It's Not About the Rice: Naming the Work of Extension Education

e begin our story on a summer afternoon several years back, in the courtyard of a large public housing project in the Bronx, a small fenced garden off to one side. On the fence was a sign naming the gardening project, followed by the words, “Technical assistance provided by Cornell University Cooperative Extension-NYC.” Scott, who had been invited to New York City to learn about CUCE-NYC’s work, had spent the day driving with Gretchen Ferenz, Environmental Revitalization and Management issues area leader, through Bronx neighborhoods, visiting community projects in which CUCE had been involved: a thrift shop, a recycling center, a teen hydroponics program, community gardens. He had heard story after story about the extension educators’ connections with community organizations, a web of relationships built and nurtured over many years. Struck by the stark contrast between the flat, rather uninspiring description on the sign in front of him and the rich, human-centered stories that had infused the day, Scott turned to Gretchen with a question: “Does that sign — ‘providing technical assistance’ — capture what you really do?” Her answer surprised him. “Pretty much,” she responded. Already concerned that little serious research existed on extension practice, particularly the civic dimensions of that practice, Scott decided to offer an experimental course that would bring together Cornell graduate students and CUCE-NYC extension educators to both study and critically reflect on that work. The course, “Community-University Partnerships in Urban Extension Work,” had several agendas: to provide an opportunity for extension educators to reflect on, and thus, enhance, their civic work outside of the hectic pace of the day-to-day delivery of educational programs, to enable graduate students interested in community education to learn directly from experienced practitioners, and to contribute to broader, research-based understandings of extension’s civic mission and work in a way that might enhance the social impact of the system as a whole. Thus, in February 2001, we — a group of thirteen Cornell graduate students and one professor — found ourselves in New York City, this time in the community center of the Grant Houses, a housing project in Harlem.