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Clearinghouse for Cleaner Water: New publication explores online resource hub project

The Extension Foundation has added a new title to its library. Clearinghouse for Cleaner Water: University of Minnesota Hub was written by Anne Nelson and Anne Sawyer of the University of Minnesota (UMN) Extension.

The UMN team is creating the Watershed Engagement Programming (WEP) Hub to support watershed-related outreach and engagement efforts to help address the state’s efforts to improve water quality. The team decided to create the Hub after surveying several dozen soil and water conservationists about their challenges.

The Hub, still under development, will contain a library of resources and tools to help soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs), watershed districts (WDs), and other local government and environmental entities create powerful and effective outreach, engagement, and education programs. The Hub will also link to and highlight existing materials from various sources. It will contain newly created resources based on the needs assessment results and iterative feedback from the WEP advisory team and its target audience.

The team is implementing best practices for building a clearinghouse, including considering online platform selection, web development, digital accessibility, and copyright and material ownership issues.

Those interested in Extension’s increasing use of digital dashboards and technological innovation in outreach and education will find this publication helpful in their work.

The project is supported by a grant from the New Technologies in Agricultural Extension (NTAE) program. The team was assisted in their work by the Extension Foundation.



The Extension Foundation has recently added new titles to its library. Topics include creating digital dashboards and resource hubs, Indigenous food sovereignty, DEI, mass media campaigns, game-based education, innovating curriculum, prescribed fire, emergency preparation and response, understanding food labels, and building resilience of farm and farm families. You can find the entire library of publications here.

Related Reading:

A Case Study of How to Use Digital Dashboards to Improve Program Evaluation and Implementation

Join Us on the Path: The Engagement Hub

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About the Extension Foundation

The Extension Foundation was formed in 2006 by Extension Directors and Administrators. Today, the Foundation partners with Cooperative Extension through liaison roles and a formal plan of work with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) to increase system capacity while providing programmatic services, and helping Extension programs scale and investigate new methods and models for implementing programs. The Foundation provides professional development to Cooperative Extension professionals and offers exclusive services to its members. In 2020 and 2021, the Extension Foundation has awarded 85% of its direct funding back to the Cooperative Extension System, 100% of funds are used to support Cooperative Extension initiatives. 

This technology is supported in part by New Technologies for Ag Extension (funding opportunity no. USDA-NIFA-OP-010186), grant no. 2023-41595-41325 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Extension Foundation. For more information, please visit extension.org. You can view the terms of useat extension.org/terms.

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