Currently, Penn State is restructuring its county-based Extension system and creating a campus-based Student Engagement Network to improve its public scholarship and engagement within Pennsylvania. For over 100 years, Penn State Extension has provided non-formal educational outreach through a “county-based partnership [of] Penn State Extension educators, faculty, and local volunteers” to translate and apply university research to improve conditions for individuals, families, businesses, and communities (Penn State Extension, n.d.). Penn State Extension has a presence in all 67 counties of Pennsylvania and offers educational products and programs related to animals, plants and pests, natural resources, community and business, food and health, and youth and family. Penn State Extension is currently restructuring itself to become more adaptive and effective at serving the needs of Pennsylvania. A new set of positions, called Client Relationship Managers, has been created to foster and sustain mutually beneficial relationships between the university and local stakeholders
The CARES Survey and Database will benefit Penn State Extension by:
- Enabling county- and region-based educators and staff to make decisions based on reliable community data
- Understanding community perceptions and preferences to generate interest and buy-in
- Enabling administrators and educators to generate county and region-specific reports
- Indirectly assess program impact over time by watching shifts in priority issues
- Enabling more students and faculty members to address local priorities through CBE projects, thereby engaging more clients and reducing the burden on Extension personnel