- Author: Sheron Violini
In August, California House Resolution 119, authored by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, recognized Oct. 6-12 as National 4-H Week. That kicked off a series of recognitions throughout the state, from Tehama to San Diego counties, as various Boards of Supervisors took a few moments to celebrate local UCCE 4-H programs.
During board meetings, supervisors provided an opportunity for 4-H youth to practice their public speaking skills as they accepted the proclamations on behalf of their county clubs. Dressed in their 4-H whites, honorees of all ages talked about what 4-H meant to them. One 4-H member representing Kings County referred to 4-H as “cool.”
Overwhelmingly, they spoke positively of 4-H camp, archery, livestock and baking projects – as well as how 4-H helped them to build community and lasting friendships.
UCANR and California 4-H are grateful for the board members and county staff who took time out to recognize 4-H youth and the program that means so much to them.
San Diego County also “went green” for National 4-H Week with a proclamation and lighting ceremony on Oct. 8. Kimberly Sinclair Holmes, the new statewide director of California 4-H, attended the event. At sunset on Oct. 8, the County Administration Center was lit in the program's iconic green color, symbolizing the organization's century-long commitment to youth development in San Diego County.
Several 4-H members wrote thank-you notes to their elected officials for the recognition.
Below are audio and video files of 4-H members meeting with their local Boards of Supervisors.
Glenn County, Sept. 24
See 18:09 – 31:16 at https://glenncounty.granicus.com/player/clip/2369?view_id=9&redirect=true.
Marin County, Sept. 24
See 1:26-1:30 at https://marin.granicus.com/player/clip/12349?view_id=33&caption_id=5886086&redirect=true.
Mariposa County, Oct. 1
See 7:00-7:32 at https://mariposacoca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/540/media.
Lake County, Oct. 1
See 22:00 to 35:00 at https://lakecounty.granicus.com/player/clip/744?view_id=1&redirect=true
Tuolumne County, Oct. 1
See 32:54 to 52.08 at https://tuolumneco.granicus.com/player/clip/862?view_id=5&redirect=true.
Mendocino County, Oct. 8
See 28.49-34:45 at https://www.youtube.com/live/8YqolPFYpRk?si=1VFaWpEuxYbax-h6.
Butte County, Oct. 8
See 4:55 at https://www.buttecounty.net/2004/Board-of-Supervisors-Meeting-Information.
Kings County, Oct. 8
See 34:50 to 41:00 at https://www.youtube.com/live/IbVTeDXRWF8.
Monterey County, Oct. 8
See 16:20 at https://monterey.granicus.com/player/clip/5614?view_id=21&redirect=true.
San Diego County, Oct. 8
See 9:22-9:29 at https://sdcounty.granicus.com/player/event/2075?view_id=9&redirect=true.
Sonoma County, Oct. 8
See 4:59 at https://sonoma-county.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1578.
Tehama County, Oct. 8
See 1:26 to 1:34 at https://tehamacounty.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.
- Author: Jodi L Azulai
Landing page | Archived webinars | Learning resources
Extension Methods & Delivery
Building Support
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion
Office, Team, & Personal Management
Nov. 7, 2024, | 1-2:30 p.m. PT
Register by Nov. 6
Are you an extension professional with a large clientele base? Have you ever wondered how to increase your reach and be more effective in your work? This participatory virtual workshop will present an overview of the science of social networking and how it relates to agricultural extension. Panelists will provide concrete examples of how they organize their extension events and outreach programs to harness the social networks of their producers, foster more network building, and engage producers as active contributors to extension efforts. Attendees will have opportunities to reflect on and share their own extension experiences during discussion periods.
Panelists:
- Hope Zabronsky, Climate-Smart Agriculture Program Leader, California Institute for Water Resources, UC Agriculture & Natural Resources
- Sara Tiffany, Director of Ecological Farming, Community Alliance with Family Farmers
- Elizabeth Black, Project Leader and Producer, The Citizen Science Soil Health Project, Colorado
- Facilitator: Sonja Brodt, Coordinator for Agriculture and Environment, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program
Nov. 14, 2024 | 9 - 10 a.m. PT
Details & Registration
Join us to learn how to identify culturally appropriate programs and policies that foster health equity, food justice, and community resilience. With over 20 years of experience in partnering with communities to enhance nutrition and health, Dr. Odoms-Young has contributed to various advisory committees, including the Institute of Medicine committees for revising WIC food packages and the Council on Black Health. She currently serves as the inaugural Equity Visiting Scholar at Feeding America.
ACE Level Up Virtual Conference: Sparking Innovation
Nov. 6 & 7, 2024 | 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. PT
Details & Registration
Join in to explore:
- Innovative Ideas
- Unique Collaborations
- Positive Impacts across our organizations.
The keynote address Beyond Accommodations: Neurodiversity in the Workplace will feature Brandon Telg.
Building Sustainable Futures: A Virtual Conversation – National Association of Extension Programs and Staff Development Professionals (NAEPSD)
Nov. 12 - 14 | 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Register by 9 PM Pacific Time, Friday, Nov. 8.
The National Association of Extension Program and Staff Development Professionals (NAEPSDP) welcomes both members and nonmembers to attend our annual conference.
Introduction to ArcGIS Pro (UC ANR)
Nov. 15, 2024 | 1 – 4 p.m. PT
Details & Registration
The goal of this workshop is to introduce you to the ArcGIS Pro software application and collections of online GIS data that are particularly useful for mapping and analysis of natural and managed landscapes.
OCG is the authorized organizational representative for all extramurally sponsored projects at UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. Find the analyst assigned to your county or program. The unit's mission is to empower ANR's academics to pursue extramural funding to further their research and programmatic interests.
Engaging government officials and community stakeholders is a critical tool that helps builds awareness and support for your work and that of the university as a whole. For more information, read here.
Public & Media Relations (UC ANR Web)
UC ANR has subject matter experts to help you with media and other public relations. Be sure to contact them for support.
Stewarding the UC ANR Brand (UC ANR Web)
Help unify our brand by getting up to speed here.
A UC Davis study reveals that culturally supportive school environments significantly enhance students' academic, emotional and social outcomes across diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Students with high levels of culturally relevant support show increased school engagement, while those with lower support are less engaged. Interestingly, white students with moderate to high support levels have higher academic aspirations. These findings underscore the importance of integrating cultural relevance in educational practices to foster positive student experiences. For more details, visit the full article here.
Project leader: Devii Rao
I'm creating a few short videos about inclusion and belonging for mixed-race/mixed-ethnicity UC ANR employees, and your voice could make a big impact.
The project aims to shape ANR's future goals and improve recruitment and retention, ultimately benefiting the people we serve across California. I'm seeking 6-10 volunteers for brief Zoom interviews, where we'll explore your experiences and ideas on how ANR can better support inclusion, belonging, and career growth. Even if we can't interview everyone, written responses are welcome too.
Interested? Please reach out ASAP or sign up here: Interest Form. Feel free to contact me with any questions at drorao@ucanr.edu or (831) 205-3125.
Supervisor sign-ups now for UC ANR People Networking Cohort (Virtual)
Starting January 2025, Fourth Tuesdays | 10-11 a.m.
Register here.
Do you want to increase:
- Employee retention,
- Team building & collaboration,
- Productivity and work quality,
- Professional communication skills,
- Morale, and
- A healthy work culture?
Yes? Then join us for great monthly conversations that will help you build the skills necessary to transform your team/employee.
We meet for a facilitated call once/month for 11 months at a preset day/time to share:
- Tools used from the UC People Management course and how they are affect positive change
- Guidance for challenges or issues in engagement, productivity or communication and practice opportunities
Creating Accessible PDFs (LinkedIn Learning)
Course link.
Accessibility means making sure your content is available to as many people as possible. When you make your PDFs accessible, it means adding tags, bookmarks, alt text and other information that makes the files readable to users of assistive technology. It's now much easier to use Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign to create valid, accessible PDF files. In this course, instructor Chad Chelius explains why accessibility is important and what features an accessible PDF should include, before showing you how to make an existing PDF file accessible using tools in Adobe Acrobat. Get your LinkedIn Learning account by contacting UC ANR IT @ help@ucanr.edu (paid for by UC ANR Learning & Development).
Nov. 7, 2024, | Noon – 1 p.m.
Details & Registration.
Conflict Competence: Getting to the Root of Group Conflict (for Staff and Faculty)
Group conflict can be difficult to manage and have costly consequences. It can significantly impact productivity and work quality and even destroy teams.
Conflict Competence in Uncertain Times (UC Davis Ombuds)
Dec. 4, 2024, | Noon - 1 p.m.
Details & Registration.
Difficult or unexpected changes can feel disruptive and can drive conflict at work. In this webinar, we will explore ways of communicating effectively and engaging constructively during periods of uncertainty. Participants will learn how bridging communication styles, demonstrating compassion, and facing difficult moments with courage and clarity can lead to better navigating challenges.
How to Manage Stress, Rejection & the Haters in Your Midst (NCFDD)
Nov 14, 2024 | 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PT
Details & Registration
How to Manage Stress, Rejection & the Haters in Your Midst:
- Are you stressed?
- Do you feel devastated when your articles and/or grant proposals get rejected?
- Is the pressure of publishing/funding your work making you sick?
If any of this sounds familiar and you have difficulty managing the negative energy and rejection in your environment, please join us to learn the impact that stress and negativity can have if they are not managed. Identify the most common areas of stress in academic life. Learn concrete strategies for managing the physical, emotional and attitudinal effects of stress.
Get your NCFDD account by registering here and choosing UC ANR as your institution.
Credits:
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
Image by Manfred Steger from Pixabay
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
https://www.svgrepo.com/svg/307240/conflict-in-negotiation-conflict-argue-dispute
Help icons created by Freepik - Flaticon
Learn something new today!
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UC ANR Learning & Development
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day is Nov. 20. To celebrate, the Informatics and GIS Statewide Program is highlighting how story maps are increasingly being used in UC ANR. Instead of going through the traditional route of trying to embed multiple photographs, screenshots, charts and tables in a single Word document, more ANR program teams and UCCE offices are finding creative ways to use story maps.
“Story maps are fun and easy to build, and can help program teams and UCCE offices communicate the work they are doing,” said Andy Lyons, IGIS program coordinator.
CE Offices across the state have come up with creative ways to use story maps to educate their clientele and spice up their annual report. Statewide Programs such as Environmental Stewards are also using story maps for technical training. Still other projects are using story maps to communicate their impact related to climate smart agriculture or California rangelands. To find examples of how story maps are being used within UC ANR and inspire more users in the ANR community, IGIS has built a story map collection.
RECs are also getting in on the action. Adina Merenlender, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in conservation science, used a story map to create the Hopland Research and Extension Center Land History.
“We wanted to share the land history of HREC on the REC webpage in an engaging way and take advantage of different types of content including photos, timelines and text,” said Merenlender. "It's been great to be able to share the land history of HREC including information about the Indigenous people, injustices and traumas tied to the area's colonial past and recognize the resilience and value of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians.”
Story maps are a great way to tell your story using visually engaging content and narratives. They allow you to embed web-maps, high-resolution photos, dashboards and videos from YouTube, among other things.
"Story maps have proven to be a fantastic tool with an easy learning curve, making it accessible and straightforward to use,” said Nicholle Stein-Peterson, who created the UCCE Capital Corridor Annual Report Story Map. “Moving away from the typical multi-page PDF was a refreshing change, and it made the process even more enjoyable. The enthusiastic feedback we've received has been truly motivating. I loved how, with minimal customization options, it allowed our annual report to look consistently polished and aligned with our brand.”
“The UC ANR Impact Story Map is a compilation of UCCE measured condition changes to help advance our efforts on measuring and communicating public value impact,” said Christina Becker, program policy analyst for Program Planning and Evaluation.
IGIS will offer an Intro to Story Maps workshop on Jan. 24, 2025. For more information, or to discuss an idea for a story map, contact Priyanka Vyas, GIS analyst, at pdvyas@ucanr.edu.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Warner becomes UCCE livestock and natural resources area advisor 
Andrea Northup-Warner started working as a UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources area advisor for Placer, Nevada, Yuba and Sutter counties on Oct. 1.
Excited to serve the community in which she grew up, Warner will help ranchers solve their most pressing issues. Currently, small ranchers with up to 15 cows, for reference, need support establishing their operation. Commercial ranchers, however, are interested in technology and developing research that will help improve health and nutrition of their cattle.
“If a rancher's animals aren't healthy, they can't make money,” she said. “If they can't make money, they can't support their family or their business.”
Despite profitability being “priority zero” for consumers, Warner said that staying in business and/or expanding business operations is a primary goal for many ranchers. As an advisor, she's excited to not only support ranchers' endeavors to increase profits, but challenge consumers' perspectives on the matter, too.
Although a new advisor, Warner has worked for UC Cooperative Extension since 2022. First hired as a staff research associate at the Sierra Foothills Research and Extension Center in Yuba County, her research focused on nutrition and health of beef cattle, oak regeneration and rangeland management.
Warner earned a master's degree in animal science from Oklahoma State University and a bachelor's in animal science from California State University, Chico. While her academic training will certainly be useful, Warner said that the mentorship she's received from colleagues has been instrumental during her transition.
She succeeds Dan Macon, UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor, who transferred to UCCE in Calaveras County.
Warner is based at the UCCE Placer-Nevada counties office in Auburn and can be reached at alnwarner@ucanr.edu.
Rao moving to Sonoma and Marin counties 
After nearly 10 years working as the UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources advisor for San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, Devii Rao will be moving north to become a UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor for Sonoma and Marin counties as of Jan. 1, 2025.
“It is very much a bitter-sweet move for me,” Rao wrote in a Livestock & Range blog post. “I have made great friends here and have been able to work with so many wonderful ranchers and agency people. But, now I have the opportunity to move home.”
Rao, who was born and raised in Marin County, still has family there. “So this is an opportunity for me to continue doing the kind of work I love, and to do it closer to my family,” she wrote.
She plans to continue working in the Hollister office through Dec. 11, then take the rest of the month to move.
Rao will continue to use the same email address drorao@ucanr.edu.
Vyas joins IGIS 
Priyanka Vyas joined the Informatics and GIS Statewide Program as a GIS analyst in May. She brings a strong background in applying geospatial tools in public health, urban planning and policy. In her role at IGIS, she focuses on developing capacity for ANR programs and researchers in using GIS-based tools across different program areas and scaling up existing use of geospatial tools and technology.
“I am really excited because this position allows me to weave my prior research and teaching experience and work on topics that cut across different program areas,” Vyas said.
To develop her program support work, she has been cultivating partnerships with program teams such as the Community Economic Development Advisors, Community Nutrition and Health Network, and institutes such as the Nutrition Policy Institute. Through these and other meetings, she came to realize that many ANR programs and researchers are not fully aware of the latest GIS resources available to them.
“There is a plethora of tools that are freely available to UC ANR staff such as Business Analyst for doing needs assessment, ArcGIS Hub for developing program specific websites, ArcGIS for Excel among others. I am eager to work with county offices and advisors to increase the use of these resources,” she said.
Story Maps is another tool that has great potential for advisors and programs to communicate their impact and help their education and outreach activities. Story map websites are growing in popularity because they are easy to build and engage viewers with a broad range of multimedia content. Within UC ANR, they have been used to highlight program impacts, educate clientele, and even provide technical training. They are not always easy to discover however, so Vyas built an ANR "Story Map of Story Maps." Other ANR programs interested in Story Maps are encouraged to get in touch.
Prior to joining UC ANR, Vyas worked at multiple academic institutions in teaching, research, and consulting in the San Francisco Bay Area including San Jose State University, California State University East Bay, Stanford Geospatial Center and Stanford School of Medicine.
She started her career as a business journalist in New Delhi before moving to the U.S. for further education. She has a master's degree in public administration and policy from North Carolina State University and a Ph.D. in public policy and political economy from the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas, Dallas. She did a postdoctoral fellowship in UC San Francisco's School of Medicine.
Vyas is based at Mulford Hall at UC Berkeley and can be reached at pdvyas@ucanr.edu.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
UC Cooperative Extension colleagues are invited to a workshop on using social networking to increase your impact in agricultural extension.
Are you an extension professional with a large clientele base? Have you ever wondered how to increase your reach and be more effective in your work? This participatory virtual workshop will present an overview of the science of social networking and how it relates to agricultural extension.
Panelists will provide concrete examples of how they organize their extension events and outreach programs to harness the social networks of their producers, foster more network building, and engage producers as active contributors to extension efforts.
Attendees will have opportunities to reflect on and share their own extension experiences during discussion periods.
Panelists:
- Hope Zabronsky, Climate-Smart Agriculture Program Leader, California Institute for Water Resources, UC Agriculture & Natural Resources,
- Sara Tiffany, Director of Ecological Farming, Community Alliance with Family Farmers
- Elizabeth Black, Project Leader and Producer, The Citizen Science Soil Health Project, Colorado
Date: Nov. 7, 2024
Time: 1-2:30 p.m.
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Register at https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=43885. .
For more information about the agenda, contact: Sonja Brodt or Vivian Wauters. For questions about registration and logistics, contact UC ANR Program Support or Mariette Malessy.
