UCANR’s Community Economic Development programming focuses on Inclusive Economic Development. The four dominant paradigms of economic development (attraction and retention, small business development, workforce development, and arts and culture) are necessary, but not sufficient. California’s policy priorities focusing on people, planet, and profit, demands a more inclusive economic development, accounting for
- Greater participation by historically marginalized populations
- Broad-based equity in the form of profit-sharing and ownership
- More choice in business entities
- Environmental conservations and stewardship
Already in UC ANR? Here's how your work already integrates CED:
We are all UCANR. And while many peers in the UCANR system do not have community economic development in their title or job description, there remains a great deal of crossover and opportunities for collaboration.
Maybe you work in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and your farmer stakeholders would implement your research if you could drive the costs of inputs down. That is an economic development opportunity.
Maybe you work in forestry and you need to responsibly monetize wood products to mitigate wildfires. That is also an economic development opportunity.
If you have a research, development, or educational project with a community economic development component, please reach out. We recommend contacting your nearest County or Regional Advisor first, or look through Team roster and connect to one of our team members closest to your interest area.
We are also looking for individuals to affiliate, join our team, and help us establish the foundations of UCANR’s CED programming! We are the Community Economic Development Program Team of the Healthy Communities Strategic Initiative, and will be forming standing Project Teams to focus on CED specializations. We welcome your energy and ideas.
Our goal is to be the nation’s leading community economic development Cooperative Extension team in the US. We do this through team building, agile strategic planning and coordination, regular and appropriate communications, and team co-production. As a land grant university, we are motivated to extend the university to our host communities, assist community members in overcoming barriers through public entrepreneurship, and enhance stakeholder quality of life. It is our intent to make this work a labor of love that is incredibly fun.
In affiliating, we seek commitments to:
- Develop and carry out a UCANR Strategic Plan, and seek funding resources for the collective interests
- Co-produce shared programming in research, development, and education
- Publish annually a team-authored, peer reviewed publication, addressing state-of-the-art challenges and innovations in CED
- Lift each other up by promoting each other’s work across our local, state, national, and global stakeholders
- Serve in Project Team leadership roles
- Participate in regularly scheduled check-ins
- Hold rotating open office hours online so local, regional, state, and national stakeholders can interact with our team
- Impromptu Team Huddles, to help our peers think through the initiatives they are working on in their service area.
What Natural Resources in CED Looks Like:
UCANR is doing community Economic development work within our existing focus areas across agriculture and natural resources. Our current work is only the beginning. Our vision for the future will involve connecting internal and external partners for UC ANR to provide partnership and accelerate the work being done.
Here are some examples of how our ANR focus areas are already doing CED:
Agriculture and Pest Management:
- Supporting local farmers and ranchers through technical assistance and training to improve their operations and access markets for their products
- Encouraging sustainable farming practices that protect the environment while also generating economic activity
- Promoting local value-added processing of agricultural products, regionally and abroad, to create new economic opportunities
- Providing technical assistance and training to help farmers and other stakeholders manage pests in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way
- Supporting the development of new pest management technologies and scaling up those technologies
4-H and Families:
- Supporting youth development programs, such as 4-H, that provide young people with skills and experiences that can help them succeed in the workforce and generate economic activity in their communities
- Providing technical assistance and training to help 4-H programs and other youth development initiatives reach more young people and have a greater impact
Environmental and Natural Resources:
- Supporting sustainable forestry practices to protect the environment while also generating economic activity
- Promoting the use of local wood products and biomass
- Developing eco-tourism opportunities that showcase the natural beauty of local forests
- Supporting the development of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, that generate economic activity while also protecting the environment
- Providing technical assistance and training to help stakeholders use energy more efficiently and reduce costs
Food and Resources
- Supporting the development of local food systems that connect farmers, food producers, and consumers
- Promoting sustainable and healthy food production practices that protect the environment and promote public health
Yard and Garden
- Supporting the development of community gardens and urban agriculture projects that provide access to fresh, healthy food in urban areas
- Providing technical assistance and training to help stakeholders develop and manage these projects effectively
Technology
- Providing training and technical assistance to help stakeholders use GIS to analyze and manage natural resources more effectively