Exploring Innovation in Extension

Cooperative Extension's innovative, energetic, and connected educators have been developing and promoting contemporary, practical education to meet the country's needs for more than 100 years. Our deeply rooted commitment to making people's lives better defines and guides our work and will continue to do so.

As we look ahead to Extension's next century of service, we must consider the myriad factors that will influence our continued work with communities to address the nation's most complex challenges. This is especially true as we consider Extension's changing audience, people of all walks of life in urban and rural communities. As our country grows more diverse, we in Extension will need to build on our organization's productive and accomplished history. We must do so in order to address the changing needs, modes of communication, and preferred information tools of those we serve. Perhaps more importantly, this spirit of evolution and innovation ensures that Extension remains relevant, vibrant, and vital. What does this mean for how we do our work?

This Journal of Extension Special Issue on Innovation 2018 addresses this question by reaching across the Extension system to mine our colleagues' innovative practices. With more than 180 abstracts submitted, representing 47 institutions and 40 states, the selection process was not easy. We invite you to use this compilation of 22 articles from across the Extension system as a resource to innovate your own programming, a charge to think differently, and a source of new colleagues with whom to collaborate. We also invite you to stay current on innovations in Extension by regularly reading the Journal of Extension, which addresses new ideas and initiatives in Extension on an ongoing basis.

Finally, we extend special thanks to eXtension Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture for their generous support in making this special issue of the Journal of Extension possible.