On December 15, six land-grant universities shared information about current work happening at their respective institutions to advance health equity and well-being. Summaries of these presentations are found below. University of Missouri - Chiquita Chanay and Lisa Washburn shared information about how University of Missouri Extension is engaging various units across campus to address the health challenges of Missourians. Their Project ECHO replication is a peer-learning, knowledge network...

Of all of the offers that seem to be too good to be true, this is the "real deal.” This is an opportunity to have early career public health professional work assigned to Cooperative Extension for two years at no expense to you! Cooperative Extension typically gets a couple of folks each year. Apply to be a host site! CDC's Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support has announced the opening of the Public Health Associate Program (PHAP) host site application period which runs...

Are you, or would you like to be, working with communities on crime prevention strategies? This is your opportunity to learn strategies to do this. Michigan State University Extension has been working with faculty in the MSU School of Planning, Design and Construction (SPDC) and the MSU National Charrette Institute (NCI) to develop training for Extension professionals and communities on how to do crime prevention through placemaking and environmental design. The program is called Placemaking...

The planning committee for the 2023 National Health Outreach Conference is now accepting proposals to present at next year’s conference. The conference will be held May 22-24, 2023 and will be hosted by Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Interested individuals may submit proposals for concurrent sessions of 60 or 20 minutes in length as well as poster presentations that will staffed at a designated time. The central theme of the conference focuses on ensuring that all people have a fair and...

The recordings of three Zoom sessions held last fall are now available for viewing. The webinar on October 25 included an overview of Cooperative Extension's National Framework for Health Equity and Well-Being and can be accessed at https://youtu.be/h2t1mmwNaf0 The webinar on November 15 included lightning presentations on how the University of New Hampshire, University of Florida, The Ohio State University, Kansas State University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of...

A 2015 article by McGregor, Coulthard, and Camfield suggests changes in how we develop and evaluate the effectiveness of various policies and programs. While authors contend that " there has been a tremendous upsurge of interest in and initiatives to develop measures of human well-being as a yardstick of societal progress." and suggest that using solely economic measures of progress are inadequate and results in misguided. " The focus on income measures encourages an unbalanced focus on...

"For society to function, people must believe in the institutions meant to serve them. They need to know that the government is acting in their best interests, that businesses are operating ethically and efficiently, that nonprofits are improving their communities, and that the media is delivering timely, accurate information. Trust creates the conditions for these organizations to carry out their missions (Aspen Institute). A recent article by Aspen Institute's Executive Director Maureen...

The American Hospital Association Center for Health Innovation provides emergency response and disaster preparedness resources that are designed to strengthen and reimagine the nation's emergency management system. More specifically, the CLEAR Field Guide for Emergency Preparedness is designed to advance our nation’s emergency management system by breaking down knowledge silos, bolstering the public health infrastructure, diversifying health care integration and more deeply integrating...

Recently, I attended the Extension-related Appalachian Health Summit in Roanoke, Virginia. There, we joined many other Appalachian states in discussing determinants of health and the challenges our communities face to access and enjoy health, quality care, and well-being. In this blog, I’d like to pose a question to ourselves as Extension services about how overwhelming this quest for health equity must feel. We left the summit very excited about the possibilities and in my case, with a mind...

Don't miss the opportunity to lean more about Cooperative Extension's National Framework for Health Equity and Well-Being. This framework was approved by the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) in 2021 and was designed to serve as a roadmap for advancing the health-focused work of the Cooperative Extension System. The framework is organized around three core themes: health equity, social determinants of health, and working through coalitions to increase community health...

CDC's Influenza Division posted the first full FluView report of the 2022-2023 flu season. The report shows flu activity is increasing across most of the U.S. Flu activity is highest and increasing the most in the southeast and south-central parts of the country.

Walk Across Arkansas is an 8-week online group exercise program that has been changing the lives of rural and urban participants, one step at a time. Read more to learn how this program is being implemented by the University of Arkansas System, Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service…