December 12,
2003
AHEC
(AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTER) WSU EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP
On December 18th at WSU Spokane, WSU Extension and AHEC will formally
“hand shake” and share a photo opportunity to celebrate
the transferring of the AHEC and its staff to WSU Extension. AHEC
serves the 20 eastern Washington counties. There are 4.5 Administrative
Professional (AP) FTEs and 2.5 classified staff FTEs; Steven Meltzer
is the Director. AHEC provides health care outreach for all of Eastern
Washington and are supported through WSU Spokane. Their focus is
on health professionals education and training, recruitment and
retention of health professionals, health care policy development
and to create and implement community development programs in collaboration
with communities which address economic development, local infrastructure,
leadership development and health services. The focus of their work
is in rural and underserved communities.
The
AHEC/Extension partnership will allow for collaborative work with
the Extension offices and educators across Eastern Washington. This
will enhance AHEC’s work within these communities and expand
the programs and resources that Extension has to offer in the communities.
Health and health care systems is a common issue and opportunity
across all of the eastside counties.
This
serves as an example of University Extension and expanding the resources
that are available through Extension beyond the traditional programs
that have been available. This may serve as a model for other Extension
partnerships with colleges and urban campuses.
PARTNERSHIP
FOR RURAL IMPROVEMENT SUBMITS FORD FOUNDATION GRANT
This December, on behalf of the Partnership for Rural Improvement
(PRI), WSU Extension submitted a $3.2 million grant application
to the Ford Foundation to enhance our ability to serve the broad
educational needs of the Hispanic population in Washington. Called
the HOPE Project (Hispanic Opportunities through Progressive Education),
we are seeking funding to develop and replicate a variety of programs,
including ESL, pre-employment training, ABE (adult basic education)
and GED, as well as creating pathways to Associate and Baccalaureate
degrees. PRI is a 26-year0old partnership between Extension and
a consortium of educational institutions in the state established
to act as a catalyst for community improvement. The PRI programs
in Skagit, Grays Harbor, Spokane, and Walla Walla counties serve
twelve counties in the state.
COMMUNITY
SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT SUCCESS
This fall we completed a very successful community service learning
pilot project which linked students in professor Lisa Shipley’s
course called Introduction to Wildlife Management. The students
worked with private landowners in Kitsap, Stevens and Whitman counties.
Students had an opportunity to learn from the landowners firsthand
about the wildlife management issues they face and to then develop
an Extension bulletin blending what they learned in the classroom
and an during the site visits. Extension Coordinator Janean Creighton
handled the coordination on campus for this pilot which was funded
by a Learning Enhancement grant that Extension helped write. My
thanks to our Extension faculty members in Kitsap, Stevens and Whitman
counties who made the field visits such a positive experience. We
are already working on additional service learning projects in collaboration
with Melanie Brown and the Office of Community Service Learning
and we expect that Extension will play a significant role as WSU
faculty members are increasingly seeing the value of service learning
for their students. Contact Cliff
Moore to get involved.
DIVERSITY
AND RECRUITMENT MINI-GRANTS CONTINUE TO BE AVAILABLE
Extension mini-grants for diversity programming and recruiting activities
for the 2003 -2004 academic year are still available. The mini-grants
of up to $1,000 can be used for training, professional development,
community engagement and activities that support student recruitment.
The first recruiting grant this year went to Linda Arthur, Chair
of Apparel, Merchandising Design and Textiles and Franklin County
Extension educators Kay Hendrickson and Lauri Sherfey and will bring
to campus up to 10 minority students to learn about educational
and career opportunities in AMDT. For information on diversity grants
contact Louise Parker and for
recruiting grants contact Cliff
Moore. There are no deadlines; applications will be taken until
funds have been depleted.
FY04
FEDERAL BUDGET UPDATE
On Monday, December 9, 2003, the House passed by a vote of 242-176,
the Consolidated Appropriations Bill for FY 2004which provides funding
for a number of Federal agencies including the Department of Agriculture.
However the Senate failed to take action on the bill before they
recessed for the year. The Senate is scheduled to consider the bill
when they return on January 20, 2004. We will continue to operate
under a continuing resolution which provides funding through January
31, 2004.
The
Consolidated Appropriations Bill for FY04 is fiscally responsible
by limiting discretionary spending to the Administration’s
top-line figure of $786 billion or approximately 3% increase over
last year’s comparable levels.It contains $328.1 billion in
discretionary spending and $820 billion in total spending including
mandatory funds.
Among
WSU projects is Beach Watchers, lead by Island County Chair Don
Meehan, await the Senate vote in January.… "$250,000 for
the Northwest Straits Commission for Washington State University's
Beach Watchers program."
PERSONNEL
New hire:
Cathy
Moen, Extension Coordinator, 4-H Youth Development
Kitsap County
Funding: 100% Extension (Grant funds)
Status: Administrative/Professional
Effective December 16, 2003
SCHEDULE
Next week Mike will be in Washington D.C.
Next
week Linda will be in Pullman Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. She will
be in Skagit County on Wednesday and at WSU Spokane on Thursday.
******************************
Linda Kirk Fox, PhD
Associate Dean and Associate Director
Washington State University Extension
PO Box 646230
Pullman WA 99164-6230
(509) 335-2933 Office
(509) 335-9223 Desk/Voicemail
FAX (509) 335-2926
lkfox@wsu.edu
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