Serving Rural America Through Land-Grant Colleges & Universities: Unlocking the Workforce Development Potential of Extension Services

Cooperative Extension is a public service of land-grant colleges and universities that puts research into practical use in local communities. As the nation’s largest provider of noncredit education, Extension may very well be postsecondary education’s best-kept secret. With its expansive mission, historical impact and strong ties to local communities, Extension can play a major role in community, economic, and workforce development (CEWD).

Guided by a team of thought leaders in Extension services, rural education, public policy, and economic development, NCHEMS is exploring the current and potential roles of Extension in driving community, economic, and workforce development. This initiative is especially focused on rural and remote areas, where significant distances often separate households from educational providers.

View the Approach section for details on the grant opportunity and to submit an interest form.

Catalyst Framework

NCHEMS’ first key activity was developing a framework that describes Extension’s current and potential role in rural community, economic, and workforce development (CEWD). The framework is available in the Resources section.

Looking ahead, NCHEMS will:

Continue to partner with the advisory group and a wider network of Extension practitioners to better understand how the work of Extension may be further leveraged to support CEWD efforts.
Select a handful of sites for grants and in-kind support from NCHEMS to demonstrate applications of data-informed workforce development strategies. This working group of demonstration sites will explore the role of applied analysis in depth, examining the proposition that Extension can uniquely add value to rural workforce development efforts.
- Individuals interested in joining the demonstration sites are encouraged to submit an interest form on the Approach section by Jan. 6, 2025.
Produce a final report summarizing lessons learned and recommendations for how the federal government, states, and institutions can more effectively support Extension in meeting the evolving opportunities and needs of rural communities.

Demonstration Sites

Through this project, NCHEMS will be awarding three to five grants ranging from $18,000 to $30,000 to implement one or more components of the project framework in 2025. Eligible grantees are land grant universities, Cooperative Extension services, rural economic development organizations, or other nonprofit organizations that currently work with or have demonstrated potential to work with Cooperative Extension services in their area on projects related to community, economic, and workforce development in rural settings. These dollars may support the sustainability of community, economic, and workforce development efforts that are already in place, or the creation of new efforts that the grantee would like to undertake. Rather than providing pre-determined uses of grant funds, grantees are invited to creatively propose uses to support work within the framework. Learn more about this opportunity from the video below and on the Approach section.

View the Approach section for more details on eligibility and to submit an interest form.

Demonstration Sites

Through this project, NCHEMS will be awarding three to five grants ranging from $18,000 to $30,000 to implement one or more components of the project framework in 2025. Eligible grantees are land grant universities, Cooperative Extension services, rural economic development organizations, or other nonprofit organizations that currently work with or have demonstrated potential to work with Cooperative Extension services in their area on projects related to community, economic, and workforce development in rural settings. These dollars may support the sustainability of community, economic, and workforce development efforts that are already in place, or the creation of new efforts that the grantee would like to undertake. Rather than providing pre-determined uses of grant funds, grantees are invited to creatively propose uses to support work within the framework. In addition to targeted funding, the selected organizations will also receive support from NCHEMS. This support will include:

Labor market analysis for specific geographies of interest to the organization and the project, using proprietary data sources and a process established by leaders in the field through Module 2 of the FORWARD curriculum.
Stakeholder engagement activities to present, analyze, and apply labor market information to the project’s goals and objectives.
Invitation to participate in a learning community for collaboration and peer learning with other projects funded through this opportunity.
Project check-ins throughout the course of the work.

Selected organizations should be prepared to participate through in-person and virtual meetings with the NCHEMS team and the peer organizations in the cohort beginning in the spring of 2025 and continuing throughout the year. These meetings are intended to support communication and learning across projects. NCHEMS will reimburse all attendees for their travel expenses to in-person meetings outside of their grants.

Demonstration Sites Interest Form Instructions and Process

Interested organizations should complete the form below by Jan. 6, 2025. NCHEMS will reach out to selected partner organizations by Jan. 17, 2025 to learn more about proposed projects and answer any questions. NCHEMS anticipates that grants will be disbursed to partner organizations by the end of February 2025. Work should be ready for a final report out to the full group of grantees by the end of December 2025.

The interest form below is required to be considered. A PDF including all of the questions is available here to assist with preparing your responses for submission, however, NCHEMS will accept only applications that are submitted using the form below.

Interest Form | Serving Rural America Through Land-Grant Colleges & Universities

Name(Required)

First Last

Email(Required)

Title

Organization(Required)

Please indicate which of the three framework elements aligns best with your proposed project.(Required)

Connected Convener

Teaching and Learning

Applied Analysis

Why you are interested in this opportunity to engage with Cooperative Extension’s role in community, economic, and/or workforce development?(Required)

Please describe your project idea.(Required)

Who are the key stakeholders and/or partners that would be involved in executing the project?(Required)

Who are the key audiences the project intends to address?(Required)

What are the intended outcomes of the work?(Required)

Please provide a brief budget narrative that describes how the project funds will be used. Note that up to 15% of the funds may be used to cover indirect expenses, provided the total does not exceed the $30,000 budget limit.

To follow your project’s successes and provide additional support, participation with the NCHEMS team, other grantees, and the project advisory group is needed. Are you willing to participate with these groups?(Required)

Yes

Projects