UEI Fellows Program
Cohort One
View profiles for the participants selected for Cohort One of the Urban Extension Initiative.
View ParticipantsCohort Two
View profiles for the participants selected for Cohort Two of the Urban Extension Initiative.
View ParticipantsCohort Three
View profiles for the participants selected for Cohort Three of the Urban Extension Initiative.
View ParticipantsProgram Guidelines
Review guidelines for the Urban Extension Initiative (UEI) Fellows Program.
Review GuidelinesUrban Extension Initiative (UEI) Ambassadors Leadership Program
About the Program
The Urban Extension Initiative (UEI) provides professional support for Extension Agents who serve and engage within urban communities across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Its primary focus is to enhance community engagement, professional development, advocacy and research for urban centered Cooperative Extension.
The Urban Extension Initiative Fellows Leadership Program is a year-long leadership development program designed as a hands-on experience to engage Extension faculty around the concept of Urban Extension and necessary skills and knowledge needed within the field.
UEI Fellow Application and Selection Process
- The number of agents/specialists selected for each cohort will be limited to 10.
- Cohort members will be selected utilizing an application format.
UEI Fellow Terms & Expectations
Term Length
- Cohort members will participate in a 1-year program and upon completion of the program, will be considered official Urban Extension Initiative Fellows. In addition, it is expected and encouraged that Fellows establish a longitudinal relationship with UEI, and play a role in future UEI innovations.
Fellows Development Program
Potential Topics – (Topics can shift to meet the needs of each cohort)
- The program will include interactive sessions pertaining to such topics as: urban extension, building relationships, community engagement, creativity, power/social justice, culture, learning and emotions
- Associates will work individually on an innovative project that will have two deliverables:
- Innovative community engagement project/event within their urban community
- Research/evaluation pertaining to the innovative practice
- Each participant will identify a community leader/organization they haven’t worked with in the past to partner with; will work closely with this partner to implement their innovative community-engaged project (would like to see the community partner attend 2-3 sessions)
- The community-engaged projects should be applied within the participant’s local community/region regarding a social issue that makes a difference within that community. This project could be an extension/innovation of a current project of importance to the agent/community, however significant change/innovation needs to be documented to use as the project for this Fellows program.
UEI Fellow Expectations
- Required attendance at all UEI Fellow functions– if necessary, participants can miss one in-service with a documented excuse
- Complete their program deliverables.
Program Timeline
| Date | Topic | Assignment | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 2021 – Orientation (face to face meeting) | Introduction to UEI Fellows Program | Encourage participants to begin thinking about what their educational/community engaged project will be: needs to be a proposal | |
| Orientation (face to face meeting) |
Background of Extension:
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| History of Extension | What is needed to make that happen? | ||
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Communities Place Practice & Interest |
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| October - Urban Extension Defined |
What does this mean for Urban Extension?
What does it mean to be an Urban versus General Extension agent? (expect vs convener) What role does Extension play in the 21st century? What is missing? |
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| November - Innovation & Creativity |
How can we think creatively? How does innovation and creativity play into program development? |
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| December - Bye | No meeting | Idea proposal for UEI program | Participants need to come to next meeting with a full UEI idea proposal so they can work side-by-side with the instructor: Need to generate a rubric/example of an idea proposal |
| January - Creative Education Program Development & Design |
What are the steps to educational program design? Creative program design Experiental education & action-based education Action research methods Effective program evaulation |
Participants will be working through their UEI proposal during both the 4th and 5th meetings | |
| February - Convening & Engaging |
Define convening Specific steps towards effective convening The importance of community engagement in innovative programming Developing buy-in for innovative programming What is the role of the specialist? |
Participants will be working through their UEI proposal during both the 4th and 5th meetings | |
| March - Urban Cultural Exploration |
Urban culture Working with difference cultures Effective engagement within urban settings |
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| April - Bye | No meeting | Final research/evaluation plan for UEI Fellows program | |
| May - Economic Innovations within Community |
What is entrepreneurship? Economic gardening Developing a business plan Resources |
Within 7th, 8th, and 9th meetings, examples of best case studies will be presented to illustrate topics | |
| June - Social Innovations |
What does social innovation look like? How do I introduce social innovation into my community? |
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| July - Cultural Innovations |
Identifying/engaging with diverse audiences Cultural intelligence Community downshifting Stereotyping/cultural bias |
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| August - Bye | No meeting | Finish up UEI Fellows project and research/evaluation | |
| September 2022 - Celebration! (face to face) | Graduation Party & Project Presentation |
Final Product
Throughout the program, fellows will work on a project with two components:
- Community-engaged program/event
- Research/Evaluation
From this project, two (2) deliverables would be produced:
- Project deliverable – (i.e. Ted Talk, Youtube video, online resource, etc.)
- Scholarship – conference proceedings, journal articles, Extension publications (i.e. publishable manuscript, presentation at a conference, Extension factsheet)
Impact
- More holistic thinking & application
- Improved community connections
- Brush up on basic methodology important for urban agents (such as convening, program development, action research, evaluation, etc.)
- Assist in making programming more innovative, relevant
- Broaden understanding and perspectives associated with urban audiences
- Increased human capital
- Cohort-building
