Regional Program Interpretation Summits Extremely Successful- Now Implementation of Plans are Critical!

On January 8, 2010 the last of four very successful Regional Program Interpretation Summits was conducted. These Summits have focused on involving our District Extension Administrators, County Extension Directors, Regional Program Directors and County Coordinators from urban initiative and population center counties to develop systematic interpretation program interpretation plans. These plans focused on the guiding principles of the 2010 County Programs Interpretation Initiative which includes the following;

• Interpretation is a continuous process, not just an event conducted prior to a legislative session or county budget hearings.
• Interpretation is systematically communicating programmatic outcomes.
• Interpretation is integrally linked to evaluation.

The following are some of the various components that are systematically linked to our comprehensive interpretation initiative:

• Involvement of elected officials in Extension "Showcase Events". This showcase events should be those that truly showcase Extension's effectiveness such as Family Summits, the B.I.G. Conference, Water Conferences, Youth Summits, the South Texas Farm and Ranch Show, Health Conferences, etc.
  
• District Judges and Commissioners Conferences hosted by District Extension Administrators.
• Utilization of the Extension Making a Difference Newsletters that communicates Texas AgriLife Extension's public value. This newsletter will be published on an annual basis.
  
• Utilization of an Urban Capacity Program Highlight report for County Commissioners and key stakeholders.
• Formal interpretation events with elected officials conducted annually that communicates Texas AgriLife Extension's public value.

During these Summits some excellent and innovative ideas were generated which will certainly strengthen our interpretation efforts as we begin to set the stage for the next legislative session. However, these Summits and the plans developed are just "processes without productivity" if we don't execute the plans that were developed!

All District Extension Administrators and County Extension Directors should commit considerable time to ensure that these plans are implemented and are successful. Some of the methods that could be implemented on the District or County level to assist in monitoring the implementation of these plans include...

• Development of a Program Interpretation Calendar which includes the elected officials name, date of interpretation effort, interpretation venue (formal event, interpretation mail out, involvement of elected official in educational event, etc.), Interpretation focus (interpreting water issue, diabetes issues, community economic development, youth issues, etc.), agent in charge of event and location of event, etc.
  
• Development of systematic plans to monitor these interpretation efforts including review of interpretation materials to ensure quality control (these materials must communicate programmatic outcomes), participation in events (District Administrators should provide overall leadership to interpretation efforts), monitoring reports, bi-monthly centra conferences to provide coordinated efforts to interpretation events being conducted.

Remember when middle managers and agents are empowered to provide significant leadership in interpreting Extension Programs - a higher level of accountability accompanies this empowerment.