February 19, 2019
What’s in a Name?
Please consider the following:
• A group of parents and law enforcement officers are concerned about the rise in “boredom induced” juvenile delinquency in a community and wonder what to do;
• Tired of seeing boarded up windows in the vacant business buildings on Main Street, a group of town citizens gather to discuss what they might do to revitalize their town;
• A group of producers and agribusiness professionals is gathering to discuss how to mitigate the poor ag economy’s effects on their county;
• Concerned by rising heavy metal contamination of local water supplies, public water officials and concerned citizens gather to discuss how to provide safe drinking water in the city; and,
• A letter-to-the-editor from the region’s clergy encourages people to be concerned about the rise in health problems and the lack of adequate health care facilities in the region.
Each situation relates to at least one of our Grand Challenges. Each situation represents a complex issue. Each situation will need the facilitation, networking, partnerships, needs assessment, research-backed content expertise, program coordination and evaluation capabilities that Extension possesses.
Do we ignore these situations? Do we wait until we are called upon to provide this or that? Do we offer to contribute early on in the process, connect with our partners, help shepherd the project forward, and offer our assistance when it is needed?
I hope that most of us see the wisdom of responding in the manner of the third question. In fact, we can probably each think of an issue or two (or three, four or infinity) that we have addressed in this manner during our Extension careers. By the way, when you have engaged in this manner, you have used a Policy, Systems and Environment (PSE) approach.
Wait a minute! We have used the same approach that we are being made to use in our Culture of Health initiative? No, I mean we have used the approach that we GET to use in the Culture of Health initiative, and we should be using this approach, as we have in the past, to help people address the grand challenges in their lives and communities. We just now call that method of professional response something: PSE.
PSE. What’s in a name? The way we help the people of Kansas to address the difficult and complex issues they face as they try to improve their lives, livelihoods and communities.