associate dean, presented this workshop at the previous two regional meetings.) Further public value training will take place later this year.