By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK — The National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals has recognized University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture extension program associates for achievements in community and economic development.

TEAMWORK — Brandon L. Mathews, extension program associate for economic development for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, received the 2024 Southern Regional Winner team award for Education Materials from the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals. Left to right: Hunter Goodman, extension assistant professor for Community, Professional and Economic Development, Brandon L. Mathews, extension program associate for economic development for the Division of Agriculture, and Michelle Eley, NACDEP board president. (Division of Agriculture photo.)

The association awarded members of the division’s Community, Professional and Economic Development department with the 2024 Southern Regional Winner team award for Education Materials.

The department is part of the Cooperative Extension Service. Brandon L. Mathews, extension program associate for economic development for the Division of Agriculture, and former program associate Kamelle Gomez received the award.

The award recognized Mathews and Gomez’s collaboration on the Arkansas Business Navigator Project and its accompanying podcast. The project, which is an initiative of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, seeks to help small business owners and entrepreneurs access capital and other financial resources.

“I’m incredibly grateful to be recognized for the work we accomplished through the Arkansas Business Navigator Project and podcast,” Mathews said. “Being able to use my passion for storytelling in ways that support entrepreneurs and small business owners is something special.”

The National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals also recognized the Division of Agriculture for its Extension Health Ambassadors program, which is a partnership between CPED and the extension Family and Consumer Sciences unit. The Extension Health Ambassadors team was the runner-up for the association’s Cross-Team Award, which identifies “excellence in extension work that combines or integrates community resources and economic development activities with work in other program areas.”

The Extension Health Ambassadors program is funded by a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Rural Health and Safety Education grant. The program uses an asset-based community development model, an approach that focuses on utilizing a community’s existing strengths to meet their own needs. Extension team members recruit volunteers in Mississippi, Phillips, Pope, Clark, Hempstead and Hot Spring counties and train them in the fundamentals of public health promotion and education. These volunteers then lead community health programming in their own counties, helping to extend the impact of extension health programming in rural communities.

“This strong collaborative partnership between Family and Consumer Sciences and Community, Professional and Economic Development staff demonstrates Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service’s commitment to community engagement at the local level,” said Bryan Mader, extension assistant professor of health and co-project director for the Extension Health Ambassadors program. “This ground-up approach works to assist communities in identifying and prioritizing needs using assets and resources available within and among the community and its residents.

“These approaches bridge the gap between diverse populations and improved health, and they also build capacity and human capital toward health promotion and the identification of strategies for reducing chronic disease,” Mader said.

For more information about the Community, Professional and Economic Development unit, visit their Arkansas Business and Communities webpage. To learn more about the Family and Consumer Sciences unit, visit the extension Life Skills and Wellness Resources webpage.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.

By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK — The U.S. Economic Development Administration recently awarded a $650,000, five-year grant to the Cooperative Extension Service’s Community, Professional and Economic Development department to establish and operate a University Center. The center will serve extension’s mission to strengthen Arkansans and their communities by connecting them with research-based resources throughout the state.

MAKING AN IMPACT — The Cooperative Extension Service will work with Arkansas's eight Planning and Development Districts to serve as a resource for the state's economic development system as part of a new, five-year grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (U.S. Economic Development Administration graphic.)

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Extension Center for Rural Resilience and Workforce Development will not be a physical location, but rather a resource serving the state’s “economic development ecosystem,” with a particular focus on rural marginalized populations, including Hispanic and Marshallese communities.

Hunter Goodman, extension director of the University Center for the Division of Agriculture, said an economic development ecosystem “includes all of the organizations and groups that focus on improving local economies, which might include chambers of commerce, business consulting organizations, cities, counties, regional nonprofits and lenders, as well as county extension offices.”

Goodman said this work will be done in partnership with Arkansas’ eight Planning and Development Districts, or PDDs, which are funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. PDDs are multi-jurisdictional entities, commonly composed of multiple counties and sometimes across state borders. Goodman said PDDs develop local and regional strategies for comprehensive economic development, and they partner with public, private and non-profit sectors to implement these strategies.

Working with these PDDs, extension will offer training and workshops for their staff and community partners — such as municipalities, council members, chambers of commerce or quorum courts — on strategic planning and facilitation, grant writing, data literacy and more. This training will also involve teaching staff how to develop culturally relevant outreach opportunities for marginalized communities.

Brandon L. Mathews, extension program manager for the University Center, said staff from the PDDs “expressed a desire to connect to rural, Hispanic and Marshallese communities, but needed assistance developing the right resources, personnel, and networks.”

“There are organizations that support these three populations, and extension wants to be a statewide resource that brings these organizations together to provide workshops and training to communities who need them,” Mathews said. “Across the state, these organizations provide business consulting to entrepreneurs and small business owners, and they have a vested interest in the same three communities.”

Mathews said that by creating better communication among these organizations and the populations they seek to assist, more opportunities for economic development can be made available — such as county or regional job fairs with information about small business support, employee trainings, financing and capital, and mentoring opportunities.

Tracking workforce data

Extension’s University Center will also develop a data resource center focusing on workforce data. The University Center will partner with Heartland Forward, a Bentonville-based nonprofit that studies “broad economic trends and builds data-driven and community-tested partnerships, programs and policies to address local needs,” Mathews said.

“Heartland Forward is excited to partner with extension to deliver data tools and build capacity at the local and regional levels in Arkansas around workforce development,” said Dave Shideler, chief research officer for Heartland Forward.

“Heartland Forward will create interactive data dashboards called ‘labor market observatories’ for the eight PDDs, which will focus on workforce data primarily for rural, Hispanic and Marshallese populations,” Mathews said.

These dashboards will be used to identify and analyze labor market trends and opportunities for future programming — workshops, trainings and other extension outreach.

Goodman said Heartland Forward staff will coach extension county agents through a curriculum that teaches them workforce development skills, helps them identify and address the needs of workers and employers in rural communities, and equips them as trainers to then share these resources within their Planning and Development Districts.

The University Center began work on Oct. 1, 2023, and Goodman said an official announcement of program activities will be released later this year. Members of the Division of Agriculture’s University Center team include the center’s director and principal investigator, Hunter P. Goodman; Brandon L. Mathews, extension program associate for economic development; Tabatha Duvall, extension program associate for community workforce and economic development; and Julie Robinson, extension associate professor of leadership development.

To learn more about the Center for Rural Resilience and Workforce Development, contact Goodman at hgoodman@uada.edu or Mathews at bmathews@uada.edu.

Extension staff recognized for community, economic development achievements

Cooperative Extension Service receives $650,000 grant to fund University Center