URBANA, Ill. — The 2024-2025 Extension Collaboration Grant Program focused on bringing campus faculty and University of Illinois Extension field staff together to address issues in one or more of the five critical areas of community, economy, environment, food, and health, has awarded seven grants to interdisciplinary teams. These two-year projects are designed to support translation of university research into applied educational and training programs that will be disseminated throughout Illinois by Extension’s statewide network. Awards are made possible through a partnership between Illinois Extension and University of Illinois’ Office of the Provost Investment for Growth Program.

“This marks the fourth cycle of grants awarded during the last decade to catalyze innovative, change-oriented collaborations that offer solutions to needs identified by individuals, families, and communities across Illinois,” says Shelly Nickols-Richardson, associate dean and director of University of Illinois Extension. “Each interdisciplinary team receives $50,000 to carry out their two-year project with the expectation that they will develop curriculum, collect pilot data, prepare training materials, produce new information, and/or make positive changes that are of public benefit.”

Selected projects include:

• Building Microclimate Networks: A Community Approach to Collecting and Analyzing Climate Data in Illinois (Principal Investigators: Samuel Stickley, teaching assistant professor, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences; Jennifer Fraterrigo, professor, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment; Duane Friend, Extension specialist; Curtis Sinclair, Extension specialist)
  
  Microclimate data will be collected using a community-based approach that integrates climate sensors into high schools and other public areas with a citizen science program to empower Illinois residents to respond to climate change adaptation and mitigation plans.
   
• Camine Con Su Communidad: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Community-Based Physician-Facilitated Walking Program for Latina Women (Principal Investigator: Nick Pitas, assistant professor, Recreation, Sport and Tourism)
  
  This project creates and implements a six-month walking intervention that partners Latina women in Champaign-Urbana with physicians and medical students from Carle Health to increase communication, develop health self-advocacy, and improve health status.
   
• Designing the Youth Participatory Action Research Playbook for Working with Youth as Partners (Principal Investigators: Amy Leman, assistant professor, Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications; Jacinda Dariotis, professor, Human Development and Family Studies and Pampered Chef Ltd. endowed chair in Family Resiliency)
  
  A 10-module handbook titled ‘Youth Participatory Action Research Playbook for Working with Youth as Partners’ will be developed. Further, adults will be trained in this curriculum designed to facilitate programs in which youth have voice and choice.
   
• Establishing Farmer Collaboration Networks to Improve Crop Resilience Using Precision Agricultural Practices (Principal Investigator: Christy Gibson, Postdoctoral Scholar, Crop Sciences and Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation)
  
  This project will establish a farmer collaborator network to develop cost-effective precision agriculture-based mitigation strategies in flood-prone fields in Illinois by collecting and analyzing field and soil data to produce sustainable solutions.
   
• Rainbow Extension 4.0: LGBTQ+ Cultural Competency Training for Illinois Extension (Principal Investigator: Courtney Cuthbertson, assistant professor and Extension faculty specialist, Human Development and Family Studies)
  
  Online, asynchronous LGBTQ+ cultural competency training for Illinois Extension will be developed, evaluated, and refined to foster affirming environments within Extension and across the programs provided to Illinois residents.
   
• Smartphones, Smart Families: Promoting the Well-being of Children and Families throughout Illinois in a Digital Age (Principal Investigator: Allen Barton, assistant professor and Extension faculty specialist, Human Development and Family Studies)
  
  This project will explore technology use within families, create and disseminate resources on smartphones, social media, screen time, and other digital innovations, and develop policy recommendations for legislators.
   
• The Supply Chain of Agricultural and Food Commodities across Illinois Counties (Principal Investigator: Sandy Dall’erba, professor, Agricultural and Consumer Economics)
  
  Trade flows from county to state to national levels across the agri-food supply chain will be mapped based on extreme weather events and other disruptions. An ‘Illinois Food Commodity Flow Explorer’ webtool will be created and tested with producers and consumers to characterize decisions within and impacts on the food supply chain.

Twenty-eight extremely competitive proposals were received from a variety of colleges, institutes, and schools within the university and from Extension field staff. “The seven awarded grants excel at closely aligning with Extension’s grand challenge areas, and several address issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging,” Nickols-Richardson says. “We expect that the outcomes and impacts from these projects will greatly benefit our program areas, and most importantly, residents of Illinois.”

SOURCE: Shelly Nickols-Richardson, Illinois Extension, director and associate dean, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences