October 4, 2016
Is an Extension District in Your Future?
County Extension boards, county administrators, and county commissioners are showing renewed interest in understanding what it means to organize into a multi-county Extension district. We have the experience and evidence that Research and Extension can better serve the people of Kansas with broader capacity and specialization at the local level by organizing into multi-county Extension districts. Extension districts assure the future for a strong local presence of Kansas State University’s Extension educational programming serving the interests of the people for the long haul.
But, moving from a county to a multi-county based structure is change, and change raises concern for side effects. JD McNutt has likened making this change to being given a prescription drug. Experience tells us taking this prescription will improve the health and capacity of local Extension programs, and will stabilize the funding resources at an adequate level for those local Extension programs to thrive for the long haul. All it requires is a positive attitude among all those involved in taking the prescription.
Now, with any prescription drug, you will always be told of possible side effects. Do you worry about the side effects if you have confidence that the purpose in taking the prescription will in fact improve your health? Does your current condition not have its problems? Is there really any side effect that cannot be remedied with a positive commitment and attitude by all involved?
I hope as an organization that we can all agree that multi-county Extension districts will be of greatest benefit to the people we serve, and isn’t that our purpose? We bring the research-based knowledge and educational experiences out of Kansas State University to the people of this state for their ultimate benefit. I look forward to the excitement of having several more counties organized into multi-county Extension districts within 2017 and 2018. If you have questions or need help, we are ready to support your process to move forward. Just reach out and seek that support.