October 29, 2024
Conference of Opportunity Part II
I really appreciated how everyone engaged in the conference and hope everyone learned a lot and found the conference to be fun, intriguing and exhilarating. I know I did.
Earlier this month, I said this conference is one of opportunity, and I hope you found it to be so. We explored the possibility of adding six new transdisciplinary teams (TDTs) to our Local Foods and Stress & Resiliency TDTs:
• Childcare.
• Housing.
• Volunteers.
• Disaster Preparedness.
• Climate Resiliency.
• Workplace/Jobsite Health.
We met potential and current partners who joined us in our general sessions, TDT, PFT and other meetings to learn how they might collaborate with us. We also learned that we were going to work with our current and new partners to double down on eight really important issues in Kansas:
• Water.
• Rural health.
• Broadband.
• Leadership.
• Higher education access.
• Childcare
• Housing.
• Developing a hunger free Kansas.
As an example of that, Ed O’Malley, CEO of the Kansas Health Foundation (KHF), announced that his organization is investing $300,000 in a Hunger Free Kansas grant program. This program will provide funds to local units to enhance their local hunger free initiatives.
We also had a World Café where we discussed why and how we would address internal and external issues. We already began disseminating the results of those discussions, and we will continue to do so via email, the Tuesday Letter, Extension Updates, and Partnership Meetings.
It is now time to take advantage of these opportunities, whether you engage and work with a new colleague or partner on a project, join one of the new TDTs, double down on efforts to address one or more of those eight issues mentioned above, or apply for a Hunger Free Kansas grant.
Don’t wait to act. Begin where you are in a way that makes sense for you. While one can start too late, there is no such concept as starting too early. Start now.
How can you get started? One simple way is to let me know what opportunity you plan on seizing and why. You can do so by emailing me a short note at ghadley@ksu.edu.
We have many opportunities and more partnership resources to address issues important to the people and communities we serve. Let’s not waste them. It is time to act. Let’s go do great things!