CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon State University Extension Service will use a five-year, $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to coordinate USDA-funded projects that cultivate the next generation of research, education and Extension professionals in food and agricultural sciences.
Together for Innovating Youth in Agriculture, housed at OSU and designating OSU Extension as a National Center of Excellence for Youth Development, will emphasize support, collaboration and technology to help regional and national projects succeed. OSU will be the sole institution maintaining the Youth Innovators Empowering Agriculture Across America Coordination Network, or YEA-CN.
“With this grant, our faculty and staff will bring proven expertise to a national network,” said Kristopher Elliott, associate director of OSU Extension and the grant’s principal investigator. “For example, we are a national leader in positive youth development. The 4-H Thriving Model, developed by our faculty, is used widely across the country and is a likely component of projects in the Youth Innovators Empowering Agriculture Across America program.”
Elliott noted OSU Extension’s leadership in launching Oregon’s statewide Outdoor School program in 2017, coordinating 197 school districts and more than 30,000 students in its first year. That effort built reporting and evaluation systems, professional development, a curriculum clearinghouse and culturally responsive programming — an approach OSU Extension will apply to Together for Innovating Youth in Agriculture.
What the grant will do
OSU Extension will integrate racial justice, equity and opportunity frameworks into programs, training and evaluation. The team will also lead development of youth climate change curriculum with an emphasis on “climate-smart” agriculture and forestry.
First-year responsibilities include:
- Hiring staff, including a program coordinator and an evaluation coordinator.
- Developing a public website in English and Spanish to serve as the primary information hub and showcase project impacts.
- Convening project leaders to create a clearinghouse of projects and activities, supported by a custom data dashboard for milestones, progress and evaluation.
- Hosting professional development events and workshops, highlighted by a national conference.
- Establishing a national steering committee of young people and adults from each regional project.
- Launching development of comprehensive climate change curriculum emphasizing agriculture and forestry.
USDA priorities for funded projects
According to the agency, all Youth Innovators Empowering Agriculture Across America projects align with USDA priorities and include:
- Engagement of young people in agricultural careers.
- Culturally relevant experiential learning.
- Focused collaboration with Tribal communities and designated U.S. insular areas (American Samoa, Guam, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
- Access and participation among underrepresented young people and communities.
- Hybrid training programs.
Youth Innovators Empowering Agriculture Across America is a program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s Education and Workforce Development Program.
Previously titled USDA awards $10 million to OSU to serve as coordinator of innovative projects for youths in agriculture
